Is beef bad for dog allergies

Dog Allergies: What You Need to Know

Allergies are quite common in dogs of all breeds and backgrounds. They occur when a dogs immune system has a hyper-reaction to a foreign substance, such as pollen, flea saliva, vaccines, spider bites, bee stings, or even certain foods that normally would cause little or no reaction in most dogs.

We suspect certain dog allergies, such as atopy or allergies to pollens and plants, are primarily hereditary in basis. Most of these dogs begin to show allergic signs between 1-3 years of age, often after they have previously been exposed to the underlying cause. While most allergies cant be cured, the goal is to manage them with treatments that can help relieve or control a dogs allergic symptoms.

Signs That Your Pet Might Have Dog Allergies

The signs of allergies vary depending on the type of allergic reaction a dog is experiencing and can vary from dog to dog. Most allergic signs in are dermatologic, which can range from itching and inflammation of the skin, feet and ears, to hives and possibly swelling of the face. Some allergic dogs can have clear watery eyes and nose, as well as sneezing.

Gastrointestinal signs can also occur such as vomiting and/or diarrhea with or without blood. In rarer cases, a much more severe and different allergic reaction called an anaphylactic reaction can occur. This is an immediate type of hypersensitivity and leads to a potentially life-threatening situation where a dog can acutely collapse due to shock and a severe drop in blood pressure.

Types Of Allergies Your Dog Might Have

There are several common types of allergies in dogs, including:

• Fleas: Reaction to the protein in flea saliva, not the actual fleas. Therefore, a dog with only one flea can still have an extensive systemic allergic reaction due to their bodys reaction to just that one fleas saliva.
• Canine Atopic Dermatitis: Also known as atopy or atopic dermatitis (AD), this is a very common canine allergy. This is usually an inherited predisposition to develop allergic symptoms after exposure to relatively common substances or allergens in the air such as pollens, grasses, weeds, molds, or fungi. Common signs of atopy are itching and inflammation in a dog often seen in the underarms, groin, face and feet. Atopy is often seasonal.
• Food Allergies: Allergies to food can manifest with a chronic skin condition such as flaky, itching skin, chronic licking or biting of the paws, or chronic ear infections (often with secondary opportunistic bacterial or yeast infections). Dogs can develop allergies to a food or substance over a period of time, even if they may have had no previous issues with that food substance or protein.
• Contact Allergies: Contact allergies are found when a dog has direct contact with a caustic surface or chemical, causing severe irritation to the skin. Household cleaners, carpet cleaners, fertilizers, topical medication, and essential oils may all potentially cause a contact allergy.
• Bacterial Hypersensitivity: Bacterial hypersensitivity occurs when a dogs immune system overreacts to the normal bacterial flora on their skin. This often occurs when other health conditions are present, such as hypothyroidism, inhalant allergy, and/or flea allergy.

Diagnosis And Treatment of Your Dogs Allergies

The best method of controlling allergies is to know what the allergen is and to avoid it or control it. Your veterinarian can perform an extensive examination with history to try to help determine the most likely cause and formulate a practical treatment plan. The gold standard for diagnosing allergies in dogs is immunotherapy or allergy testing to determine the actual cause of the allergic response and to tailor an allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT).

There are several options for treating your dogs allergies, including:

• Flea Prevention: Flea prevention is obvious, relatively easy, and will help dogs who suffer from allergies to fleas. Flea eradication through an extensive anti-parasitic protocol may be necessary to improve the allergy sufferer.
• Antihistamines: This treatment is generally inexpensive and safe with few side effects, but different types can have variable effects and dont work on all dogs.
• Medications: Cortisone products have been commonly used in the past with good effects on allergy sufferers, but these types of medications are not without side effects, so they need to be used judiciously and only for shorter periods of time. Newer medications such as cyclosporines (Atopica), Apoquel (an immunomodulatory), and Cytopoint (an immunotherapeutic) are currently being used extensively by clinicians with good results to minimalize the severe itching response the dog gets from allergies.
• Dietary Changes/Hypoallergenic Diets: Dairy, beef, and wheat can be responsible for up to 80% of food allergies in dogs. Hypoallergenic diets utilize one novel protein (or only one new protein in a diet) as the protein source. Most pets with food allergies respond well when switched to a store-bought hypoallergenic diet, but occasionally an animal suffers from such extreme allergies that a homemade diet is the only option. In this case, the diet should be customized with the aid of a veterinarian, veterinary dermatologist, or veterinary nutritionist.
• Environmental and External Aids: Air purifiers can help reduce certain molds. Dust and pollens are best controlled by using an air cleaner with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. Air conditioning can also reduce circulating amounts of airborne allergens because windows are then kept closed.
• Medicated Baths and Supplements: Many medicated dog shampoos have compounds in them that are aimed at soothing the injured skin and skin barrier and calming inflammation. In addition, frequent bathing (weekly to every other week) can remove allergens from the coat, which may contribute to skin allergy flare-ups. These shampoos are often prescribed by your veterinarian, and directions for use should always be read completely and followed explicitly.
• Supplements: Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acid supplements can be considered by your veterinarian. These fatty acids are naturally anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative agents.
• Antibiotics and Antifungal Medications: Antibiotics are frequently needed to treat secondary skin infections. Anti-fungal medications are frequently needed to treat secondary yeast infections.

Each possible allergy treatment has its advantages and drawbacks. Finding the source of your dogs allergy and discussing a specific treatment plan with your veterinarian is recommended.

Can Dogs Be ALLERGIC To BEEF? | Beef Allergy In Canines?

Here I come up with a new topic i.e. beef allergy in canines. So, in the following piece of article, I would try to cover all the related topics that may arise in your mind regarded to food allergies in dogs.

