Best Dog Food for Pitbulls with Skin Allergies

About two years ago I was out of my own ideas and googling what the best dog food for pitbulls with skin allergies was.

I could not stomach the price of apoquel anymore and was ready to hear anything and everything to make my dog more comfortable. In this post, I'll share what has worked for my 5 year old pitbull with seasonal allergies. This is not advice for what to do with your dog's diet. Please consult your veterinarian before making any changes to your dog's diet.

This year, we've come very close to nearly eliminating my pitbull's seasonal allergies, and I credit her diet change.

Best Dog Food for Pitbulls with Skin Allergies 

When my dog was two years old, I was out at the farm one July morning with her. After a trail ride through a field, I looked over at her and noticed her legs were bright red. 

I had seen my dog's paws get redder and redder over the course of the summer and had seen a few other dog's come through our vet clinic and get prescribed the very effective, but very expensive drug, apoquel.  I decided it was time to set up a vet appointment to get some guidance. 

Best Dog Food for Skin Allergies

I admit I was trying to save money and hoped that the allergies were seasonal and would soon go away. However, that afternoon I sat in the vet's office agreeing to pay an arm and a leg for my dog's newly prescribed apoquel.

 We had gotten to the point where she really needed some help to prevent an infection and just for her own comfort as she spent a lot of her waking hours licking her paws. However, I was determined to not let apoquel be the long-term solution. 

The apoquel worked beautifully, and after the loading dose I eventually moved her down to the lowest effective dose, which was about one dose every 3 days. Then by September/October of that year the allergies disappeared. 

The next two years Razz's feet started to turn red in July and I gave the apoquel at the lowest effective dose. However, I didn't like paying for it, and I started to become suspicious of her diet. 

Seasonal allergies are most likely environmental, at least that's what I've noticed in my experience. However, I started to wonder, why couldn't her immune system handle this? 

About this time, I started diving into my own research and found that my dog's diet was less than ideal. 

Worst Dog Food for Pitbulls

At the time I was working in a veterinary clinic, and was very uninterested in a hypoallergenic diet, despite the doctor hinting that that was a good and realistic (and very expensive) next step. Common sense also told me that the root cause of my dog's allergies was not food since she had been eating the same food year round.

I thought the cause of the seasonal allergies was her immune system's inability to cope with an environmental trigger that came about July through October.

And, even if her allergies were caused by food, how would feeding her only a highly processed kibble manufactured in a lab be the best thing for her? 

In doing my own research, I came across two books that were instrumental in finding a diet that works for my dog. 

The short story: what I learned from these books was that I wasn't feeding my dog enough different things. 

The variety in a dog's diet helps increase their immune system. 

The most surprising part? Feeding a healthier, whole diet was cheaper than giving her apoquel as often as I was. 

So I learned everything I could about increasing the variety in my dog's diet. 

Best Dry Dog Food for Pitbulls

While it's about the same amount of money to pay for aqoquel as it is to feed a whole food diet, I still wanted to cut back on costs. So, I went halfsies with my dog's diet. 

I kept half her diet as is, so feeding a store bought kibble. Then the other half I substituted whole food. 

I used everything from eggs to veggie trimmings to leftovers we weren't going to eat. 

In my opinion, the biggest help to my dog's allergies has been taking advantage of frozen, balanced dog food. Within a day or two of adding this to her diet, her coat became much softer and her allergies were pretty much non-existent this year.

I did give maybe 8-10 doses of apoquel over the 4 month time period she usually gets allergies because I had them left over from last year. This was an extreme change to the nearly 40-70 doses I usually give.

I credit the addition of Darwin's and whole foods as the reason her allergies were significantly improved from the previous years. 

Want to learn exactly what I fed my dog to help improve her seasonal allergies? Download my free Raw Dog Food For Beginners Guide below! 

Best Grain Free Dog Food Pitbulls

As far as grain free, I haven't paid too much attention to grain free or not, because my focus for my dog's diet is to be as much whole food as possible. I don't avoid grain free food because there have been some studies showing a link to increased risk for dialated cardiomyopathy in foods that are made "grain free". 

In other words, I don't spend money or effort on making sure any of the kibble is grain free, since I'm more interested in making sure the whole food part of my dog's diet is of higher quality. 

This post was all about best dog food for pitbulls with skin allergies.