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What food for my English Bulldog with sensitive skin allergies?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | English Bulldog | Male | unneutered | 2 years and 5 months old | 61 lbs

What type of food should I feed a 2+ year old English Bulldog w/sensitive skin issues due to allergens?

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on September 23rd, 2018

Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Once it is established that food allergy is present, you can either feed him with hypoallergenic diet or exclusion ones (based on one source of carbohydrates and one of proteins). This food should be given at least for 6 weeks before appreciating results. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

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    Answered By Ricardo Fernandez, DVM

    Veterinarian, Veterinary Oncology Resident

    Published on July 8th, 2018

    Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. You can always add a bit of peanut butter or something else to make the food more palatable. However, that is only going to may be help temporarily. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

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