Yes! a dog may surely be allergic to beef (cow meat: a protein-rich food). However, the numbers of cases of meat allergy in dogs are rare.

Carnivores are build to eat and digest meat very smoothly. Dogs are the best example of domestic carnivores that love to swallow all types of meat i.e. beef, pork, mutton, fish, chicken, etc.

All Dogs like other carnivores possess incredible tools to break down and digest high protein (protein-rich) diets in their system. An adult dog has 42 teeth including twelve incisors (six on the top and six on the bottom), four canines (two on the top and two on the bottom), sixteen premolars (eight on top and eight on the bottom), and 10 molars (four on the top but six on the bottom).

A strong jaw with 42 well-developed teeth makes it greatly easy to chew rough diets like bones, raw meat, and beef for all canines.

How Beef Causes Food Allergy In Dogs?

Before I start to explain how beef causes allergies in dogs? you must be aware of;

How Dogs Digest Food?

A dogs digestive system consists of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, and intestines (small and large).

Food (beef) enters through the mouth (oral cavity) where sharp teeth and saliva (that contain enzymes) break it down into small pieces. The esophagus is a long pipe that connects the stomach to the oral cavity. Esophageal motility, the contraction, and relaxation movement of the esophagus propel food that comes from the oral cavity to the stomach.

Then the dogs stomach starts producing acids (hydrochloric acid), the liver produces protease (and other digestive) enzymes that help in protein digestion. The saliva in the stomach works as a lubricant that protects the stomach lining from acids and protease enzymes and restricts these enzymes from damaging the stomach lining.

Beef is a big source of healthy nutrients for pets. However, It could also be a common food allergen for some dog breeds.

Causes Of Beef Allergy In Dogs

Canines love to eat meat and their bodies are made to digest protein-rich foods very well. But meat could also be a problem for some dog breeds because it may cause severe skin allergies, dermatitis (inflammation of the skin), and upset stomach, etc.

The main reason behind beef allergy in dogs is unknown. Cow meat contains all types of essential and non-essential amino acids (building blocks of protein molecules), fat, and other healthy ingredients. A dogs body may be allergic to any of its (beef) components.

Essential amino acids are those that a dogs body cannot produce itself, and canines get these amino acids from outsources (food) while the non-essential amino acids are those that a dogs body can produce itself and they dont need to get them from the outsourcing.

Examples of essential amino acids are lysine, leucine, isoleucine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, valine, histidine and phenylalanine, etc.

Symptoms

When a dogs immune system encounters an unrecognized foreign substance that may be food (component) or something else like medicine, etc.

The immune system assumes that is a threat or invader for the body. So the immune system alerts the body by activating the histamine receptors that cause (allergies) inflammation or swelling, itching, shortness of breath, and abdominal problems like diarrhea, etc.

If a dogs body is allergic to beef (protein-rich food), your best friend may face the following symptoms in the body;

• Itching or irritating skin
• Diarrhea
• Upset stomach (gas, bloating, etc)
• Abdominal pain
• Hives
• Bald spots on the body
• Continuously licking the paws
• Shortness of breath
• Runny nose
• Sore throat
• Abdominal cramps and pain
• Loss of appetite (anorexia)
• Nausea and vomiting
• Dry mouth
• Irritation in ears and eyes

Most of the allergic signs relate to the skin while others upset the stomach. You must know the difference between the terms food allergy and food intolerance.

Food Allergy

When a bodys immune system response against an un-recognized foreign substance (food) by producing certain types of hormones that cause skin allergies, dermatitis, inflammation on the face of dogs, hives, irritation on paws, face, ears, and eyes, etc. Its defined as a food allergy.

Food Intolerance

If a pets digestive system becomes unable to digest certain types of food or any food ingredient, like fails to digest certain types of protein (present in beef) may cause food intolerance in dogs.

In food intolerance, the bodys immune system does not involve. It happens because there are no specific enzymes present in the digestive system (stomach) that can metabolite the beef. So it becomes hard for the body to digest and this condition (food intolerance) usually causes the stomach issues like diarrhea, abdominal pain, gas, bloating, etc.

Diagnoses

A veterinarian may better diagnose whether a dog is suffering from a beef allergy or beef intolerance.

Treatment

How Can We Treat Beef Allergy In Dogs?. Its an important question to answer as food allergies in dogs may be fatal and dangerous for their lives (if left untreated).

Medicines like antibiotics, corticosteroids, steroids, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), probiotics and, supplements are used to remedy secondary infections caused by allergies.

For swelling and inflammation of the jaws, ears, nose, paws, eyes, or any other parts of the body, a veterinarian may suggest steroids like Prednisolone, Dexamethasone, or Betamethasone for a pet (in a restricted dose).

Antibiotics are used to treat secondary bacterial infections caused by allergens in the body. Due to itching, dogs scratch their body parts and build a bacterial infection. For skin infections in dogs (caused by beef allergy), Cefpodoxime proxetil, Amoxicillin and Clavulanate potassium, doxycycline, are suggested.

All antibiotics and steroids are prescription drugs. It means that are not available without a registered doctor, physician, or veterinarian prescription. Always consult a doctor before taking any kind of medication.

NSAIDs reduce pain, fever, and swelling. Generic: Carprofen is an example of FDA approved drug.

The drugs like antibiotics can disturb the healthy gut flora (digestive system) in dogs. Probiotics help to maintain a healthy gut flora as well as strengthen the immune system.

Exclusion Diet

A dogs body may be allergic to a specific food (like beef) or a special group of foods (like dairy products).

An exclusion diet plan helps to determine the exact triggers that cause food allergies in dogs. Foods that cause allergies should be excluded from a dogs diet. This is the only and best way to avoid allergic symptoms in pets.