What foods cause most allergies in dogs

Food allergies in dogs

Treatment

If the food trial confirms that your dog has a food allergy, your vet might recommend feeding your dog their new diet for life, as long as its a complete food that contains all the necessary nutrients. Your dog shouldnt have any other food or treats at all. Keep all human food and other pet food safely out of reach.

Once your dog is settled without symptoms on their special diet, you can try adding ingredients back into their food (one at a time) to try and find out what they are allergic to. If your dog doesnt show any symptoms, this is a safe food. Alternatively, if your dogs symptoms come back after eating a certain food, its likely they are allergic to it. This will help you select a dog food that only contains safe foods. If you want to do this you should follow your vets advice.

Some dogs with a food allergy will also have allergies to things in the environment, this may cause atopic dermatitis (allergic skin disease). In this case, they might improve a bit on a special diet but they may need other treatments as well to help keep their skin symptoms controlled.

The Best Foods for Dogs With Allergies

Humans arent the only ones with allergiesour dogs can get them, too. Canine allergies can lead to numerous skin conditions that can be frustrating to manage. These allergies can be due to environmental causes or from the food our dogs eat.

Key Takeaways

• Dogs can be allergic to foods like beef, chicken, lamb, wheat, soy, eggs, corn, and nuts.
• Allergy tests for dogs are not reliable.
• The only proven way to tell what your dog is allergic to is to change their protein source or perform an elimination diet trial.

The most common symptoms of dog food allergies include:

• Redness of the skin of the inner ears

• Itchiness of the ears (chronic scratching of the ears or shaking of the head)

• Ear hematomas

• Chronic thickening of the ears

• Chronic ear infections

• Redness and itchiness of the feet or in between toes (foot chewing)

• Chronic pododermatitis

• Patchy hair loss along the neck and trunk

• Chronic skin infections (with bacteria or yeast) that never seem to clear up

Skin issues are the most common dog food allergy symptoms. These are mostly seen as an allergic reaction to the proteins absorbed in food.

The reaction leads to the release of immune cells, which can cause weakening of the bonds between the skin cells, resulting in a weakening of the skin barrier. This change in the skin barrier leads to redness and itchiness, and it makes the skin more susceptible to infection with normal bacteria and yeast.

The most affected areas are the ears, paws, around the eyes, and sometimes the trunk (torso) and limbs.

What Are Common Dog Food Allergens?

The most common proteins dogs are allergic to are beef, chicken, lamb, and wheat. Other less common causes of dog food allergies include soy, eggs, corn, and nuts.

Dogs cannot be tested for food allergies like people can, as the available testing is unreliable. The only proven way to tell what your dog is allergic to is to change their protein source or perform an elimination diet trial.

During an elimination diet trial, you eliminate all proteins your dog has been exposed to for two to three months. This gives the body enough time to completely eliminate the old protein sources and heal from the chronic allergy stimulation.

How To Help a Dog With Food Allergies

An elimination diet trial withhydrolyzed foodis the best way to treat and diagnose a dog food allergy. Its easiest to start with a prescription diet, such asHills z/dorRoyal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein. Theseveterinary dietshave proteins that are too small to be recognized by the immune system.

An elimination diet trial takes approximately two to three months to complete. This time is necessary for the old proteins to leave the dogs system. Additionally, the dog must be on the diet long enough to see a difference from the previous food.

The most common mistake pet parents make is not waiting long enough before calling it quits on the diet trial. Changing what your dog is eating for just a week or two will not give you complete results, so taking the proper amount of time to test food and treats is crucial.

Another common mistake: feed a dog anything other than the elimination diet. During a diet trial, pets cannot have any table scraps or treats (unless the elimination diet has a compatible treat option).

Changing what your dog is eating for just a week or two will not give you complete results, so taking the proper amount of time to test food and treats is crucial.

If the symptoms do not resolve after two or three months on the hydrolyzed elimination diet trial, your dog most likely has some type of environmental allergen. Or something else is causing the problem, such as an autoimmune condition.

If you get a good response from the trial, try to feed your dog a new protein source, such as venison, fish, or kangaroo. If they are going to react to these proteins, you should notice a mild reaction starting within two weeks. If their allergy symptoms return, stop the new protein source and go back to the hydrolyzed food.

Try adding one protein at a time every two to four weeks. If your dog reacts, stop and keep things steady for another two weeks before trying a different protein.

Contact your veterinarian before starting any diet trial to get a prescription for a hydrolyzed diet. Its also important to see your veterinarian to make sure your pet doesnt have any concurrent infections, which can be common because of the disturbed skin barrier caused by the allergic reaction. Infections can look the same as dog food allergy symptoms, so you must make sure to clear all infections during the food elimination trial.

During the trial, remember:

• Make sure the prescription treats and food are all that you are feeding your pet. You cant feed human food or regular pet treats with a food trial, as it can introduce the allergens youre trying to eliminate.

• Alwaysintroduce a dog to a new diet slowlyto avoid stomach upset or diarrhea.

The Best Dog Food for Allergies

Hydrolyzed Dog Foods

Hydrolyzed foods are the best dog food for allergies because the proteins are broken down into pieces that are so small the body cant recognize them. Some of these foods include:

Novel Protein Foods

Novel protein diets include proteins that your dog has not been introduced to before, such as duck, fish, venison, and kangaroo. Some examples of novel protein diets are:

Foods for Puppies With Allergies

While its rare for puppies to have food allergies, there are some documented cases in pups as young as 6 months old. If you think your puppy may have a food allergy, lamb and rice formulas, such asPurina Puppy Lamb & Rice Formula, would be a good place to start for a novel protein.

If allergies are severe and your vet recommends a hydrolyzed diet, Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein does come in a puppy formulation.

WRITTEN BY

Robyn Gallucci, DVM

Veterinarian

Dr. Gallucci started her career in veterinary medicine as a kennel assistant in high school and began training as a technician in college....

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.