Increasingly today, our pets are becoming prone to food allergies, and may cause a host of symptoms like skin itching and rashes, leading your pet dog to scratch itself mercilessly, promoting sores and other eruptions on its skins.
Head shaking, foot or tail chewing, hair loss, and ear infections may also be the result of a simple food allergy.
Some of the more severe symptoms may be vomiting, diarrhea, and in certain dogs, seizures and behavioral changes.
Your dog may develop an allergy at any time! Although it may come as a huge relief for you to read this at a time when you thought that your pet had some sort of major incurable disease, you must remember that even if the dog has eaten the same food for the past several years, it may still develop an allergy to it, and it is up to you to make sure that you know what you are dealing with in your pet.
What is your dog allergic to? Dogs are most often allergic to these ingredients, some of which are popularly used in dog foods: beef, corn, chicken, dairy products, sometimes eggs, wheat and soy.
How do you find out exactly what your pet is allergic to? Try changing his diet, eliminating his regular foods one by one, and watch out carefully for the reduction or increase of the allergy. This way, you will know exactly what to avoid, and what to use, but the strong advice is to go for hypo allergenic dog food, so that you are always safe.
How to choose hypo allergic dog food?
Most brands that sell hypo allergenic dog foods state what ingredients the food lacks, and if you are aware of exactly what your pet is allergic to, then your problem is solved!
If you do not know, however, and you need help to choose the best and most suited allergy free dog food for your beloved pet, then here is how. When you read the ingredient list on the package, find out whether their proteins have been chopped into smaller pieces than is usual, in order to facilitate better digestion and elimination. Smaller pieces mean better assimilation, and you must choose the dog food that claims to have done so.
Wait for the allergy to subside: When you have decided upon your hypo allergic dog food, add it a little at a time to the old food, so that you can avoid a tummy upset. You must then wait patiently, for at least two to six weeks, for the effects of the change in diet to show, although some pets may respond even earlier. Keep your dog away from scraps, food from other people’s homes, and from foraging around in the garbage.
These steps will ensure that your pet’s food allergies are cured, and that they do not recur.
