Kodah and the Sneaky Chicken: The Challenge of Feeding an Itchy Dog

Hi, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my five funny dogs, Poppy, Bailey, Kodah, Ned, and Fred.

Until I had a dog with food allergies, I admit that I underestimated how difficult it was to watch your dog struggling to get comfortable, how challenging it was to work out that their food was the problem, and how incredibly frustrating it is to find a good dog food that is completely free from chicken or beef.

I know what you’re thinking - there’s loads of other dog food flavors out there: lamb, turkey, duck, rabbit…the list goes on. But have you ever had a really close look at the ingredients list on a bag of dog food? If you haven’t, I would strongly recommend doing so. For starters, you might be surprised by what sort of ingredients your dog is actually consuming, but you might also be surprised to see how often they sneak in a bit of chicken.

Kodah’s Food Allergy

Like many dogs that suffer with food allergies, Kodah’s clinical signs started appearing when he was about two-and-a-half years old. Initially he was just a bit itchy all over, then he would be chewing at his legs and feet, and eventually he was traumatizing his ears with his frantic scratching - I had to quickly rustle up a homemade collar to stop him damaging them! Of course, I had to rule out the usual suspects of what could be making him itch, but I eventually worked out that we were dealing with a food allergy.

It then took several months of feeding novel protein diets and then re-challenging Kodah with different ingredients to find out what was triggering his itchy reaction, but eventually we narrowed it down to chicken, beef, eggs, grain, turkey, and potato. He was also somewhat sensitive to other poultry, like turkey and duck. Yep, that didn’t leave us with a whole lot to work with!

If it was just Kodah, I would opt for a fresh food or home prepared diet with minimal ingredients, so I know exactly what he’s having. The trouble is, I have five doggy mouths to feed, and my life would be a whole lot easier if they can all eat at least some of the same food. Down the rabbit hole of comparing brands and ingredients, doing cost analysis per meal and per bag, and if that wasn’t challenging enough, I then had to go through every ingredients list with a fine tooth comb to make sure there wasn’t any sneaky chicken.

The Struggle of Sneaky Ingredients

Many of the brands that I would categorize as being premium food, with high quality ingredients, left me frustrated when I studied the back of the pack and found that their ‘Wild Boar and Sweet Potato’ contained beef liver, or ‘Ostrich and Pumpkin’ was topped up with a cheeky bit of chicken flavoring. Why???

Fortunately, one thing I didn’t have to worry about in my household was any picky eaters. With the exception of a few boring vegetables, I had yet to find anything that my dogs won’t eat, which is why I decided to take the advice of a fellow itchy-dog owner and try an insect protein food.

That’s right: Insect Protein Dog Food.

Saved By The Bugs

To look at, insect protein food looks like any other dry dog food, and smells like it too. Made up of one-third insect protein, one-third sweet potato, with the rest being wholesome things like spinach, chicory, beet pulp, parsley, turmeric, glucosamine and chondroitin, it looked great on paper, but was it going to work?

To my delight, the answer has been a resounding YES!

It’s not the cheapest food on the market, but surprisingly, it’s not horrendously expensive either, and seeing as we go through 10 lbs per week, that is a pretty important factor for us. The dogs are happy, Kodah isn’t itchy, and even their poops are looking great (as great as dog poop can look, anyway).

If you’re struggling to get control of an itchy dog, it’s worth talking to your vet about checking for a food allergy, and beware of the sneaky chicken! And if you’re running out of ideas of what to feed your itchy dog, you can always try insects!