Causes Of Dog Food Allergy Symptoms - Family - Pets

Many reports have shown that there are specific ingredients that are more likely to cause an allergy in your dog.

Food additives, food coloring, and synthetic preservatives can also cause hypersensitivity. Other potential causes of pet food allergies are a food intolerance acquired from exposure to maternal antibodies, a weakened immune system, gastrointestinal sickness caused by vaccinations or secondary to a parasite infection.

Just like humans, your dog can be allergic to just about anything. Figuring out if your dog has a food allergy requires patience and time to test new foods. Usually it takes about 12 weeks to effectively test.

Unfortunately, most commercial dog foods contain some of the most common ingredients that cause allergies in dogs. This shouldn't be surprising because many commercial canine foods are made from the cheapest sources of ingredients they can use.

If your dog is having a difficulty digesting a particular brand of dog food, check the ingredients label against the list below.

beefwheatdairy products, such as milk and cheese eggschickencorn soybeansyeast various spices and additives.

Food allergies can sometimes occur when the dog's chief source of carbohydrates is soybean in its food. The allergies show up as excessive flatulence and other signs of indigestion. If your dog is hypersensitive to soybean-based dog food, try changing over to another brand of dog food that has been made with regular wheat flour. Or even better, prepare your own dog food.

In some cases, it's not the actual food, but the chemicals, preservatives and pesticides used in and around the foods that cause the allergies.

Dog Food Allergy Symptoms

While dogs suffer from allergies just like people do, an important difference is that, while most humans sneeze a lot and have their symptoms mostly in the respiratory tract, pets display many of their allergic reactions in their skin.

Dog food allergy symptoms are similar to symptoms of many types of allergic reactions in dogs. The main symptom is itchy skin. Your dog's skin may grow bumps or show excess redness in certain areas. The areas of your dog's body most generally affected from food allergies are the face, ears, paws or legs, armpits and around the anus. Pieces of fur may be wet most of the time because of constant licking and biting. Some hair loss is also common.

Other food allergy symptoms can include hotspots, ear infections and skin infections that might respond well to antibiotics and then come back as soon as you stop the antibiotics. A pet that is allergic to food may also have stomach problems, most likely bowel movements more often than usual.

It's not always simple to pinpoint food allergy in pets. The biggest trouble is that the symptoms caused by dog food allergy can be very similar to flea bite allergy, intestinal parasite hypersensitivity, mange and yeast or bacterial infections. It is crucial to look for and address any of these possibilities before starting a 12 week food trial to resolve your dog's diet.

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