My dog's grain-free food for dry skin causes weight gain. Low protein?

Question

My Labrador is on a grain free diet because he has extremely dry skin. He used to scratch all the time until I switched him to grain free. But now, he’s gaining weight because of all the protein in grain free food. Is there a grain free/hypoallergenic food that I could try that has a low amount of protein to help him not gain so much weight. I’ve had to cut back on his feeding tremendously because of the gain and now he’s acting starved. We need to switch foods. Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | neutered | 1 year and 1 month old | 75.1 lbs

Mara Howard, DVM · Accepted Answer

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I'm sorry to hear Gunnar has been having food issues. Having a grain free diet that is lower in protein is a little tricky, as you have found. It may be worthwhile to try a "limited grain" diet to see how he tolerates it, and if that would still be beneficial for his skin while being less calories. These diets frequently have rice or barley while not containing other grain options, and you could pick one and see how he does on it for 2-3 months to evaluate how it is doing (Purina ProPlan has some options, for example). If that does not work, he may need a true hypoallergenic diet, which you can discuss further what options are available with your veterinarian. Good luck!

My dog's grain-free food for dry skin causes weight gain. Low protein?

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