my dog has allergies what can i feed him

Allergies in Dogs and Puppies: Signs, Causes, and Treatment

Does your dog or puppy itch, scratch, chew, or lick themselves excessively? These are all signs that your dog may have allergies.

Allergies are common in dogsin fact, they are one of the top reasons for veterinary appointments. Dog allergy symptoms most commonly affect the skin and ears.

While humans often outgrow allergies, allergies in dogs tend to worsen as they get older. So how do you know if your dog has allergies, and whats causing them? Whats the best allergy treatment for dogs?

Heres what you need to know about dog allergies signs and what you can do to relieve your dogs allergies.

Key Takeaways

• Dogs can be allergic to many different triggers, including fleas, food, and items in their environment.
• Common signs of dog allergies include itching, licking, hair loss, and rashes.
• Treatment for dog allergies depends on what your dog is allergic to.

Types of Allergies in Dogs

Here are a few of the different types of allergies a dog can have.

Flea Allergies

An allergy to fleasis the most common skin disease seen in dogs. The bite of just one or two fleas per week is enough to make affected dogs itch. Flea saliva is believed to be the allergen that causes the itchiness.

Seasonal/Environmental Allergies

Also known as atopy,seasonal or environmental allergiesare caused by substances that exist in your home, backyard, and anywhere else your dog spends time.

These allergens can be inhaled, as with pollen, or absorbed through the skin when your dog touches them. Common triggers (allergens) for these allergic reactions include pollens, plant or animal fibers, dust mites, and mold spores.

Food Allergies

These are also known as adverse food reactions. Dogs can develop an allergy to a particular food at any point during their life, regardless of whether they have eaten these brands or types of foods in the past.

The most common food allergy for dogs is to a protein source in the diet, but sometimes the allergy is to grains and/or other ingredients.

Dog Allergies Signs

Dog allergies signs can include:

The type and severity of these signs depend partly on the type of allergy your dog has.

Signs of Flea Allergy Dermatitis in Dogs

The most common symptom of flea allergy dermatitis is itchy skin and irritation at the base of the tail, although other areas of the body may also be affected.

Seasonal/Environmental Allergy Signs in Dogs

Common symptoms include scratching/itchy skin, licking (especially the paws), and face rubbing. Affected dogs may also experience red skin, loss of fur, and recurrent skin and/or ear infections. You may see red skin or fur loss on your dogs paws and lower legs, face, ears, armpits, and belly.

Signs of Food Allergies in Dogs

The symptoms of food allergies are often the same as for seasonal/environmental allergies. There may also be GI signs, such as diarrhea, vomiting, or an increased number of bowel movements per day.

Is There an Allergy Test for Dogs?

Yes, but allergy testing in dogs is done for seasonal/environmental allergies only. Studies have shown thatblood testing and skin testing for food allergiesare not accurate in dogs. Studies have also shown that hair and saliva testing for seasonal or environmental allergies in dogs are not accurate.

Prior to performing allergy testing, your veterinarian should rule out other causes for your dogs allergy symptoms. Allergy testing should not be used to confirm that your pet has seasonal/environmental allergies, but to determine the specific things to which your dog is allergic.

Seasonal/environmental allergy testing can be performed in dogs by either skin testing or blood testing. Skin testing is the most accurate type of allergy test, and its generally performed by board-certified veterinary dermatologists.

Allergy testing should not be used to confirm that your pet has seasonal/environmental allergies, but to determine the specific things to which your dog is allergic.

For skin testing, mild sedation is required. The fur is clipped in a small area, and a series of very small amounts of allergens are injected into your dogs skin. The degree of the allergic reaction to each allergen determines whether your dog is allergic to it. The cost of these tests can range from $300$700.

Dog Allergy Treatment by Type

Treatment will depend on what the vet determines your dog is allergic to. Here are a few examples of how your vet might approach treating allergies.

Treatment for Flea Allergies

Treatment for flea allergy dermatitis is aimed at reducing the symptoms of itchy skin and irritation until the fleas are eliminated. To eliminate allergy symptoms in a flea-allergic dog, strict flea control is required.

There are many highly effective flea control products and medications available. Some are topical and come in the form of a liquid that you squeeze onto your dogs skin, such as Advantage, Revolution, or Vectra. Others are given orally in the form of chews, such as Simparica, NexGard, or Comfortis. Consult with your veterinarian to determine your best option.Oral preventions tend to be more effective than topical, but use cautionsome of the oral preventions have flavorings your dog might be allergic to.

