Dog Food Allergies

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The following items represent some of The Dog Food Advisor’s most frequently asked questions about dog food allergies.

What is a food allergy?

A food allergy occurs when a dog’s immune system mistakenly identifies a particular food ingredient as harmful. And then creates defensive antibodies to fight the invading enemy (the food).

Is it better to feed your dog the same food each meal? Or is it safer to change menus on a regular basis?

For the surprising answer to these and other questions about dog food allergies, be sure to visit this video by Dr. Karen Becker.

What are the signs and symptoms of a food allergy?

The symptoms of an allergy include skin rash, hives, itching, paw biting, obsessive licking and sometimes nausea or vomiting.

What is a food intolerance?

A food intolerance is a digestive problem rather than an immune response. An intolerance occurs when a dog’s digestive system is unable to digest a specific ingredient.

What are the signs and symptoms of a food intolerance?

The signs of food intolerance include mostly digestive distress… gas, bloating, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

If my dog is allergic to a specific dog food, does that mean there’s something wrong with the quality of the product?

Allergies are related to your pet’s own immune system and are not due to a problem with the product itself. So, if a dog is allergic to a particular ingredient, he will likely experience the same unfavorable reaction to that ingredient… no matter what brand you find it in.

If my dog shows signs of an allergy, should I immediately suspect it’s caused by the food?

Maybe not. Because food is only the third leading cause of canine allergies, the signs and symptoms you observe may not even be related to your pet’s diet in the first place.

What are the most common causes of dog food allergies?

Dog food ingredients most likely to provoke an allergic reaction1 include…

  • Beef
  • Dairy
  • Chicken
  • Lamb
  • Fish
  • Corn
  • Wheat
  • Soy
  • Yeast2

What else could cause my dog to be allergic to his food?

Many times, it’s not even the ingredients themselves that are the problem. In some cases, a dog can also be allergic to contaminants in the food itself.

What should I feed my dog if I suspect his allergy symptoms are caused by his food?

Since certain recipes have been intentionally designed to help you control or isolate these problems, you may wish to read our recent post, “Suggested Hypoallergenic Dog Foods“.

You may also wish to consider a grain free dog food.

Footnotes

  1. Drs. Foster and Smith, Food Allergies and Food Intolerance ↩
  2. Yeast added by the Dog Food Advisor ↩
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  • Lisabart31

    Isn’t low protein better for allergy dogs that are very sensitive to the protein in meats? For instance, my beagle does not do well on any high protein formulas. She is allergic to a lot of meats. So the lower the protein in her food, the better she does. I tried the top quality foods and they are much higher and she had bad reactions to the higher protein. I know some dogs are more sensitive to grains so they can have a grain free high protein and do fine but she can’t. She is allergic to grains and meats and maybe even the protein in peas. I hope not but I just ordered the new Wellness simple solution grain free salmon and it only has 20% protein. It does have peas, so I will know soon. Even though some of the Acana and Earthborn don’t have her allergens, she still reacts because of the high protein. I am hopeful since the Wellness will be low, she will be ok with the protein and the food!! I can then substitute some can for a variety and I noticed she does way better on the lower protein cans as well. 

  • Lisabart31

    Thank you So much!!!!!! I did not even think of that. I remember one of the dog food companies telling me if she was never exposed to oats, there is a good chance she can have it. She had the worst reaction at 3 am, I think they call it reverse sneezing. To me its more like a cough/wheeze and she can’t breath. I gave her benadryl right away and it worked. They also gave me steroids to have on hand and I know some of it could be the change in weather, but she didn’t do this once on taste of the wild. Thanks again, I know they have the duck. I seen it. 

  • monkey

    Lisabart31, see if the store you got the Pinnacle Peak at will give you some of the Pinnacle Duck and Potato samples. It doesn’t have peas. Unfortunately it has oats (so maybe not make it a long term food) but it has the quinoa seed and flaxseed. This should really help you tell if it is the peas bothering her or not.

  • Lisabart31

    Thanks!! It has quinoa seed, flaxseed. She seemed ok the first 2 days but I was only giving her a small amount, smaller then normal because of her allergies, and today I increased and all she did was itch like crazy, wheeze and her body got hot. Her typical allergy reaction. I tried Wellness Core Ocean, Natural balance, Wellness simple solutions, Wellness white fish and sweet potato, Annamaet Aqualuk, and now pinnacle salmon and potato grain free, she itches on them all! These are ones I tried over the last several years, once I found taste of the wild Pacific stream, I stuck with that because she did FANTASTIC. No more steroids, no more ear infections. No itching. The Vet was so impressed. She does have a lot of anal gland issues on it but thats it. The problem I am finding is a lot of the good foods have chicken fat, which she can’t have. Even the fish blends. Sandy, I will look into those. Thank you!! Wellness is coming out with a grain free simple solutions and it is going to have peas so I am thinking I will try it so maybe then I will finally have a definite. I also want to see if the Vet can test for peas since she wasn’t tested for it. Thanks again. 

