13 Best Chicken-Free Dog Foods For Puppies, Adults & Seniors With Allergies
If you suspect or have already confirmed that your furry friend has an intolerance or allergies to chicken, you’re certainly not alone. Chicken is one of the top four culprits for dog food allergies (along with beef, dairy products, and wheat). This dietary restriction can make it difficult to find an ideal food for your pup because so many dog foods contain chicken products.
Fortunately, we’ve researched hundreds of dog food brands and formulas to give you our best advice. We’ve determined that the Farmer’s Dog, Ollie, and Spot & Tango are among your best options for chicken-free dog food for every life stage. We have other budget-friendly dry dog food options for you as well.
Note: All of the dog foods we’ve included in our reviews meet or exceed Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutritional guidelines, are made in the U.S., and contain no fillers, preservatives, or artificial ingredients.
At A Glance: Best Dog Food Without Chicken
How Do We Define Chicken-Free Dog Food?
While you can find dog food that says it’s chicken-free, we’ve found that some brands can be misleading with this claim because some include chicken meal and/or by-products. For pups who don’t tolerate any chicken in their food, this is obviously a problem. So all of our recommendations here are completely free of whole chicken, chicken by-products, and chicken meal.
Can dogs who are intolerant or allergic to chicken eat chicken fat or chicken eggs? Yes, in most cases. It’s the protein in chicken that triggers allergies, and chicken fat doesn’t contain protein. Chicken eggs are a separate protein, so unless your pup is also allergic to eggs, they shouldn’t trigger any symptoms.
Best Fresh Dog Food Without Chicken (For All Life Stages)
Fresh dog food is one of the healthiest diets you can feed your canine companion, and you’re in luck because several fresh dog food delivery services offer entirely chicken-free recipes. We love the following services who personalize your pup’s meals for age, breed, weight, activity level, and other factors and deliver them right to your door. Formulated by board-certified animal nutritionists, their meals contain the perfect balance of nutrition for your furry friend at every life stage.
The Farmer’s Dog Review
Our favorite fresh dog food delivery service, The Farmer’s Dog offers high-quality, human-grade meals at extremely competitive pricing (along with fantastic customer service). This brand uses USDA whole-food protein, vegetables, and fruits fortified with vitamins and minerals to meet any size dog’s nutritional requirements at all life stages. They also pre-portion your pup’s meals for convenient feeding.
In addition to a fresh grain-free chicken formula, The Farmer’s Dog offers grain-free and chicken-free beef, pork, and turkey recipes. While The Farmer’s Dog requires a subscription, you can cancel anytime. If you’re wary of grain-free dog food, be sure to check our review of Ollie below, which offers several fresh grain-inclusive recipes.
Price
Our readers have access to 50% off your first box. No code is needed; just use this link, and the discount will be applied! You can also visit our dedicated The Farmer’s Dog coupons page.
Ollie Fresh Review
Ollie is another fantastic fresh dog food brand that uses only human-grade, whole-food ingredients carefully chosen by animal nutritionists and personalized for optimal health in all life stages. Unlike The Farmer’s Dog, Ollie offers several grain-inclusive, chicken-free fresh recipes: turkey, lamb, and pork. Their fresh beef formula is a great grain-free option.
Ollie gives you the cost-saving options of subscribing to half-fresh meals or a mixed-bowl plan, which includes half-fresh and half-gently baked dry food (available in beef or chicken). They offer a 100% money-back guarantee on your starter box. Although their meals don’t come pre-portioned, they include a measuring scoop and a plastic container to store unused food for later use.
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Our readers can get 50% off their first order. Use this link to take advantage of this offer (no discount code needed).
In-Depth Review Of Ollie
Best Puppy Food Without Chicken
As you may have already discovered, it’s not easy to find puppy food without chicken products. Fortunately, we’ve found several high-quality options for you to consider.
Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Lamb Puppy Food Review
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This limited-ingredient puppy food features lamb as the first ingredient, and it’s the only animal protein source in the entire formula, making it an excellent option for puppies with chicken or other protein sensitivities. It also includes easy-to-digest brown rice for plenty of complex carbs to fuel the energy needs of active puppies and fiber for healthy digestion.
Fish oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids (including DHA), helps support brain, skin, and coat health. And taurine provides nutrients for heart health and brain development. This formula contains no soy, gluten, artificial colors, or artificial flavoring. It gets excellent reviews from pup parents of little furballs who have chicken and other food allergies.
