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My vet suggested a hypoallergenic diet for my dog. What is it?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Large (61lb +) | Male | neutered | 1 year and 7 months old | 85 lbs

My dogs vet recommended a Hypoallergenic diet, what is this? Could you tell me more about hypoallergenic diet?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Laura Johnson VMD

Veterinarian

Published on November 20th, 2017

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There are 2 categories of what we call "Hypoallergenic" diets: 1) Novel Protein: the food is made of a protein we assume your pet has never been exposed to before. Something like duck, fish, venison, rabbit, lamb, bison, beef. The most common allergic protein is chicken not grains. So do not buy a chicken grain free diet and assume you are buying hypoallergenic, because you aren't. 2) Prescription hydrolyzed diets: These can only be bought from a Vet or with a prescription. These diets take the protein and chemically hydrolyze it to a very small size, so small that it isn't recognized by the immune system as an allergenic. I hope this helps and have a great day!

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