Dog food allergy is easy to recognize, the most common symptoms being:

• Facial itching
• Feet or limbs chewing
• Belly itching
• Recurrent ear infections
• Vomiting
• Skin rashes or hairs falling in big quantities
• Diarrhea or increased bowel movements

You have to be aware that in most cases the only symptom of a dog food allergy is itching.

Before suspecting your dog of a food allergy, eliminate the possibility of a flea allergy, by making sure the pet is flea-free. You can give it an anti-flea treatment. If symptoms continue, then you can suspect other kind of allergies, including dog food allergy.

How to diagnose a dog food allergy

Diagnosing a food allergy in pets is not as simple as in humans. Blood tests and prick tests can be also done on dogs, but vet specialists say that such tests are not reliable, so the better way to go is to choose the elimination diet.

This is what Dr. Gortel says regarding dog food allergies:

“Veterinarians prefer to do a restrictive diet trial,” says Dr. Gortel. “This consists of taking away your pet’s normal diet-including treats, chewables, and flavored vitamins-and switching your pet to a diet containing proteins and carbohydrates completely novel to your pet.” When possible, Dr. Gortel has the owners home-cook for their pet during the diagnosis period. “Then we know for sure that the diet doesn’t have additives or preservatives and hasn’t gone through a feedmill or processing plant that might contaminate food with proteins your pet has been exposed to. It doesn’t take much to set your pet off if he is allergic to something.”

(Source: vetmed.illinois.edu)

There is another issue Dr. Gortel warns about: during the test diet, you have to keep your pet indoors, otherwise he may chase rats or birds, or even eat from garbage, thus making the elimination test irrelevant.

If during the home-cooked food period you dog is feeling well and the symptoms fade to disappearance, the vet would switch the dog back on the old diet, to see if symptoms appear again. However, there are cases when dog owners refuse to take their dog back to the itchy stage, thus keeping the home-made diet as permanent. As you can see, having a dog is a serious issue, involving a lot of responsibility, therefore think well before buying that Beagle pet that you loved so much at the last dog show.

Can dog food allergy be diagnosed at home?

You’d say it is no big deal giving your dog elimination diets and seeing which food provokes him the allergic reactions. Yet, there are dangers, which Dr. Gortel puts into discussion, with the conclusion that the most advisable would be that the veterinarian prescribes and supervises your dog’s trial diet:

“When owners try to do food trials themselves, the diagnosis becomes more difficult,” explains Dr. Gortel. When your pet is itching, switching them randomly from food to food exposes your pet to a number of protein sources. This makes it hard for veterinarians to find a new protein source to suggest for home-cooking. “Sometimes owners find food trials tedious or they cannot stand the fact that their pet cannot have a treat. They quit halfway and then the veterinarians’ dilemma is how to convince clients to do the trial again for the pet’s sake.”

It’s not yet proven that a natural allergy relief such as the nettles in case of human would give results in the case of our canine friends. As a conclusion, dog owners shouldn’t neglect any symptom like the ones described above, as they may incriminate a dog food allergy, which, left untreated may lead to severe symptoms and even to death.