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Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach Puppy Food Review
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Purina Pro Plan’s Sensitive Skin & Stomach dog food line has two excellent chicken-free, grain-inclusive puppy formulas: salmon & rice and lamb & oatmeal. These high-protein recipes are wheat, corn, and soy-free with no preservatives or artificial ingredients. They also contain live probiotics and natural prebiotic fiber for intestinal health.
Other special ingredients for puppies include antioxidants to support your puppy’s developing immune system and omega-rich fish oil to support brain and vision development as well as joint, skin, and coat health. Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach is also available in a large-breed puppy formula and adult and senior formulas.
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Raised Right Puppy Beef Recipe Review
Raised Right is a premium pet food brand that produces fresh human-grade, super high-protein dog and cat food. All of their food contains whole-food ingredients without any added synthetic vitamins and minerals or artificial ingredients. They offer three puppy formulas that meet AAFCO nutritional guidelines for growing puppies, including the growth of large-size dogs (70 lb. or more as an adult).
Their puppy beef recipe is a superb option if you’re looking for chicken-free and grain-free puppy food. Formulated with limited ingredients by vet nutritionists, this recipe contains only beef, beef heart, carrots, beef liver, cranberries, organic spearmint, flaxseed oil, eggshell powder, cod liver oil, and organic dried kelp. Each bag contains one pound of food, and you can order a four-bag sample box to try it out. They also offer one-time purchases or auto-shipments.
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Best Grain-Free Chicken-Free Dog Food For Adults
On top of chicken sensitivities, some dogs also don’t handle grains well. If this is your pup’s dietary situation, we have a few recommendations.
Spot & Tango Unkibble Cod & Salmon Recipe Review
Spot & Tango offers an amazing chicken-free alternative to traditional kibble (called Unkibble), which is just as healthy as fresh food at a much cheaper price. Unkibble’s cod & salmon recipe is grain-free, but it also comes in two chicken-free, grain-inclusive recipes (beef & barley and turkey & sweet potato). These formulas are minimally processed dehydrated dog food made with human-grade, whole-food ingredients and plenty of superfoods.
Unkibble is a convenient, shelf-stable favorite of many pup parents. A huge plus, Spot & Tango customizes your pup’s meals for his weight, breed, and activity level. While this company requires a subscription, you can cancel anytime. And you can try it out with their two-week trial that offers a full money-back guarantee.
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- Unkibble starts at $1.00 per day.
Looking for a Spot & Tango promo code? Visit our dedicated Spot & Tango coupon page to check out the latest offer and save.
In-Depth Review Of Spot & Tango
Zignature Duck Limited Ingredient Formula Review
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Zignature carries a line of grain-free, chicken-free dog food that’s a fantastic option for pups with food sensitivities or allergies. We recommend one of their most popular formulas that features duck as the sole animal protein. Duck is a lean protein that’s rich in B vitamins and antioxidants like iron, zinc, and selenium. This high-protein, moderate-fat recipe also includes chickpeas, peas, and dehydrated alfalfa meal.
Other Zignature formulas include salmon, lamb, venison, kangaroo, and several more. All of these recipes are fortified with flaxseed, a great source of omegas, taurine for heart health, probiotics for digestive and immune health, and L-carnitine, an amino acid derivative that helps the body metabolize fats more efficiently.
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Canidae Pure Salmon & Sweet Potato Review
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This Canidae Pure salmon formula is another excellent grain-free, chicken-free dog food. It only contains eight key ingredients, such as sweet potatoes, lentils, garbanzo beans, and peas and has no wheat, soy, or artificial preservatives. The first ingredient is whole salmon, and it also includes flaxseed. Both are a good source of omega fatty acids, which can help ease dry, itchy skin due to allergies.
After cooking the whole food ingredients, Canidae adds its HealthPLUS blend of probiotics, antioxidants, and even more omega-3 and 6 fatty acids. In addition to essential vitamins and minerals, it also includes taurine for heart health and glucosamine and chondroitin for joint health.
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Best Grain-Inclusive Chicken-Free Dog Food For Adults
Are you looking for the best no-chicken dog food that also includes grains? A vast majority of chicken-free dog foods also exclude grains (although grain sensitivities are entirely unrelated to chicken allergies). Many vets aren’t proponents of grain-free formulas, so we wanted to include grain-inclusive dog food without chicken or chicken by-products for you to consider.
