The Best Dog Food for Autoimmune Disease: How to Help Your Dog Lead a Better Life

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Are you having a hard time maintaining the healthy immune system of your dog? Does he frequently suffer from fever, muscle weakness, and abdominal pain? These symptoms are just some indications of autoimmune diseases in dogs that require immediate attention and care.

Your canine's immune system is composed mainly of a complex network of antibodies and white blood cells. With the presence of autoimmune disease, their body fails to recognize itself, thus starting to attack and reject their tissue.

As pet owners, you want your dogs to avoid such conditions. How? Give them the best dog food for autoimmune disease.

Read on to know some of the common choices specifically designed for your dog's health and welfare.

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Top Five Dog Food for Autoimmune Disease

Diet for an autoimmune disease can improve your dog's health while alleviating the symptoms.

Here are some of the autoimmune disease dog diets that you can feed your fur babies.

Editor's Picks

Product​​​​ Name

Price

Best Choices

Taste of the Wild Grain-Free Recipe Premium Dry Dog Food

The Healthy and Holistic Choice for Adult Dogs

Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Natural Adult Dry Dog Food

The Best Wet Food for Senior Dogs

Purina One Smart Blend Vibrant Maturity Senior 7+ Formula Dog Food

The Best Dog Food for All Life Stages

Rachael Ray Super Premium Dry Dog Food

The Perfect Dog Food for Small Adult Dogs

Hill's Science Diet Small Paws Adult Dog Food

Taste of the Wild Grain-Free Recipe Premium Dry Dog Food - The Balanced Diet for Dogs with Autoimmune Disease

Taste of the Wild Premium Dry Dog Food is formulated using unique and well-balanced sources to provide complete nutrition and to satisfy the cravings of your dogs.

This formulation contains premium meat from roasted bison, wild boar, and buffalo to ensure protein-rich profile. It is supplemented with real salmon, turkey, and lamb for an optimal amino acid profile, thus ensuring leaner and stronger muscles.

The formula of Taste of the Wild Premium Dry Dog Food is made with no grain, wheat, corn, artificial flavors, and additives. Instead, it uses complex carbohydrates from legumes and sweet potatoes to provide long-lasting energy to your dogs. 

To support a healthy immune system, this dog food contains prebiotics and species-specific probiotics that are naturally found in the dog's gastrointestinal tract. These components are added after the kibble is cooked to guarantee the presence of live and active cultures.

Additionally, these components, together with chelated minerals, make the formula highly digestible and optimally absorbed.

Lastly, Taste of the Wild Premium Dry Dog Food offers the right dose of superfoods, antioxidants, and fatty acids to help maintain healthy skin, luscious coat, and overall wellness.

Pros
  • Balanced nutritional content
  • High-quality meat protein
  • No grains and preservatives
Cons
  • Contains peas and potato protein

Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Natural Adult Dry Dog Food - The Healthy and Holistic Choice for Adult Dogs

Blue Buffalo, Life Protection Dry Dog Food, contains the finest and freshest natural ingredients to ensure a healthy and wholesome meal for your adult and older dogs.

This formula features real meat from the chicken as its main ingredient. It also contains wholesome whole grains, garden vegetables, and fruits as supplemental ingredients. Thus, providing high-quality proteins to ensure your dog's healthy built and strong muscles.

To support the immune system of your dogs, Blue Buffalo Life Protection Dry Dog Food is packed with essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Its exclusive Lifesource Bits technology contains a precise blend of these carefully selected ingredients to ensure a healthy immune system, oxidative balance, and life stage requirements. 

Moreover, this adult dog food contains essential carbohydrates and proteins to ensure that your dogs meet their energy requirements. It also comes with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids for a shinier coat and healthier skin.

To top it all, Blue Buffalo Life Protection Dry Dog Food is holistically made without any poultry or chicken by-products, wheat, soy, corn, additives, artificial flavorings, and preservatives in its formulation.

Pros
  • Natural and holistic ingredients
  • Comes with Lifesource Bits
  • No wheat and chicken by-products
  • No additives and preservatives
Cons
  • Contains peas

Purina One Smart Blend Vibrant Maturity Senior 7+ Formula Dog Food - The Best Wet Food for Senior Dogs

Purina One Smart Blend Vibrant Maturity Wet Dog Food provides the best-targeted nutrition for your dog's needs throughout his lifespan.