In severe cases, a dogs environment must be treated for fleas as well. Vacuum thoroughly to remove eggs, larvae, and pupae, and discard the vacuum bag. You can use insecticides inside and outside your home to treat allflea life stages.

It is important to use an insecticide containing an insect growth regulator, such as methoprene or pyriproxyfen, to halt the development of flea eggs and larvae. You can hire a professional exterminator, but you should specify that the treatment is for fleas.

Treatment for Food Allergies

The treatment for food allergies in dogs is to feed a hypoallergenic diet for at least 12 weeks. This is the only way to determine if your dog has a food allergy.

Hypoallergenic diets either have limited ingredients with an uncommon protein source or are processed in a special way (hydrolyzed) to be less likely to cause allergic reactions. The concept is that a dog cannot be allergic to a food that they have not been exposed to before.

Consult your veterinarian to choose the proper diet. Over-the-counter foods are not recommended for a proper food trial. Treats, flavored medications, and human foods will also have to be eliminated during this trial period.

Other allergy treatment for dogs are aimed at reducing the symptoms while waiting to see if the diet change is helpful. Cytopoint, Apoquel, or steroids may be used to help control itching while waiting to see if a hypoallergenic food trial results in improvement of your dogs allergy symptoms.

Treatment for Seasonal/Environmental Allergies

If allergy testing has not been performed, then the treatment is symptomatic, meaning that it aims to reduce or eliminate your dogs symptoms. Treatments can include:

• Oral medications, such as Apoquel, Atopica, or antihistamines

• Injectable medications, such as Cytopoint

• Fatty acids

• Steroids

• Frequent bathing and other topical therapies, such as sprays, wipes, or a mousse

Steroids should not be used long-term in the management of allergies due to the risk of significant side effects.

If an allergy test has been performed, then the ideal allergy treatment for dogs is avoidance of the allergen. This is possible in a few, select circumstances, but most dogs are allergic to a variety of substances that can be difficult to avoid completely.

Most dogs are allergic to a variety of substances that can be difficult to avoid completely.

Other treatment can include an allergy vaccine, also known as immunotherapy, which is given either by injection under the skin (allergy shots) or by mouth. The goal of immunotherapy is to make the immune system less reactive to the allergy-causing substances.

The success rate of immunotherapy is 6070%. This is the best long-term approach to allergy control, especially in younger pets that experience symptoms most of the year. Symptomatic treatment can and should be given while starting immunotherapy. It may be many months before any improvement in symptoms is seen from immunotherapy alone.

Featured Image: iStock.com/bruev

WRITTEN BY

Leigh Burkett, DVM

Veterinarian

Dr. Leigh Burkett was born and raised in Northeast Tennessee. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Wake Forest University...

How to Feed Dogs with Food Allergies and Hypersensitivity

It is widespread for dogs to have dog food allergies (or food sensitivities), and it's one of the most typical hypersensitivities in dogs that pet owners must deal with.

Unfortunately, you cannot cure a dog's food allergy, but you can help manage it.

Still, itcan be easily managed through avoidanceand knowing how to feed dogs with food allergies.

The most difficult part of this process is figuring out what is causing an allergic reaction in the dog.

However, once the offending allergen (ingredient or ingredients) has been identified, it's fairly simple to develop a dietary plan for the dog that does not include that ingredient(s).

There is dog food for allergies and homemade recipes that can help.

Note that food allergies in dogs are not the same as food intolerance.

While food intolerance in dogs manifests itself mostly through symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea, a food allergy will also involve the dog's immune system.

It will cause itching, rashes, a variety of skin problems, and digestive problems.

This article covers feeding dogs with food allergies (food sensitivity) and not food intolerance.

What are Dog Food Allergies?

Dogs can suffer from allergies just like humans do, and while the incidence is still unknown, some studies show food allergies make up around 14% to 33% of all allergy cases in dogs (1).

After prolonged exposure to the allergen (a carbohydrate or a protein), a dog's immune system will begin fighting it by producing antibodies, which then cause the symptoms in the dog.

The most common signs of food allergy in a dog include (2):

• Itchy skin (and skin-related problems)
• Digestive problems (diarrhea and/or vomiting)
• Weight loss
• Hyperactivity

A dog's food allergy is a genetic issue, and it's triggered by exposure to the food or ingredient that the dog is inherently allergic to (3).

In addition to genetics, the environment can also play a certain role in developing food allergies. You cannot cure this problem, but you can manage it and navigate it fairly easily after diagnosing it.

The road to diagnosing a food allergy in a dog can be complicated (4, 5).

