Food allergies in dogs

Food allergies in dogs

Some dogs may not be able to process some foods, and suffer from food allergies when fed certain items. True food allergies in dogs only occur in dogs over roughly one year of age. Some breeds of dog have higher risk of food allergies. These include the following:

* Cocker Spaniels
* Dalmations
* Golden Retrievers
* Labrador Retrievers
* Miniature Schnauzer
* West Highland White Terrier

Surprisingly, food allergies in dogs may cause no gastrointestinal problems at all but trigger an allergic response in the skin, sometimes localized to the face or the ears. The most common antigens that cause food allergies in dogs are proteins. Beef is the most common protein in dog food, it accounts for about 60% of diagnosed cases.

Food allergies in dogs is diagnosed by feeding a unique diet that the dog has not eaten for at least six weeks. Dogs seldom eat fish or potato so that is the diet that is usually recommended to see if anything in the former diet is provoking an allergic response. If skin disease or bowel problems resolve but return when the former food is fed again, this confirms food allergy in your dog. It would probably be best to stick to the fish and potato new diet routine if this happens. The processing procedures used to produce commercial dog food may somehow increase the antigenicity of some foods, so processed food may trigger food allergies in dogs whereas natural foods do not. Some dog food manufacturers produce hypoallergenic foods, in which the protein has been "hydrolized" or broken down into its constituent amino acids

Commercial dog foods are not healthy for your dog.
Read more about food allergies in dogs and view some all natural dog food recipes here