How does diet affect my dog's allergies?
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Diet is now known to have a direct relationship to many dogs allergies. Because dog food is being manufactured with cheap fillers like corn, wheat, and soy, we are un-knowingly causing our dog’s immune system to over react causing symptoms like ear infections, scratching, and paw licking.
Many people with puppies will say “can’t be allergies, my puppy has been on this dog food his whole life”. But it is now known that dog food allergies do not present themselves before age 6 months and usually worsen by age 3 yrs old.
Allergies in dogs can come on at any time because of a couple of factors. A dog could have one of the following allergies such as mold on the fall leaves, or dust mites from your carpet or under your bed, pollen, or flea bites. But when one of these allergies is then combined with a dog food allergy such as chicken or beef, or the before mentioned wheat, corn, or soy, it then becomes too much for the immune system.
The immune system over reacts to these foreign invaders and the symptoms will present themselves as ear infections, scratching, hot spots, hair loss, and licking. You owe it to your dog to not give up on finding the source of the allergies. You may have to change foods several times before finding the protein (chicken, beef, lamb etc.) or carb (wheat, corn, soy etc.) that is causing the allergy.
Put your dog on a L.I.D. – Limited Ingredient Diet for about 12 weeks. The L.I.D. will only have one protein, one carb, and one fat in the bag. This helps you to figure out which is the problem ingredient. Each formula needs to be tried for about 12 weeks to get the allergen out of the system, and the new ingredient in. Only give treats that match the dog food ingredients exactly and no table scraps.
Also try a high quality Omega 3 Fish oil supplement to help your dog’s skin heal. You will see new hair growth, less scratching, and less flakes and scabs. Frequent baths are also recommended with a medicated shampoo. An anti microbial shampoo such as tar and sulfur can be found at your grooming shop. Follow up the bath with a nice soothing colloidal oatmeal conditioner to help heal your dogs itching.
In severe cases a steroid may be needed to cool down the inflammation and to relieve the scratching and licking. Scratching and itching damages the skin and opens the door for more bacteria to take over causing more hot spots and hair loss.
Many people with puppies will say “can’t be allergies, my puppy has been on this dog food his whole life”. But it is now known that dog food allergies do not present themselves before age 6 months and usually worsen by age 3 yrs old.
Allergies in dogs can come on at any time because of a couple of factors. A dog could have one of the following allergies such as mold on the fall leaves, or dust mites from your carpet or under your bed, pollen, or flea bites. But when one of these allergies is then combined with a dog food allergy such as chicken or beef, or the before mentioned wheat, corn, or soy, it then becomes too much for the immune system.
The immune system over reacts to these foreign invaders and the symptoms will present themselves as ear infections, scratching, hot spots, hair loss, and licking. You owe it to your dog to not give up on finding the source of the allergies. You may have to change foods several times before finding the protein (chicken, beef, lamb etc.) or carb (wheat, corn, soy etc.) that is causing the allergy.
Put your dog on a L.I.D. – Limited Ingredient Diet for about 12 weeks. The L.I.D. will only have one protein, one carb, and one fat in the bag. This helps you to figure out which is the problem ingredient. Each formula needs to be tried for about 12 weeks to get the allergen out of the system, and the new ingredient in. Only give treats that match the dog food ingredients exactly and no table scraps.
Also try a high quality Omega 3 Fish oil supplement to help your dog’s skin heal. You will see new hair growth, less scratching, and less flakes and scabs. Frequent baths are also recommended with a medicated shampoo. An anti microbial shampoo such as tar and sulfur can be found at your grooming shop. Follow up the bath with a nice soothing colloidal oatmeal conditioner to help heal your dogs itching.
In severe cases a steroid may be needed to cool down the inflammation and to relieve the scratching and licking. Scratching and itching damages the skin and opens the door for more bacteria to take over causing more hot spots and hair loss.
