Watch Out For Dog Food Allergies

If you own a pet dog, then you should be aware of how healthy your dog is. One of these is to know what your dog is allergic to. A lot of people are not aware, but dog food allergies happen very often.

Allergies like these often create reactions on the internal organs and their skin. These food allergies surprisingly manifest themselves due to your dog eating the same type of food for many years.

Surprised? Yet many people do not think so and would never expect it. Do you know that according to released statistics, dog food allergies occur in over 70% of cases due to consuming the same food for more than 2 years?

Hard to believe but true. Admittedly, it is not easy to distinguish what are the core factors that triggered these allergies. However, there are some factors which has been studied and mapped out to have a better understanding of it.

One of the many causes could actually be attributed to seasonal factors. Seasonal factors are due to certain times of the year when allergic inhalants appear more often than usual, like dust and weeds.

Another cause is the environment itself. Allergic symptoms can spear when dust mites or certain insects appear often in the house.

How do we tell which is the cause if the allergic signs appear similar? One way to verify is to observe if your dog is suffering from allergic symptoms for the entire year, or just during certain seasons. This would be quite evident after a period of observation.

Another possible cause can be your pet dog is very young. Puppies usually are more sensitive to allergies and they very often suffer from skin or ear infections.

While your pet dog can react badly to a lot of modern dog food ingredients, some of the usual culprits are milk and eggs. These dairy products do not go down well with a dog's digestive system. Certain kinds of meats like beef or chicken are not totally suitable for dogs as well.

Dogs are also prone to allergies from grain-type food like yeast or wheat. Of course, the ever problematic preservatives and colourings are another big cause of these dog food allergies. Fruits like tomatoes should be avoided as they easily cause allergic reactions for dogs.

Whenever you encounter signs your dog is or might be suffering from dog food allergies, take them to see a veterinarian immediately. The sooner they can take blood tests and diagnosis the better.

Before that, what you can do to alleviate these allergic symptoms is to first stop feeding them the food you usually give them. After that, switch it with an entire new batch of dog food. See if this will reduce the dog food allergies your pet is suffering from.

Slowly, introduce back the same kinds of dog food you provided in the past. Once you see a sudden manifestation or increase of the allergic symptoms, immediately cease and take note of the food your dog reacted to. Stick with this method for a month to make sure results are consistent.