Dog Food Allergies Treatment – tips for identifying and treating food allergies in dogs as well as suggestions as what common dog foods to cut out of your dog’s diet. It’s hard to believe that the big trends of food allergies has carried over to our beloved fur babies, our dogs. Some may not realize that this is even a possibility, so when their pooch falls ill, or shows symptoms day to day…they may not even attribute it to food allergies.
Here’s the honest truth, dogs are suffering from food allergies just as humans can, and we need to be able to recognize the signs and do something about it so they can stay healthy. Our 2-year old Shih Tzu has allergies, and although it took us a while to figure it all out, we’re happy we did as he doing much better now.
Dog Food Allergies Treatment – Symptoms
The signs we noticed with our dog were vomiting, fur loss in clumps, and a nagging, hacking cough that resembled someone who was trying to cough something up. We’ve also heard of dogs that experience more itching than usual, or lethargic behavior.
Dog Food Allergies Treatment – Elimination Diet
The best way to figure out your dog’s allergies is the food elimination diet. If your dog experiences any allergy related symptoms, try to remove one of the major proteins from his/her diet, e.g. chicken, as that is usually the culprit. If that does not work, put chicken back into the diet and remove beef. If not beef, then repeat with lamb. To determine the the protein that is causing the issue, you should see a reduction in symptoms within 24-48 hours after removing it. Our dog showed improvements when we removed chicken, but still showed symptoms. We removed beef and saw further improvements, but we did not see him at his full best with zero symptoms until we removed lamb as well.
Dog Food Allergies Treatment – Dog Food Suggestions for Dogs with Food Allergies
The food we ended up finding for him has salmon, pumpkin and sweet potato as the main ingredients, and we found it at Meijer. It is Nature’s Recipe brand.
Now, our Shih Tzu is thriving and even eating better than ever. We are relieved to have figured this all out, and are happy to have found a dog food that does not contain any of his problematic foods. Read all the labels and find the one that does not have the problematic ingredients…it is challenging, but hopefully you will find a solution.
For more info on Dog Food Allergies Treatment, visit your vet.