The first thing to do is to eliminate other possible allergies, like skin or blood allergies, which is done with simple commercial food tests using the elimination trial.

Studies show that the most common ingredients that cause food allergies in dogs are proteins primarily beef, dairy products, chicken, lamb, fish, chicken eggs followed by carbohydrates, such as corn, wheat, and soy (6).

A dog's breed or gender has no relation to food allergies.

All kinds of dogs, both female and male, and neutered/spayed and non-fixed dogs, have an equal probability of developing food allergies.

Symptoms of food allergies can appear any time throughout the dog's life, in puppies of 6 months and up to senior dogs of 12 years old (7).

Dog Food Allergies and Diet

The first thing to do if your dog has food allergies is to start with an elimination diet or a food sensitivity diet to determine which ingredient(s) is causing adverse reactions.

It would help if you took your pet dog off of all the food you're currently feeding them and put the dog on a limited ingredient diet with novel proteins that they've never eaten before (8).

Once the dog's food allergy symptoms subside, you can start gradually, one-by-one, introducing back old foods that you suspect have caused the problem.

If your dog reacts badly to one of those ingredients, you've found the culprit.

Some dogs are allergic to multiple foods, and to do this process properly, you should coordinate this with a vet.

It would help if you were notfeeding the dog any treats while going through the elimination diet.

Since it takes around six weeks for allergens to leave a dogs body, any foods other than those included in the sensitivity diet that you chose not only can harm the dog and bring the allergy back but will also mess with your identification of allergens.

Dog Foods for Allergies: Food and Skin

Consult with your veterinarian about the plan to rule out food sensitivities in your dog and which dog food for allergies to pick.

There are many variations of hypoallergenic dog foods to choose from, most of which will include rare ingredients that are less likely to cause allergic reactions in the dog (9).

Hypoallergenic dog food brands are actually very effective and can also be fed long-term if needed (10).

Not every hypoallergenic food will be ideal for every dog, so it's important to discuss this with your veterinarian. The three most popular formulations that show the best results are:

Novel protein diet Novel protein dog foods usually contain a single source of protein in the form of some non-typical meat that your pet has never eaten before.

Some popular choices of novel proteins in dog food include salmon, buffalo, duck, or venison.

Since your dog never had this type of protein before, chances that he never developed an allergy to it are pretty high.

Hydrolyzed protein diet This diet consists of proteins that have been broken down into small pieces of amino acids that make up the protein.

Since they are small, your canines body probably wont notice the protein, allowing your dog to avoid an allergic reaction.

Most hypoallergenic dog food diets are made of hydrolyzed protein.

Therapeutic diet This diet is basically a novel or hydrolyzed protein diet, but with higher levels of omega fatty acids because they can decrease the symptoms of food allergies.

You'll only be able to acquire this type of diet through your veterinarian, and these dog foods are usually the most expensive.

ASK A VET: Do Hypoallergenic Foods Really Work and Why?

Dietary Guidelines for Dogs with Food Allergies

Once you pinpoint the foods that cause your dogs food allergies, you'll need to avoid those trigger ingredients.

They're not only going to be in dog food recipes, either. Look for these foods in your dogs treats and medications, as well as anything else he ingests.

For example, some toothpaste made for dogs has chicken as an ingredient, and if your dog is allergic to chicken, this can cause an allergic reaction.

If your dog shows some symptoms of food allergies after you have eliminated the trigger food, that means that it might have another allergy.

It's not unusual for dogs to develop a new food-related allergy. Therefore, you might have to do the elimination diet again if that's the case and figure out what the new allergen is.

Pick commercial pet foods that are easy on your dog's stomach, and if you choose to cook for the dog (sometimes an easier approach), then make all meals easily digestible for the dog.

It's recommended to cook starchy vegetables and healthy, wholesome grains alongside novel proteins that you are sure your dog isn't sensitive to.

To make your dogs digestion process easier, feed him more often in smaller meals.

Foods to Avoid

What foods you should avoid in your dogs diet depends only and specifically on your individual dog and exactly what he is allergic to.

Every dog will have a different allergen causing this problem.Once the culprit has been diagnosed, that is the only thing you should avoid.

If the dog is allergic to multiple foods, then you should avoid them all.

Foods to Include

After you determine the foods that you should avoid, then find the best possible substitutions for them. There are many options out there, regardless of what your dog is allergic to.

Protein

If your dog is allergic to some of the common protein sources like chicken, lamb, beef, or fish, you can make a change to other protein sources.

