Intolerance vs. Allergies to your Dogs' Food

Intolerance is very different than allergies. Humans can be intolerant to cucumbers and spicy oriental or Mexican foods, but not be allergic to them. Dogs can be intolerant to certain foods and the results can be the same. Doggy diarrhea and some nausea can occur if your dog ingests something that "disagrees" with him. That is an easy fix. Avoid the foods availability to your dog. Possibly it is the table scraps he begs for after every meal or the new food you bought for him.

Allergies are quite different. A true allergy creates a systemic reaction. Very itchy skin and pronounced skin rash are just two of the obvious ones. It is usually a reaction to a particular protein in the food that causes it.

There are no specific dogs that are more susceptible to allergies. They can occur in any breed, any gender and any size at any age. Both of these conditions can easily be avoided. Simply provide your dog with food that is free of the offensive ingredients. Of course if you forget to put your leftovers away, there is no stopping the little fella from jumping into the trash or onto the counter to have a midnight snack. Caution is in order.

The most common foods that affect dogs are beef, eggs, chicken, corn, soy, wheat and dairy products. Unfortunately, that covers most of the ingredients in commercially prepared do food. What is an owner to do? First, you need to realize that these foods are not what your dog would have eaten in the wild. These items have been recently introduced to the commercially prepared foods and it will take time for domestic dogs to adjust to the product.

Initial symptoms that can occur are hair loss, excessive itchiness and scratching, chronic ear infections, hot spots and skin infections. While the skin infections may respond well to antibiotic treatment, the recur after the medication is discontinued. The dreaded diarrhea is also a common symptom with allergies.

The process of elimination is the only way besides very expensive allergy tests, to find out the culprit. If itchiness is the first thing you notice, you may want to check for fleas. If fleas are ruled out, consider contact matter, inhaled allergens, parasites and some skin cancers. If all of these are discounted, food is probably the culprit.

During the elimination process, the only thing you can do is try to control the itching with soothing products to prevent skin breakdown and further infection.

The elimination diet is next. It will be necessary to remove all of the dogs current food from his diet. Each of the trials take twelve weeks. Eliminate completely, your dogs food. Introduce new protein and carbs to the diet. Things such as rabbit, venison, potatoes, rice or duck are good choices. There are commercial foods with these ingredients. If your dogs symptoms are improved, try the old food again. If the symptoms return, you have the culprit. If the symptoms do not improve, change the protein and carbohydrate again.

Do not give your dog anything except the new food for twelve weeks. This will include the elimination of treats. It is difficult but possible.

Information provided by Logan Cooley of Oh My Dog Supplies, where you can find a incredible variety of unique dog collars online.