Healthy Dog Food Ingredients
Eliminate processed foods, and instead provide wholesome ingredients like fresh proteins and limited carbohydrates.
Step-by-Step Protocol for Dog Skin Allergies
Introduction
Dog skin allergies can be frustrating for both you and your furry friend. While medication can provide temporary relief, a deeper, more lasting solution often involves changing your dog’s diet. This step-by-step guide will walk you through an elimination diet, adding beneficial supplements, and lifestyle changes to help relieve your dog’s skin allergies.
Step 1: Assess the Current Diet
Take a closer look at your dog’s current diet. Many commercial dog foods contain allergens such as grains, chicken, or dairy that might be causing skin issues.
- Action: Eliminate processed foods, treats, and low-quality commercial diets from your dog’s routine. Focus on whole, unprocessed foods.
Step 2: Start an Elimination Diet
An elimination diet helps identify the specific ingredients causing allergies.
- Choose a single-source protein, like boneless chicken.
- If needed, add a carbohydrate source like sweet potatoes or rice but reduce or eliminate other veggies later.
- Observe changes in your dog’s skin and coat for 6-8 weeks.
Step 3: Remove Fruits and Reduce Vegetables
Though fruits and veggies are healthy, they may contribute to inflammation in dogs with sensitive stomachs.
- Action: Remove all fruits and limit or eliminate vegetables from the diet.
- Focus on: Animal-based proteins and fats to help reduce inflammation and support gut health.
Step 4: Implement Intermittent Fasting
Fasting helps your dog’s gut heal and boosts immune function.
Fasting gives your dog’s digestive system time to heal, promoting overall health and improved skin condition.
If your dog is currently eating more than two meals a day, follow these steps to gradually transition:
Delay Meals: Start by delaying each meal by 15 minutes every day. Continue this until you can merge multiple meals into just two meals within a six-hour window.
Eliminate Snacks: Remove all snacks and treats between meals. This will help your dog adjust to the new feeding schedule and avoid disruptions in the fasting period.
Shorten the Meal Window: If you are already feeding two meals a day, work on shortening the interval between them. Delay the first meal by 15 minutes and advance the second meal by 15 minutes each day until the meals are within six hours of each other.
Step 5: Add Edible Coconut Oil
Coconut oil provides anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial benefits, which can help with skin issues.
Natural Supplement- Action: Add 1 tsp to 1 tbsp of high-quality coconut oil to your dog’s daily diet based on their size.
Step 6: Add Probiotics for Gut Health
Improving gut health is crucial for managing skin conditions.
Probiotic Benefits
Helps balance gut flora, which in turn improves skin health and digestion.
How to Use
Add a daily probiotic supplement like Pro Belly to your dog’s meal.
Step 7: Monitor and Adjust
Track changes in your dog’s symptoms throughout this process.
- Action: If no improvement is seen after 6-8 weeks, try a different protein or consult a holistic vet.
- Consider: Supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to help with skin health.
Summary and Key Takeaways
By following this protocol, you can manage your dog’s skin allergies in a natural, holistic way. Changing your dog’s diet, eliminating potential allergens, and adding supplements like coconut oil and probiotics can make a significant difference. Remember to monitor progress and be patient as it can take time for the body to heal.