Raw diet for Shar Pei skin fold infections

A ten-year-old Shar Pei with recurrent skin fold infections — this is one of those situations where diet genuinely moves the needle, but only if you get it right. Raw feeding done well can be excellent for inflammatory skin conditions; done badly it creates nutritional gaps that compound the problem over time. The difference is balance and sourcing. Before I point you anywhere specific: is your dog currently on any medication for the skin issues, and are you looking for a complete ready-made raw option or are you planning to prepare the meals yourself? Also, roughly what does he or she weigh?

Good instinct to go ready-made for a first-time raw feeder, especially with a dog who has an active health concern. For a Shar Pei with skin fold inflammation, the proteins you want to prioritise are ones naturally lower in arachidonic acid — think salmon, duck, and turkey rather than straight beef or pork, which can tip the omega-6 balance the wrong way and make inflammatory conditions worse. You also want complete and balanced, meaning it meets FEVA nutritional guidelines without you needing to add anything. Can I ask — does she have any known protein sensitivities or anything she's reacted to food-wise in the past?

That's helpful. Chicken is actually worth stepping away from initially — not because she's necessarily sensitive to it, but because it's very high in omega-6 and contributes to the same inflammatory pathways you're trying to calm down. My clear recommendation for your dog is Nature's Menu Country Hunter Raw Nuggets in Salmon with Herring. It's a complete raw food — no supplementing needed — and the salmon and herring base gives you a strong natural omega-3 load which actively works against skin inflammation. The nuggets are frozen and portion-sized, so for a 22kg Shar Pei you're looking at around 440g per day, split across two meals. It's widely available on Amazon UK and straightforward to defrost overnight in the fridge. The texture is also manageable for older dogs — at ten, you want something she can eat comfortably.

Gradual transition — always, but especially with a ten-year-old whose gut hasn't had to process raw protein before. Spend about ten to fourteen days mixing the two, starting at roughly 25% raw to 75% kibble and shifting the ratio every few days. You'll likely see some loose stools mid-transition; that's normal. What you're watching for is whether her skin starts to calm. Most owners with inflammatory-skin dogs report a noticeable difference in coat sheen and fold irritation within six to eight weeks of a sustained omega-3-rich raw diet — but it's not instant. Keep cleaning the folds daily regardless; the diet supports from the inside, it doesn't replace the external routine.

Nature's Menu Country Hunter is formulated as a complete food, so you don't need to add anything for basic nutrition. The one thing I'd consider — and this is worth discussing with your vet — is a separate omega-3 supplement like a pure fish oil capsule, specifically for the skin fold issue. The baseline omega-3 from the food is good; a small top-up can push the anti-inflammatory effect further in a dog with a known breed predisposition. YuMEGA Dog is a well-formulated option that's easy to find on Amazon UK. But start with just the food for the first four to six weeks so you can see what the diet alone does before adding anything extra.