Top Chicken-Free Puppy Food: Best Picks for Healthy Growth

If you have a puppy who’s allergic or sensitive to chicken, finding the best chicken-free puppy food can be tricky. Even foods where the main protein is something like beef may have chicken or eggs hidden lower down the ingredients list.

Here’s how to identify the best chicken-free puppy food to help your pup grow up healthy and strong.

Symptoms of Chicken Allergies in Dogs

Chicken allergies may impact your puppy’s skin, digestive system, or both. Chicken allergy symptoms may include hives, fur loss, rashes, red or itchy skin, ear infections, hot spots, gas, vomiting, diarrhea, and anal gland problems.

While chicken allergies involve an overactive immune system response, some dogs have an intolerance or sensitivity to chicken that doesn’t qualify as an allergy. A chicken sensitivity or intolerance could involve gas, vomiting, or diarrhea without any skin problems.

Although chicken allergies and intolerances have different causes and sometimes different symptoms, the solution is the same: finding an excellent chicken-free puppy food.

What Is the Best Chicken-Free Puppy Food?

The best chicken-free puppy food is a limited-ingredient raw diet that’s nutritionally complete and contains no chicken. Some dogs who are allergic to chicken may also be allergic to other poultry products like turkey and duck, but not all dogs with chicken allergies need to avoid other poultry ingredients.

An example of the best chicken-free puppy food would include We Feed Raw’s beef, venison, or lamb recipes for dogs who are allergic to all poultry as well as the turkey or duck recipes for dogs who can handle poultry that isn’t chicken.

What makes these recipes the best grain-free and chicken-free puppy food?

Raw dog food is species-appropriate. While toy breeds may look nothing like wolves on the outside, the digestive systems of dogs and wolves are nearly identical. From their sharp teeth and hinged jaws to their lack of salivary amylase to their highly acidic stomachs and short digestive tracts, dogs are designed to extract the most nutrients from a raw diet.

But isn’t raw food unbalanced or dangerous?

Not if you choose We Feed Raw. Our complete and balanced recipes all meet AAFCO nutritional standards for dogs of all life stages, including the growth of large-breed puppies. We also use a cold-pressure process to inactivate potential pathogens, making our food safe for even the most sensitive puppy stomachs.

Preparing Homemade Chicken-Free Puppy Food

Typically, vets don’t recommend a homemade diet for dogs (and especially puppies) because it’s incredibly difficult to ensure it’s nutritionally complete and balanced. If you want to make homemade chicken-free puppy food, make sure you work with an animal nutritionist to get a recipe that will provide your growing puppy with all the nutrients they need.

Transitioning to Chicken-Free Puppy Food

Most of the time you transition a dog to a new food, you’ll want to do it gradually, over about 10 days. However, if your puppy’s chicken allergy is severe, you may prefer to switch them to their new chicken-free food immediately without a transition period.

Understanding Puppy Food Labels: Finding Chicken-Free Options

Chicken is a sneaky ingredient that may appear nearly anywhere on an ingredient list, so it’s critical that you thoroughly read the ingredients of any food you plan to feed your puppy. Chicken ingredients to look out for include chicken or poultry meal, chicken or poultry by-product meal, chicken or poultry by-products, chicken broth, and eggs (yes, dogs who are allergic to adult chickens are also allergic to their eggs).

Since the part of chicken that dogs are (typically) allergic to is the protein, chicken fat may be OK for some dogs. However, it’s best to avoid chicken fat, as well.

Start a Raw Chicken-Free Puppy Diet Now

The best chicken-free puppy food is We Feed Raw. We have 3 recipes that are free of any poultry ingredients (beef, lamb, and venison) as well as 2 poultry recipes that are chicken-free (turkey and duck). All of our recipes are naturally grain-free and meet AAFCO nutrition guidelines for dogs of all life stages, including the growth of large-breed puppies.

We also use a cold-pressure process to inactivate any potential pathogens, making our food safe for delicate puppy digestive tracts.

Studies have shown that puppies fed a raw diet are less likely than kibble-fed puppies to suffer from digestive problems, skin allergies, and ear infections as adults.

Take our quiz now to start your puppy on the life-changing benefits of our raw chicken-free puppy food.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is chicken-free puppy food and why might my puppy need it?

Chicken-free puppy food is a diet that does not contain any chicken ingredients. Your puppy would only need chicken-free puppy food if they are allergic to or are intolerant to chicken ingredients. You might determine whether your puppy has a chicken allergy by a food elimination test or by allergy testing done through your veterinarian.

Why is the best chicken-free large-breed puppy food important?

The best chicken-free large-breed puppy food is important because large-breed puppies require specific nutrients to grow at the proper pace. Some chicken-free foods may be labeled for adults only, so it’s important to choose a chicken-free formula that is labeled for either large-breed puppies or for all life stages.

We Feed Raw is formulated to meet AAFCO’s guidelines for dogs of all life stages, including the growth of large-breed puppies, making it an excellent choice for the best chicken-free large-breed puppy food because it means you won’t have to switch their diet after your puppy grows up.

How do I choose the best chicken-free puppy food?

To find the best chicken-free puppy food, look for one that’s completely free of any chicken ingredients (including eggs), high in protein, formulated for puppies, and preferably raw.

Not only does We Feed Raw have 5 chicken-free recipes that are complete and balanced for dogs of all life stages, including the growth of large-breed puppies, but our recipes are naturally limited-ingredient, safe, and delicious.

What constitutes the best grain-free chicken-free puppy food?

The best grain-free chicken-free puppy food is a naturally grain-free raw diet like We Feed Raw. Kibble that has been formulated to be grain-free can be very problematic and typically contains species-inappropriate ingredients like legumes, lentils, and peas that may be associated with an increased risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a heart condition.