Dog Information

Checking Your Dog?s Dog Food for Allergies

Dogs, like humans, can suffer from allergies. Allergies can have a variety of causes and for the purposes of this article we want to learn about dog food for allergies. So there are two things we need to do right away. One is to learn what the symptoms are in dogs and checking for them. Two is determining if any of these symptoms are caused by your dog’s food. If so, we will be checking your dog’s dog food for allergies being caused by certain ingredients.

Symptoms of dog food allergies are pretty much the same as other non food related allergies. These are, among others, skin irritation leading to scratching, chewing and rubbing against things where they can’t reach. These irritations can be located in many parts of the body including the anus, armpits, forelegs, ears, feet and face.

The first thing to try is to stop using commercial pet food products – especially those made for mammals.

Many of the ingredients (food sources, enhancements, preservatives and more are known to be the cause of a food allergy in dogs. Dog food for allergies will help you replace these.

In order to stop using commercial dog food it may be necessary to do it gradually. This depends solely on how your dog reacts to the switch. You can make the switch, no problem, but if your dog has a reaction that is related to it’s digestive tract (bloating, gas or diarrhea) then you will have to take it slower is all.

Another method of testing to see if the allergy is food related is to see if your vet is willing to try treating the symptoms with an antibiotic for dogs.

Very likely the antibiotic will definitely relieve the symptoms even if they are food allergies. The test is when your dog stops taking the antibiotics. If they are food allergies, as soon as the antibiotics wear off the symptoms will return because your dog is still eating the same food.

If this is the case, if you haven’t already, you should make the switch from commercial dog food to homemade dog food for allergies. If you are already making homemade dog food then you’ll need to switch out one ingredient at a time about once every couple months to be able to see if the symptoms are going away or not.

You want to maintain your dog’s nutrient levels so you need to find a substitute source of what ever ingredient you are testing for at that time.

You should also be aware that there are foods that are toxic to dogs and have nothing to do with allergies, so you want to get a complete list of foods toxic to dogs from your vet or the internet and eliminate all of those immediately.

Remember that through all this switching and changing of ingredients that the ingredients you end up with must still provide for the proper nutrition levels your dog food for allergies needs. If they don’t then you can use supplements. Remember to check the packaging for dosage and that they don’t contain anything on your list of foods your dog is allergic to.