The recipe for a dog with allergies
Most home-cooked allergy diets fail in week two, when someone gives the dog a biscuit. The recipe is the easy part. The trial is the work.
Why this bowl is built this way
A food allergy is a diagnosis, not a menu. You do not cook your way around it — you remove every other protein until only one is left, wait long enough for the old antibodies to fade, and then decide. That takes a minimum of eight weeks of absolute compliance, which is why most home trials are inconclusive rather than negative.
What you feed during the trial matters less than how strictly you feed it. A single novel protein, a plain carbohydrate, a completer, and nothing else. The proportions below keep a dog in good condition for two months while the test runs; they are not a cure and they are not permanent.
What goes in — by share of the bowl
Shares, not grams. The gram column is per kilogram of finished food, so it scales to any batch you cook. Your dog's actual portion comes from the calculator, because it depends on body weight and not on the recipe.
| Component | Share | Per 1 kg | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single novel protein | 45% | 450 g | One source only. Kangaroo, venison, rabbit, duck or white fish. |
| Single carbohydrate | 28% | 280 g | Rice, potato or sweet potato. Pick one and do not rotate. |
| Vegetables | 17% | 170 g | Zucchini or pumpkin, cooked soft. |
| Added fat | 5% | 50 g | Fish body oil, kept cold. |
| Veterinary completer | 5% | 50 g | Must match the protein you chose; some completers contain the protein you are avoiding. |
Method
- Get the vet's agreement first. If they want a hydrolysed diet, cook nothing and use theirs.
- Choose one protein and one carbohydrate the dog has never eaten.
- Clear the house of every other food, including the other dog's bowl, dental chews, pill pockets and flavoured medication.
- Cook, weigh and portion eight weeks of food into the freezer in one session, so a bad week does not turn into a substituted meal.
- Log the scratching daily: paws, ears, face, belly, on a scale of 1 to 5. Memory is useless over two months.
- At the end, reintroduce the old protein on purpose, with the vet, and watch what happens. That step is the actual test.
What each part is doing
| Part | Job |
|---|---|
| One protein | Removes every other candidate allergen at once, which is the only way a home trial can conclude anything. |
| Plain carbohydrate | Keeps calories up without adding a second protein or a novel additive. |
| Completer | Keeps the trial nutritionally valid for two months. |
How much to feed
Per day, for this type of dog. Two meals a day is standard for adults; puppies and dogs recovering from stomach trouble do better on three or four smaller ones.
| Dog weight | kcal / day | Food / day | Per meal (2×) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kg (11 lb) | 374 | 288 g | 144 g |
| 10 kg (22 lb) | 630 | 484 g | 242 g |
| 20 kg (44 lb) | 1059 | 815 g | 407 g |
| 30 kg (66 lb) | 1436 | 1104 g | 552 g |
| 40 kg (88 lb) | 1781 | 1370 g | 685 g |
Calculated for a neutered adult at moderate activity. Use the calculator for your dog's real numbers. Use the calculator for the exact grams.
What to watch for
- Grains are not the usual problem. Dogs are far more often sensitised to animal proteins than to wheat or corn, so a grain-free bag from the shop changes nothing.
- A 'limited ingredient' commercial bag is not a hydrolysed diet, and cross-contamination in the factory is common. For a real trial it is not equivalent.
- If the itching does not change in eight weeks of strict compliance, food is probably not the cause — and continuing to restrict the diet just makes the dog's life smaller.