This formulation is equipped with natural vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to support the health of your dogs no matter what breed and size they may be. It promotes healthy digestion, healthy weight, and sensitive systems.

As a protein-rich meal, Purina One Smart Blend Vibrant Maturity Wet Dog Food is made with real meat, fish, or poultry. Its mouth-watering finish is due to the oatmeal and barley components present in the formulation. This ensures your dog's healthy muscles while letting them enjoy a meaty taste.

It is also formulated with natural nutrition with no fillers and preservatives, thus providing prolonger lifelong nutrition for your dogs. The high levels of antioxidants help support the healthy immune system, especially of senior dogs. This specialized formulation also supports sensitive systems while promoting healthy weight. 

Overall, Purina One Smart Blend Vibrant Maturity Wet Dog Food offers a complete and well-balanced formulation in a variety of forms, taste, and texture that your dogs will love.

Pros
  • Age-focused formulation
  • High-quality protein
  • No artificial flavorings
  • Rich in antioxidants
Cons
  • A bit pricey

Rachael Ray Super Premium Dry Dog Food - The Best Dog Food for All Life Stages

Rachael Ray Nutrish Dog Food is made using the simplest and most wholesome ingredients available to ensure the health and safety of your dogs. 

Its carefully selected high-quality proteins are made from fresh chicken, beef, and seafood. This is combined with wholesome vegetables and essential vitamins and minerals to give dogs naturally good nutrition.

The pea component of Rachael Ray Nutrish Dry Dog Food offers an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber for a boost in digestion. Its carrot component is an excellent source of carotenoids, which also promotes a healthy immune system.

Additionally, this simple formulation boasts a pretty straightforward effect for optimum functioning regardless of your dog's breed and size. The fact that it does not contain any preservatives and additives gives your dog optimum growth and health.

The combination of these ingredients in Rachael Ray Nutrish Dry Dog Food provides nothing but essential nutrients for healthy organs and lean muscle mass. Nevertheless, this formulation is enough to ensure the growth of your happy and healthy dogs.

Pros
  • Formulated for all life stages
  • High-quality proteins
  • No by-product ingredients
  • Good sources of prebiotics and essential fatty acids
Cons
  • Contains high glycemic ingredients

Hill's Science Diet Small Paws Adult Dog Food - The Perfect Dog Food for Small Adult Dogs

Hill's Science Diet Small Paws Adult Dog Food is a top-quality dog food that contains the precise nutrition needed by your little dogs until they become full-grown canines.

With its unique formulation and small kibble size, your dogs will find it easy to fit each of the pieces in their mouth and digest the ingredients in their little stomach.

Despite their small size, Hill's Science Diet Small Paws Adult Dog Food contains high-quality proteins from lamb meal, corn gluten meal, flaxseed, and whole-grain wheat for lean muscle maintenance. It also provides good fiber ingredients and easily digestible minerals to ensure better digestion and absorption.

To support the dog's immune system, this formula is made with natural ingredients and a proprietary antioxidant blend. These components help promote lifelong health for your little adult dogs.

This small dog food is also rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It also contains high-quality sources of Vitamin B and minerals to help promote healthy skin and coat. 

Overall, Hill's Science Diet Small Paws Adult Dog Food is a unique dog food that promotes lifelong health at optimum conditions.

Pros
  • High in proteins and essential fatty acids
  • Comes from high-quality and natural ingredients
  • No artificial additives
Cons
  • Most sources are plant-based

Canine's Autoimmune Disease FAQs

1. What Is Autoimmune Disease?

best dry dog food for dogs with autoimmune disease

Autoimmune disease in dogs occurs when the immune system is unable to acknowledge or recognize its own body. When this happens, the body tends to attack and reject the tissues, assuming that it's foreign. 

Depending on the situation, your dog's life may be at high risk due to this life-threatening condition. Autoimmune disease can be of numerous forms that can affect the skin, joints, blood, and other body systems. As a result, your dogs may experience pain and inflammation.

While conventional treatments of autoimmune diseases in dogs may affect the kidney and liver, proper care and workup of this condition don't greatly affect your canine's lifespan.


