Dog Food Allergy

People often tend to get confused between a dog food allergies and dog food intolerance. Food allergies in human and canines are very similar, food allergies are caused by the food items more commonly known as 'food offenders' that cause conditions like skins rashes, itching etc These are known to be the characteristics symptoms of a food allergy.

These food offenders again cause intolerance towards a particular type of food but the symptoms are less severe and cause conditions like diarrhea, vomiting, upset stomach etc. However in both the cases, the treatment involves firstly identifying what the trigger food is and then removing it from your dogs diet.

Research has proved that certain types of foods are more are more likely to cause a reaction than other types of food. Food items such as – beef, chicken, chicken eggs, food products made up of milk and other dairy products, wheat, corn and soy are more common to cause a dog food allergy. Though most of the times it is the protein content in these foods that cause a dog food allergy, a lot of times it is the amount of exposure to these food items that results in the food allergy . It is a known fact that for a long time, beef and chicken are used to make dog food and therefore seem to be a major contributor to dog allergies. Sometimes by just switching the food items that are rarely used as dog food like rice and lamb will help in curing the symptoms caused by dog food allergies. There is another preconceived notion among dog owners that the preservatives used in commercial processed foods can cause most of the food allergies that are reported now a day. In some cases this may prove to be true so it is essential that you know what preservatives are going into your dog foods.

Diagnosis of food allergies can be pretty tricky and it requires continuous observation and close monitoring. Diagnosis of the food allergies is difficult at time because of the confusing symptoms. Symptoms commonly caused by food allergies can also be caused because of other health problems like – fleabite, yeast or bacterial infections etc. Hence unless other health problems are ruled out or are dealt with, effective treatment for a dog food allergy is very difficult.