  • http://www.dfwpugs.com/ sandy

    Great Life Grain Free has a salmon and buffalo formula without those ingredients you mentioned as does Grandma Lucy’s Artison Bison, and The Honest Kitchen Zeal. A dog can be allergic to any food ingredient.

    http://www.doctorsfinest.com/Grain_and_Potato_Free_Wild_Salmon_Dog_Food_p/gfwsd.htm

    http://grandmalucys.com/artisan_bison.html

    http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/zeal/

  • daisy1999

    With your dog having so many allergies, I would definitely consider it.  Some dogs are allergic to peas.  Did you check down the ingredient list further also to make sure there might be a different additive, etc causing probs?

  • Lisabart31

    My dog was on taste of the Wild pacific stream and no issues at all, she is allergic to corn, yeast, wheat, lamb, rabbit, pork, chicken, turkey. I started a new salmon formula with potato and peas, she now she is itching again, so I am wondering if she could be allergic to peas, is that a common allergy in dogs also? Thanks

  • Johnandchristo

    Hi Usellisons…..

    My lab had allergies, nothing worked until I put him on Brothers Complete. I would not give him anything else.
    Your dog will lose weight on a grain and white potato free diet. just transition him slow, because he will need time to get used to the higher fat. good luck.

  • Usellisons

    I’ve had alergy testing and my over weight Labrador is alergic to peas, carrots, brewers yeast, corn, white potatoes.  My vet gave me a diet food with the first ingredient as corn grits followed by chicken by-product?????  The3re has got to be a low calerie, limited ingredient dog food but I haven’t found one.  Anyone have suggestions?

  • Tess

    Hello,

    Just wanted to say how happy I am to hear about your little Tanner; 20 yrs old!  How fortunate and blessed you and little Tanner are to still be together and making memories.  I just don’t hear about 20 yr old dogs.  Tanner’s story is truly a WONDERFUL ONE!!

    May you and Tanner have many more years together!

    Tess
    Noblesville, IN

  • Jsrockstar

    Harriet – I don’t know about that brand as we haven’t tried it, but we buy Natural Balance L.I.D. cans and it stopped our two dogs from itching and scratching almost immediately.  The venison and the one with bison is their favorite, and we just bought some wild boar and it seems to be their new fave.  The L.I.D. stands for limited ingredients and it’s specifically for allergies.

  • Allergic

    My dog was scratching a lot. I mean A LOT! She was
    diagnosed to have allergy to storage mites and dust mites. We started
    allergy shots and no kibbles anymore; she started to eat home cooked diet. I tried to feed her various diets, in case she also had food
    allergy (various meats, potatoes, buckwead, millet, some vegetables). After more than a year, after many
    different diets and using allergy shots, anything seemed to help. (I
    never used cortisone, I didn’t want that because it doesn’t remove the cause of the problem.)

    Then I started to raw feed her; raw chicken, organs, a little amount of
    raw green vegetables (mainly sallad), rapeseed oil and linseed oil.
    After 2-3 weeks of this diet she was symptomless! What a change and relief!
    I was so happy! But I felt also quilty: why didn’t I start to raw feed
    her earlier!? Now we are expanding her diet slowly (more meat sources and fish oil) and so far so good!

    Maybe I’ll take the blood tests again. It would be interesting to see if she
    still has “allergy” to storage and dust mites… Beeing now symptomless… I’m a little
    suspicious about that and also to allergy shots.

    So, if you have an itching dog, and good quality kibbles or home
    cooked diet doesn’t help soon, feed raw! No grains, no potatoes, no cooked vegetables, no cooked meat, JUST RAW!

  • Harriet

    I want to know the dog canned  food of Dogswell vilatity good for dog for skins and itching?

  • http://BrothersComplete.com/ Richard Darlington

    mrsbelley

    Boxers are notoriously prone to skin conditions and negative reactions to grain and white potato.

    We’ve seen a few hundred boxers in our store over the years with the same problems when they were fed grains or white potato for some time. There is quite a lot of grain in Bil Jac, among other things that are negative or would contribute to “Leaky Gut”. Look up Leaky Gut Online.

    For a quick overview of the situation you might go to BrothersComplete.com and read the “Brothers Document” which is down the left side of the page.

    I suggest you find a good grain free as a start and then after a few months transition over to a grain and potato free food. My experience is that over 90% of the time this will resolve all or almost every problem.

    If the problems persist to a reduced degree then your dog likely has Systemic Candida which must be slowly   brought back into balance with a diet of no grain, potato, or sugar of any kind for up to 6 months. Although once your girl is feeling good again I don’t recommend ever going back to the grain or potato. 

    During this period it will help considerably if you will give probiotics to the dog at each meal to encourage the development of a healthy bacteria colony in the gut which is responsible for repairing the gut wall as well as bringing the Candida overgrowth back into balance.

    If you do not want to wait any longer than possible then just pick a good grain AND potato free dog food (some of the kind contributors here are usually standing by with a list) and make the transition slowly by adding more of the new food to the Bil Jac each day until after a week or more your girl is completely on the new food.

    You will notice steady progress over the weeks and at some point there is likely to be a “healing crisis” as the dog begins to dump accumulated toxins or the Candida dies off in a bunch. It simply means a momentary return of the symptoms for a day or two and is actually a sign that the healing is progressing.

    Take heart – you’re on the right path now and your girl will be fine in no time.

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