The best dog food for food allergies is going to differ from dog to dog for a variety of reasons. It can differ due to breed, age, local water contaminants, ingredients used in commercial foods like preservatives and more; but, the most common are caused by actual foods themselves and usually within either proteins, carbohydrates or both.
It's not unusual to have a combination of factors come into play such as a protein being no problem until the dog reaches a certain state of maturity that causes a change in its physiology. The truth is that even today it's difficult to find out why certain things cause allergies at certain times. However, we know a lot about the symptoms to look for and how to treat them.
Common symptoms of all dog allergies are scratching and itching of the feet, armpits, ears and other parts of the face and also around the anus. You'll notice that your dog spends most if its days looking for ways to rub or scratch the areas in question. You will also be able to see a noticeable difference in the area that's bothering the dog. It'll look off color with possibly some hair loss and scabbing.
Don't confuse food allergy symptoms with toxic food symptoms. The two are not related in any way. Toxic food symptoms are serious and will be recognized by recurring vomiting and diarrhea and should be treated as a serious issue. You will want to take your dog to the vet right away. Remember that being allergic to a certain food does not mean that it is toxic.
Only about 10% of dog allergies are found to be food related. Since the symptoms of allergies of all types in dogs are for the most part the same you may need a little help in figuring out if it's food related or not. A veterinarian may conclude that it's probably not food related and prescribe some antibiotics to fight off the infections.
Antibiotics will work against all allergies and will cure the symptoms even if the problem is food related. However, when the antibiotics are discontinued, the food related symptoms will return if the dog's diet hasn't changed. So, if nobody was certain about the cause before the antibiotics were administered; if the symptoms return within a week or so there is an extreme probability that the cause is food related.
Once it has been determined that the allergy is food related it's time to implement a food trial. What a food trial basically consists of is altering or replacing the current regular food with something completely different. You'll have to run the food test for 12 weeks to be certain of the results.
If your dog is on a commercial dog food regimen you could start by comparing ingredients and switching to the one that is the most different from the current one. It might work or it might not. Commercial brands may or may not differ enough to matter concerning allergies. Their list of ingredients and nutritional information may differ some but the recipe that's actually followed in the manufacturing process won't. It is established by a governmental agency and can't be varied from enough to matter.
If you are making homemade recipes for your dog at home then you can absolutely find and eliminate the problem ingredient and replace it with another similar ingredient.
You will still need to perform a food trial until you figure out which food is the problem. Contact your veterinarian for specific guidelines on doing this yourself at home.
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