Turkey, duck, rabbit, pork, venison, buffalo, and other exotic meats are all great substitutes for the protein source your dog is allergic to.

Eggs are also a good protein source, but animal-based proteins are better for your dog.

They are the best source of important amino acids necessary for growth, repair, and reproduction since they are the foundation for his organs, tissues, cells, and antibodies.

Carbohydrates

Even though carbohydrates are not nutritionally necessary for dogs, they are good for their intestinal health and provide your canine with energy.

Carbs are also a natural source of antioxidants, fiber, and trace minerals.

If your dog is allergic to grains like wheat and corn, you should substitute them with brown rice, barley or barley flour, rice flour, potato flour, or any other flour that is not made of corn and wheat.

Keep these to a very minimum, as your dog doesn't really need that many carbs, especially those with a high glycemic index.

Most fruits and vegetables are also rich in carbohydrates, like sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, pumpkin, apples, pears, etc.

They will be lower in calories and higher in fiber, which is why they should be your first choice for a source of carbs.

Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamins are important because they help your dogs metabolism, while minerals are good for his bones and teeth.

These ingredients are found in many things, especially in vegetables and fruits like apples, pears, pumpkin, beet, carrots, turnip, green beans, broccoli, etc.

Dairy products are also rich in minerals. However, many dogs are allergic to dairy or even lactose intolerant, and if that is the case, you should stick to fruits and veggies.

As far as dairy goes, even if your dog is not allergic, you should stick to low-fat cheeses like cottage cheese.

The best source of minerals is organ meats, like the heart, liver, kidney, or lungs.

Fat

Fat is a great energy source, but it also protects your dog's organs and provides insulation.

Fats from sources like fish (salmon or sardines), fish oil, and flax-seed oil are also rich in essential fatty acids like omega-3, which are extremely important for healing purposes and their anti-inflammatory properties.

Other good fat sources can be meats, poultry, eggs, pumpkin seed oil, and soybean oil.

Probiotics

Probiotics are great for your dogs digestive system, and they can help him with his food allergies as well.

Studies have shown probiotics help with many allergic reactions in humans, but there are no trials with dogs yet.

You can use probiotic supplements or just put a couple of teaspoons of yogurt in your dogs meal to help him with digestion.

Homemade Dog Food for Allergies

Making your own food from scratch is the safest way to ensure that your dog is protected from foods that trigger his food allergy.

Many commercial foods are made from ingredients that are themselves made from other ingredients. For example, corn is used in many commercial foods in one form or another.

However, if you havent cooked for your dog before you switch to a homemade diet, you should talk to your vet or an animal nutritionist to ensure that your diet is well-balanced and nutritional enough.

Here are a couple of video examples of homemade dog food for allergies:

Chicken and Carrot Meal

There are two reasons this recipe is recommended for dogs with food hypersensitivity.

First, the main protein source in this case, chicken is generally just a placeholder for whatever other protein you may need to use instead, and it's easy to make the substitution.

Second, this meal is straightforward to make, so if you are starting to cook for your dog, you might want to consider this recipe.

It is also great for his digestive tract because it has potatoes and carrots, full of fiber, to help his digestion.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoon of cottage cheese
• 1/2 pound of fried, ground chicken
• cup of grated carrots
• 1 cup of mashed potatoes

Preparation

Mix carrots, mashed potatoes, and chicken in a pot until all the ingredients are distributed evenly.

Then put them in the microwave oven and heat them for 3-4 minutes. After the mix cools off, add cottage cheese and serve it to your dog.

Remember that you can always substitute any ingredient from the recipe if your dog is allergic to it.

If your dog is allergic to chicken, use different meat, like turkey or duck. If he is allergic to dairy, dont use cottage cheese or any cheese at all. Your dog will still love this recipe.

MORE RECIPES: 12 Homemade Dog Food Recipes for Dogs with Allergies

Best Hypoallergenic Dog Foods for Food Allergies

While every dog will have a unique allergy to a specific food, veterinarians have noticed trends in most common ingredients causing food hypersensitivity in dogs.

Based on the available data, hypoallergenic dog foods, most of which are least likely to cause allergic reactions in dogs, have been developed.

Here are some of the best brands currently available over the counter:

What to Do About Dog Food Allergies Going Forward

So we have covered a lot. Dog food allergies are pretty common, but fortunately, they can be managed.

After reading we hope you feel better now that we've also gone over the most common food allergies in dogs and how to combat it.

In the comments below, let us know if you have a dog that suffers from a chicken allergy or other allergies!

We would love to try to help more if we can!

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