Dog food allergy is very common and getting worse, or very uncommon and not a problem, depending on whom you ask. But there is one thing that is certain; it is one of the top three allergies that will affect your dog.
This condition in dogs, unlike other allergies and diseases, has no real common denominator among species or gender. It can affect any dog breed, at any age and at any time.
Vitamins and Mineral supplements can help tremendously with this condition, and there are several nutritionists who believe that allergies to foods, especially dog food, may indeed be caused by nutrient deficiencies.
These allergies may be reduced, or may even cured, by including Vitamin C and Quercetin, a plant derived flavonoid, both of which are very potent antihistamines, as well as Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, Zinc, and Calcium which are great antioxidants as supplements in your dogs diet.
Our dogs eat highly processed food, possibly the highest processed of any type of food, and quite often the ingredients are of questionable origin.
Would you eat your dog's food?
Many of our dogs foods are loaded with chemicals, some of which are actually banned in other countries, so is it a stretch that these allergies may be caused by their food, or the lack of nutrients in their food?
And in the processing of these foods, is there any second guessing that several of the important vitamins and minerals you pet needs may be lost in that process?
So what exactly is this allergy in dogs?
This condition (or hypersensitivity to food) is simply an abnormal immune system reaction to a substance found in your dogs food. If your dog food causes gas, bloating, or other such unpleasant reactions, this is not an allergy; it is intolerance, much like lactose intolerance in humans.
This allergy is much more threatening to you best friend than is food intolerance.
An allergy to food can and quite often does produce rashes, swelling of the tongue and or throat, headaches (yes your dog can get headaches), hives, and a difficulty in breathing.
It can also cause vomiting, diarrhea, hypertension and stomach cramps, in severe cases. However, it is much more common with this condition to develop itching, sometimes severe, rather than vomiting, cramps, or diarrhea.
Some forms of these allergies can appear virtually overnight, while others make take years to develop.
From personal experience with my 12 year old Dalmatian who is very sensitive, it took us a couple of years to find the real cause, but we did find it.
This condition is much different in dogs than in food allergy in people.
The allergic reaction in a dog is the immune system actually over reacting and than producing antibodies to what it senses as danger, and it can quite often be something it should be able to have normally tolerated.
These allergies are most commonly caused by the gluten from wheat, beef, chicken, soy, and most all dairy products.
However, while proteins are by far and away the largest cause, most any type of food can cause an allergy, it all depends on your dogs system, making it very, very difficult to pin down.
So what can you do to try to pinpoint the cause of a food allergy in your dog, outside of completely changing your dogs diet after every few weeks (actually 12 weeks is recommended), to try to find the culprit?
Today is has become much easier. Your veterinarian can now run blood tests that will show you, with a high degree of accuracy, what your dog is allergic to, but it is still not full proof.
Treating dog food allergies will still involve some trial and error on the owner's part.
It may still involve hypoallergenic diets or home made diets in very stubborn cases. You may have to substitute your dogs diet every twelve weeks until you can find the real cause.
Recent studies have shown the recommend trail periods of 3 weeks only produced accurate results in about 25% of the cases, so as hard as it may sound, 12 weeks may be the only accurate way to eliminate foods.
Some special blends of dog food that include lamb and rice, or duck and potato, may be the answer, but lamb and rice are no longer considered the answer either, as most commercialized lame and rice will contain wheat, eggs, or the very ingredients that may be causing the problem.
In the most stubborn of cases, you may find that there is no substitute for home made remedies that are pure novel sources of protein. With homemade diets, you can truly control exactly what is placed in your dog. And please remember, your dog depends on you for everything.
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