Dogs With Allergies

Humans often assume that they are the only sensitive creatures on earth. Animals like dogs couldn't possibly have allergies because they live in a natural world. Well, dogs with allergies are reacting to allergens that are proving alien to their systems. These allergens can result from the proteins in the saliva of a flea or the unnatural and natural food sources found in the diets of our dogs.

Symptoms of Dogs with Allergies

Because most dogs live in the unnatural confines of our houses eating the foods that we give them, their immune systems are not what they used to be. Common signs of dogs with allergies, especially resulting from eating certain foods, are scratching, shaking the head, inflammation in the ear, the constant licking of paws, and rubbing the face against the floor. Your dog might even vomit, release gas, sneeze or wheeze, just like a human asthma patient.

Dogs with allergies in the skin are commonly reacting to food and the pollen of plants. You will see the dogs attack their skins ranging from simple scratching or licking to more serious symptoms like biting, chewing, or gnawing at their skin to address the irritation and remove the discomfort. The most common cause of itching in dogs is from an inhalant allergy. It is important for owners to recognize that when they also start to have allergic reactions they need to admit that their dogs need help.

Dogs with Allergies Need A Change In Diet

Consult with your veterinarian who will more than likely recommend that you change your dogs food to a bland, allergen-free food and see if that reduces the reaction. When that works, you can experiment with different foods to find ones that do not irritate your dog's skin. If symptoms reoccur then you know that something in dogs with allergies to food is still causing the reaction.

The next step then is to return to a base diet of completely natural and healthy food and start adding one new ingredient a week. When symptoms in dogs with allergies persist, you may choose to conduct a more severe dietary trial by introducing the blandest hypoallergenic diet for your dog for at least one month or, preferably, 6 weeks. Then introduce different foods one at a time and monitor the reactions.

It is no wonder that dogs with allergies react to food from the grocery store shelf. Your dog may easily be allergic to the common ingredients of that food, not even the fillers or chemical additives. Dogs with allergies often react to beef, wheat, corn, dairy, rice or chicken as well. In most cases it is the type of protein in the dog food that can cause the allergic reaction. Once the ingredient has been identified, find a good quality dog food that doesn't contain those ingredients.

Always be safe and have your dogs with allergies checked by a vet first because your dogs could be ailing from something so serious that a change in diet will not help.