Food Allergies In Pets: What You Need To Know

With the onset of spring, many pets are exposed to the outside environment.  This has caused them to become more “itchy” and their scratching has caused discomfort to then leaving the owner searching for possible remedies.  Unfortunately, their scratching and head shaking may be caused by the diet that they are fed.

Many dogs and cats for that matter may suffer from food allergies.  These allergies can hit about anytime during their lives and present itself with many different symptoms.  These symptoms may range from odorous, greasy, dander-laced hair with chronic ear issues to maybe diarrhea with increased flatulance.  Your pet may be constantly chewing on its paws, making them red and keeping you up at night with its chewing and licking.  A  lot of time, we will try and just mask the signs so that they can remain comfortable without diagnosing the problem.  Chances are they inherited the trait from their parents.

When these signs appear, looking for the food that causes the issues may be real difficult in finding and the testing is even more difficult.  Common food allergies may consist of beef, pork, chicken, corn, wheat, or a number of other ingredients.  Food allergies may include one to many ingredients in the diets, so it is not as cut and dried as it may seem to just switch diets.  Also blood testing is of no use in determining the allergies.

So with that said, food  ingredient avoidance is the best means of controlling the allergies.  So an owner may be instructed to feed a very limited ingredient diet for several weeks and see how the pet responds to the diet.  Will the pet be pruritic?  Will the pet’s skin be odorous?  If the clinical signs are better, then you may be able to add additional ingredients and see how your pet responds.

Some owner’s will prefer to feed raw diets or homemade diets.  However, those will sometimes be difficult to balance the ration to get the proper minerals and vitamins. Regardless of what you choose, do not hesitate to contact our office and we can help you navigate this issue. Contact us today.