It’s surprising the amount of symptoms that can come from a food allergy, and the amount of money that people can spend through a vet to find out what is wrong with their poor dog, remember also that allergies can be seasonal caused by fleas or even mites.
Symptoms – a lot of the outwardly signs will show on a dogs skin, including reddish or pink skin all over their body, dry or flakey skin, it often appear as bald spots or sores even being antsy or lethargic they can show cold like symptoms or start itching so bad they pull out hair and actually start digging into their skin right in front of you (yeah, imagine how they feel) sometimes they will dig between their toes in worse cases it can be vomiting, diarrhea, to a total refusal to eat! I have even heard of dogs going into seizures all because of a food allergy!
Just like people dogs can develop an allergy, so don’t discount that just because they are eating the same food and have been for years that it isn’t a possibility, often times the food manufacturer themselves can change their food formula and people wont notice for weeks that their dog is having problems with it.
Cure – change their food! Yes this sound over simplified but the absolute best thing you can do before spending 400. for an allergy test is to simply change their food! (Depending on how bad the symptoms are of course)
You can buy foods that are a little more expensive but specifically cut out some of the major contributors to allergies which are:
Beef
Dairy Products
Eggs
Fish
Soy
Wheat
Corn
Now, this is going to take a little bit of doing on your part, you are going to have to check the ingredients in your current food and shop accordingly (depending on the severity you might just try changing from beef to chicken or corn to rice) and there are foods you can buy that will not have any of these ingredients in them, lamb and potato are the first thing that come to my mind but there are a lot of alternatives, if you just check the labels.
The dog food companies have gotten wise to the “Veterinary” foods that can only be purchased through your vet with an extra 20-50% mark up, and quite a few of the companies actually offer foods based on other ingredients.
In the worst case you can make your own pet food (this will also cancel out any possibility that it is a chemical issue) it should be done for about 10 weeks or until the symptoms dissipate and they shouldnt have any snacks or treats inbetween, and you should look for an allergy free supplement and make sure the diet you prepare is balanced for an extended period. It actually does help to keep notes and monitor the hot spots on your dog.
I have heard of people giving their dog a concentration of the possible allergen and waiting and watching for the reaction! This is a less humane way of doing it! If you must try this don’t give them a large portion, try a smaller portion and look for a slight change. I understand that the results sometimes manifest themselves within a few days.
Keep in mind that it isn’t good to keep your pet on the same food all its life, variety will keep them healthier and happier.
Also remember that when you change pet foods you should blend them together from old to new so it doesn’t cause other issues.
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