Can feeding raw help my itchy dog?

In short, absolutely. Here we explain how feeding a diet of unprocessed food holds the keys to transforming your itchy dog to a calm, happy dog.
Why environmental allergies are really a digestive issue, and our top tips on what to use topically to soothe your dog’s red, dry or simply scratchy skin.

Whether its chewing paws or scratching at their ears it’s sad to see our beloved companions itchy and unhappy, not to mention often irritating for us to listen to too.
As pollen counts increase these symptoms can often increase. Spring and Summer is often the first time you notice your dog’s itchiness.
However, it is always the case that behind the scenes, the root cause of a dog experiencing any allergies, itchy skin, paw chewing or even yeasty ears, has been building for a while.

This is because allergies and Intolerances and are linked with your dog’s immune system, and your dog’s immune system essentially is in their digestive lining (epithelial lining) and the microbiome that resides there. If the microbiome becomes unbalanced it sets a pattern of events that, in the end, result in the external symptoms we see.

Whether you think your dog’s symptoms are triggered by environmental factors or by eating a food that affects, them the same course of action to balance their microbiome and heal them internally is needed.
Aside from avoiding certain triggers it is not super important to know a trigger is environmental as you still need to heal the dog’s digestive and immune system exactly the same way as a food allergy.

One pioneering researcher Carol Hughes at the pet biome laboratory (Biome4pets) have collected canine biome data for the last 14 years, from dogs on a variety of diets. Hughes laboratory data overwhelming shows that canine microbiome is the most balanced on a diet of fresh, raw, food. Lightly cooked coming in second, but processed dog food proving to be a major hinderance rather than support for canine biome balance.

Elements that most upset the balance include inflammatory fats, refined carbohydrates in the diet (such as rice, wheat, corn) and worming drugs*.

Raw dog food is abundant in anti-inflammatory fats, which even if included in processed food ingredients do not withstand the cooking procedures and so are missing in all dry, tinned or tray based pet foods (no matter what their marketing says). Sadly, despite being vital for the health of all cells, the Omega 3 anti-inflammatory fats are not even included on the guidelines for a Complete adult dog food.