Dog Allergies - What Dog Owners Should Know

Dog allergies are a common phenomenon although not many dog owners are aware of this. Upsetting though this may be, the good thing is that most are quite easy to cure. Although skin irritations are actually the signs of true dog food allergies, people often mistakenly think digestive upsets are symptoms of such allergies. The symptoms may not appear for several weeks or months even though a particular type of food is being eaten regularly.

Unknown to many people, their dogs can develop food allergies from the very same food they have been so happily eating for the past few years and not from something new that has been fed. In fact around 70% of dog food allergies are caused by a food that has been well tolerated for more than two years. A dog may not show any allergies when it eats a food for the first time with symptoms only showing after the second or third time.

Intolerance is often mistaken for allergy by dog owners. Being intolerant to a type of food and being allergic to it are different things. Skin itching and irritation are usually caused by allergies. In comparison, food intolerance would cause diarrhea and stomach upsets instead.

It is a mistake to think that by feeding your dog uncommon food such as lamb and rice, you can keep allergies away. While they may seem to provide a short term solution, that is only because the dogs have not, in the past, eaten a diet containing these ingredients. Therefore, they have not had time to develop an allergy to them. Do not be surprised that the dogs start to show allergies after eating this diet for some time.

As a means of solving the allergy problem, you need to give your dog a diet that does not include problem causing food items. This involves eliminating any food ingredient your dog has eaten and replacing his food with an entirely new diet then reintroducing ingredients one at a time to look for reactions.

It can take more than a month to know for sure that a food is causing the allergy. It takes that long for any remaining allergens from previous foods to leave your dogs system.

At the end of the day, you should do the responsible thing by taking your dog to the vet for a health check as the vet would be able to run more comprehensive tests to determine the state of your dog.

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Find out more about dog food allergies treatment and causes of dog food allergies

Tags: DOG FOOD ALLERGIES, DOG ALLERGIES TREATMENT, DOG SKIN ALLERGIES, DOG DANDER

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Title:	Dog Allergies - What Dog Owners Should Know
Author:	Lee Stanton
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