Pet Food Allergies? Check Out What’s In The Bag
Posted on May 15, 2008
Filed Under Pets |
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.
Some symptoms of dog food allergies include: Vomiting bile or blood, bad appetite, diarrhea and blood in the stool, itching, dry coat and skin, chronic ear infections, loss of fur, lots of scratching, hot spots and skin infections, increased bowel movements and anything else out of the ordinary.
If you’re worried that your dog may have a food allergy or intolerance to a particular food, you should test to ensure that the food is what’s causing the problem. Other issues, such as parasites or infections, can cause similar symptoms.
It might be necessary to use a home made dog food, so you can control the ingredients, and the balance of proteins and carbohydrates.
The matter is further complicated because there are many additives in dog food, and it may be one of these which is causing the allergy rather than a certain kind of meat or grain.
Dairy products, wheat, chicken, chicken eggs, soy, corn, and beef are the common culprits found in a dog’s diet that cause allergies. “But aren’t these the most common ingredients in dog food?”, you might ask.
Correct, and there is a correlation here. Just as many humans are lactose intolerant, over-exposure to these foodstuffs may be what has caused the problem.
Rice and lamb are common among many of the new recipes which have been formulated to be non-traditional dog feeds; hence dogs do not build up intolerance during this period.
These can really not be the solution to treat an intolerance nevertheless, as much of these trade names contains soybean, egg etc., so verify 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.
One thing to consider is that many “healthy” dog foods may still cause allergies in your dog if they contain that trigger ingredient, and even human grade dog food might still be causing your dog stomach problems, so be prepared to compare dog food brands extensively.
An intolerance to wheat or dairy contained in dog foods, natural and high quality though they may be, will still cause the end result, just as it does in humans. Canine skin problems are another sign that your dog may have an allergy.
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