Following these 7 nutritional recommendations can significantly reduce your dog or cat’s skin problems.
Switching from a dog or cat with skin problems to a fresh diet often results in an improvement in itching. We have seen some cases of skin clearing up completely through dietary changes. This article will give you some nutritional tips that will not only reduce your pet’s skin problems, but also improve their overall health. Keep in mind that every dog and cat is unique and may require additional supplementation, but the basic dietary changes discussed here can be a great start. As always, work with a holistic or integrative veterinarian so you can properly address your pet’s individual needs, especially if they have other health issues.
1. Feed him a high-quality diet
When it comes to skin issues, the first step is to give your dog or cat the best quality food you can afford. It should be:
Fresh: As most of us already know, diets made with fresh food ingredients provide vastly superior nutrition to processed commercial foods.
Clean: Many chemicals are used in raising animals and plants. Look for meats that do not contain antibiotics or hormones.
The Weston A Price Foundation produces a compact paperback Purchase guide, updated annually, which lists reliable meat sources across the country. You may also know of local community-supported farms with organic or minimally chemically processed meat and produce. There may even be local pet food co-ops you can join to buy cheaper meat.
2. Give him the right proportions of meat and vegetables
The basic dog diet consists of 50-75% meat and 25-50% high-calorie cooked vegetables.
- This makes the diet around 17% to 25% animal protein, a minimal amount and also appropriate if the animal has kidney disease. You can increase the meat percentage for growing, athletic, or cachectic animals.
- Fresh foods are about 75% water, while commercial dry foods are moisture-free. So we need high calorie vegetables along with the meat. The tougher the vegetable, the more calories it contains. Examples are potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, beets, winter squash, turnips and parsnips. If your dog has arthritis, stay away from nightshade vegetables in case he is sensitive to glycoalkaloids or steroid alkaloids. Nightshade vegetables include white potatoes, all types of tomatoes and peppers, and eggplant.
The staple diet of cats is 100% meat. You can add well-cooked vegetables to vary if the cat likes them. Some cats are so conditioned to the taste, texture and smell of commercial dry food that it can take time, sometimes months, to change their diet. If a cat does not eat any type of fresh meat, gradually add water to the dry food. Once the dry food is soft enough, start adding small amounts of cooked ground meat, gradually increasing the amount of meat and decreasing the dry food. Then over time, you will be able to cook the meat less and less. Some cats eat canned or cooked ground food when the dry food is powdered and “salted” on top.
3. Start with cooked meat, then go raw
We usually start with cooked meat because the animal’s gut microflora has been conditioned to processed foods and may not digest raw meat easily at first. This can lead to loose and frequent bowel movements. Cook the meat less and less until it is served raw. Not all animals can eat all meat protein. If observable problems occur after your dog or cat eats a particular type of meat, don’t give it more.
4. Provide Basic Supplements
Consult with a holistic or integrative veterinarian before giving your dog or cat a new supplement, so you get the right product and dosage.
a) Calcium is needed to balance the high phosphorus content of meat. Processed bone meal and other calcium carbonate products may be indigestible to some animals and the manufacturer should ensure the bone meal is free of heavy metals. I saw two bone-meat-fed dogs whose incisors looked like glass, with a line of pink pulp clearly visible inside. Teeth turned white again after a few months providing dogs with more bioavailable calcium supplement.
b) Vitamins and minerals must be whole food products whose ingredient lists include only the names of the foods, not the chemical names of the vitamin fractions. Most commercial diets contain artificial fractions of non-chelated vitamins and minerals added after cooking. These are not usable by the body without the addition of missing phytonutrients to create the complete biologically active vitamins that we get from fresh foods. In some cases, the artificial fractions can be toxic to the body.
c) Omega 3 fatty acids are very important for animals with skin problems as they are needed to modulate inflammatory states. If you can afford to feed pasture-raised animal products, there may be enough omega 3s in your dog’s or cat’s food and additional supplementation will not be necessary.
5. Give him clean water
The water you give your pet should be filtered through activated carbon, at the very least. Pitcher type filters can be found at many department stores. Tap water contains many unhealthy chemicals, metals and organic compounds. Useful information on the different water filtration systems can be found at idealearthwater.com.
6. Keep a journal
Keep a weekly body weight diary and call your veterinarian in case of weight loss. It’s also a good idea to keep track of your pet’s clinical signs. For example, you can rate her skin problems on a scale of 0 to 10 (none to horrible) on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This is very useful to help you and your veterinarian decide when to add alternative therapies and to monitor progress.
7. Don’t overload his system
Another very important point. Doses of products chosen for basic support or for specific medical conditions may need to be reduced over time. Once the animal’s body is in a healthier state and builds up reserves, the concentrated nutrient appears to overstimulate the system, so a reduction in dosage may be necessary. Another reason why it’s important to work with your veterinarian.
Consuming enough protein and healthy fats with a variety of fruits and vegetables, while staying away from processed foods and refined sugar, is the healthiest way to eat for animals and humans. A fresh diet helps maintain good health. They can also heal skin conditions on their own or become a key part of an integrative approach that includes additional therapies.
Case reports
duke
Duke, a neutered boxer, came to us at the age of six with chronic diarrhea and constant scratching of his ears, neck and chest. Two weeks into the dietary transition, his diarrhea was gone and the itching was reduced to the point where he was able to sleep through the night. The customer saw this as a 50% decrease in itching.
However, Duke was still so itchy during the day that his owner wanted to speed up the process. So we gave him a nutritional response test and found out he had mercury poisoning. Mercury, arsenic and aluminum toxicity commonly underlies skin conditions in Massachusetts, where Duke lives. We gave him concentrated cilantro and the mercury in Duke’s body gradually decreased over the next six weeks; moreover, her itching has gradually subsided and has not returned for the past three months.
Olivier
Oliver, a 7-year-old neutered male Bichon/Shihtzu mix, was diagnosed with atopy and recurrent ear inflammation that began when he was 1.5 years old. Spring and autumn caused more itching.
By the third week of dietary transition, Oliver no longer needed Benadryl and the client reported an itch rating of 2/10 to 3/10 from the initial 10/10. Two weeks later, the itchiness increased to 6/10 and nutritional response tests showed her medications were problematic. Solidago was used to start the detox process. Six weeks later, Oliver’s itching was again reduced from 2/10 to 3/10. A few weeks later the itching increased, so the Solidago was discontinued and the itching subsided over the next two days.