Pet Site HQ

Just like humans, dogs can have allergies to certain types of food. It may be an intolerance to individual ingredients such as wheat or corn, or a general complaint which is provoked my many types of food, such as colitis.

An animal with dog food allergies may experience any of the following symptoms: Vomiting bile or blood, poor appetite, diarrhea and blood in the stools, itching, dry coat and skin, chronic or recurrent ear infections, hair loss, excessive scratching, hot spots and skin infections, increased bowel movements and other unpleasant conditions.

Should you suspect that your dog is allergic to a certain food, you need to do some testing to make sure that it is indeed food which is causing the problem, as other medical complaints can also cause similar symptoms, like parasites, skin infections or any other.

It may mean that you avoid all commercial brands and stick to a homemade style dog food recipe of protein and carbohydrate, of which you can control exactly what goes into it.

Further complicating the issue, there are many additives in dog food, and it may be one of these instead of a certain kind of meat or grain, which is causing the allergy.

The most common allergy-causing foodstuffs in dogs are beef, dairy products, chicken, wheat, chicken eggs, corn, and soy. “What?”, I can hear you say, “These are the most common ingredients in dog foods!”

You bet, and there is a correlation. The problem may have been caused by overuse of particular foods, like with humans who are lactose intolerant.

New recipes such as lamb and rice have been formulated because these are not traditional dog foods, therefore dogs have not had time to build up an intolerance.

These might not treat the intolerance though, as many of these brands contain soy, egg etc., so check the ingredients.

Now that there are more dogs now than ever before with food allergies, the market is full of hypoallergenic dog foods to meet those needs of those dogs. The usefulness of these standards is limited by the unique constitution of each pet, but does provide some structure.

Be prepared to compare dog food brands extensively, since one thing to consider is that many “healthy” dog foods may still cause allergies in your dog if they contain that trigger ingredient. Even human grade dog food might still be causing your dog stomach problems.

Just as in humans, an intolerance to wheat or dairy contained in dog foods, natural and high quality though they may be, will still cause the end result. Canine skin allergies are another sign that your dog may have an allergy.

Popularity: 5% [?]