2. What Causes A Weak Immune System in Dogs?

best dog food for dogs with autoimmune disease

The weakness in the dog's immune system may be brought about by several factors. Some of the most common causes of this condition include.

  • Drug Overuse
    While antibiotics are considered to be miracle drugs, there are a lot of controversies regarding its use. Some types of antibiotics can be harmful to your pet's health and body. These drugs tend to produce lower amounts of proteins, which triggers diseases such as autoimmune conditions.
  • Environmental Pollutants
    The environmental condition has a strong effect on the autoimmune disease in canines. Pathogens, poor air quality, and contaminants can significantly trigger the disorder.
  • Food Preservative
    Some dog formulas contain harmful ingredients and additives that are known to be responsible for your dog's autoimmune condition. Therefore, it is essential to choose and buy nutrition from trusted manufacturers present in the market.
  • Chemicals
    Toxins and chemicals are highly detrimental to dogs. It is essential to minimize their exposure to these conditions as certain types of these compounds are known to cause autoimmune diseases.

What Are the Symptoms of Autoimmune Disease in Dogs?

best dry dog food for dogs with autoimmune disease

The autoimmune condition in dogs can significantly affect various organs in their body. That's why when your pets suffered from this disease, they might experience the following symptoms and infections.

  • Muscle and joint pain
  • Fever
  • Increased drinking and frequent urination
  • Kidney infection
  • Hair loss
  • Loss of nose and skin pigments
  • Anemia
  • Feet and face ulcers
  • Thyroid problems

What Foods Should You Avoid With Autoimmune Disease?

Diet has played a significant role in preventing and controlling autoimmune disease in dogs.

Here are the things that you should look for and avoid in choosing the best dog food for autoimmune disease.

1. High-Quality Animal Proteins

homemade dog food for autoimmune disease

Protein is an essential part of your canine's diet to ensure optimum functioning of their body. In fact, most recipes are created based on their protein content and type.

However, it is essential to focus on chicken, turkey, and salmon sources if you are dealing with autoimmune disease. These proteins are easily digestible, thus promoting healthy digestion.

Adding beef and pork can also be done to be sure that they come from high-quality sources.


2. No Artificial Ingredients

Avoid foods with artificial flavorings and preservatives as they can elevate the symptoms of autoimmune disease. Look for dog foods with no additives, colors, or fillers to ensure the highest nutrition.

Learn to read the labels to help you identify and detect the harmful ingredients and avoid specific formulations in your dog's autoimmune diet.


3. Essential Fatty Acids

best dog food for dogs with autoimmune disease

The omega-3 fatty acid has outstanding healing properties due to its broad spectrum of positive effects. It can promote a healthier gut and natural protection of the skin against diseases.

Dog food containing salmon or any fish are great options as it can strengthen the immune system, especially for dogs suffering from autoimmune disease.


4. Probiotics

Add probiotics in the diet for an autoimmune disease to achieve healthier gut and stronger resistance against infection and diseases. These probiotics maintain the balance of the bacteria in the stomach while supporting an excellent immune system.

The addition of the supplement in the dog's diet can also help improve the smell of your canine's poop.


5. Vegetables

homemade dog food for dogs with autoimmune disease

Balance your dog's food by including vegetables in their diet. Don't forget the veggies as they can provide the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants needed for a healthier immune system.

If you are targeting autoimmune disorders, be sure to include broccoli, carrots, green peas, mushroom, spinach, sweet potato, and other greens in your dog's diet.


6. Herbs

Herbs are commonly used in treating autoimmune diseases in canines. They tend to alleviate the symptoms while balancing your dog's immunity. 

Some of the common herbs that you can consider include alfalfa, Ginkgo Biloba, spirulina, wisteria, and yellow dock. However, be sure to consult your vet for a more holistic and safer application.

Conclusion

Autoimmune conditions can significantly affect dogs of different ages and breeds. While the symptoms are challenging, the diet seems to help in preventing and controlling its effects.

Among the best dog food for autoimmune disease listed above, Taste of the Wild Grain Free Dry Dog Food is the optimum choice for dogs suffering from autoimmune disease.

This is due to its balanced formulation and naturally occurring ingredients that help combats this stressful condition of your beloved dogs.

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