Open Farm RawMix Wild Ocean Recipe With Ancient Grains Review
One of our favorite pet food brands, Open Farm offers a huge assortment of dog food. We’ve chosen this RawMix Wild Ocean formula as our top pick for grain-inclusive, chicken-free dog chow. This premium recipe features kibble coated with fish bone broth and freeze-dried fish and mixed with freeze-dried fish chunks for a major protein flavor boost.
It includes easily digestible barley and brown rice, a wealth of superfood fruits and veggies (blueberries, carrots, pumpkin, spinach, kale, etc.), salmon oil, flaxseed, taurine, prebiotics, and many other ingredients to support your pup’s immune and whole-body health.
Why do we love Open Farm? On top of using high-quality, nutrient-dense ingredients, this company is committed to strict humane, sustainable, and food safety practices. All food is formulated by a team of animal nutrition experts and tested by an independent third-party lab.
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You can save 5% off every order if you sign up for auto-shipping with Open Farm.
In-Depth Review Of Open Farm
Orijen Regional Red With Amazing Grains Dry Food Review
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Orijen’s philosophy is that our pets should eat the diet that evolution and nature intended, which means high animal protein and other all-natural foods. This chicken-free formula contains an impressive 90% of premium animal ingredients, including tasty organ meats. The first five ingredients are beef, wild boar, lamb, beef liver, and pork. The kibble has a freeze-dried coating for a burst of raw flavor.
This recipe also contains whole fish, easy-to-digest grains (oats and millet), and tons of superfoods, including chia seeds, flaxseed, pumpkin, collard greens, cranberries, kelp, and more. To top off this nutrient-dense chow, Orijen fortifies its recipes with probiotics, taurine, glucosamine, antioxidants, and other special ingredients for whole-body health.
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Wellness Complete Health Whitefish Review
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This chicken-free kibble is an excellent option for pups with allergies. The Wellness brand formulates all of its dog chow to provide whole-body nutritional support, and this recipe is no exception. The first six ingredients are whitefish, ground barley, peas, menhaden fish meal, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes.
The limited food ingredients are enriched with omega fatty acids, antioxidants, glucosamine, probiotics, and taurine. Many owners say this formula is fantastic for clearing up itchy skin, and their dogs love the taste.
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Best Senior Dog Food For Chicken Allergies
As is the case with puppy food, there aren’t a ton of options on the market for chicken-free senior dog food formulas. Based on our research, we think the following two recipes are your best options.
JustFoodForDogs Fresh Lamb & Brown Rice Review
With moderate protein, fat, and calories, this human-grade fresh dog chow from JustFoodForDogs (JFFD) is a fantastic choice for senior dogs who don’t tolerate chicken. It contains whole lamb as the first ingredient, long-grain brown rice for carbs and fiber, and such superfoods as carrots, blueberries, and spinach.
It’s also fortified with omegas for skin, coat, and joint health, taurine for heart and brain health, chelated minerals, and vitamins. All of JFFD’s dog food is formulated by veterinary nutritionists and prepared in USDA-certified kitchens. They offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on your first purchase.
Price
- Starts at $86.03 (7.8-lb box)
Get 35% off your first order at JustFoodForDogs. Just use this link to get started.
Now Fresh Grain-Free Senior Dry Formula Review
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This Now Fresh senior formula is entirely chicken, grain, and gluten-free and a super nutritious option for your elderly pup, particularly those who still need higher protein content. This recipe features turkey as the first ingredient, plus fresh salmon and duck for high-quality animal protein. Chock full of omegas, probiotics, and green-lipped mussels, it’s an excellent choice if your pup has skin, stomach, or joint issues that are common in older dogs.
To keep your pup’s weakening immune system as he ages, this formula is packed with superfoods, such as flaxseed, carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, blueberries, bananas, and many more. We also love that Now Fresh cooks all of its fresh ingredients only once at the lowest temperature possible to preserve their nutrients and flavor.
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How Can I Determine What’s Causing My Dog’s Allergies?
Unfortunately, research has found that dogs who have an allergy or intolerance to one food ingredient often have allergies to additional ingredients. And many also have intolerances to environmental allergens, such as mold, pollen, and dust mites. If your vet hasn’t yet confirmed that your pup has chicken or other types of food or environmental intolerances, you may want to consider getting your pup tested.
If you’re unsure what’s causing your dog’s allergies, you can give your pup an at-home dog allergy test. These kits test for sensitivity or intolerance to food and environmental factors that develop over time. You send a saliva or hair sample to the company’s lab and get results within a few weeks. You can then share these results with your vet to help further narrow down possible causes.
Tagged With: Allergies, Comparison, Food Delivery
