The fact that dog food allergies treatment are common occurrences would come as a surprise to many. Although all dog breeds are likely to suffer from some kind of allergy, fortunately, the condition can be cured and rather easily too. Skin infections are the direct results of true dog food allergies and not digestive problems but not many realize this.
Such symptoms of food allergies can take some time to show itself even when the dog has been eating a specific kind of food over a length of time.
Most would assume that because their dogs have been eating a particular brand of food for years without incident, they would assume that it has to be something else causing the problem. Three quarters of dog food allergies are caused by food that the dog has been eating for over two years. In most cases, allergy symptoms do not show up when a dog first eats a particular type of food with allergic reactions only happening after the next couple of times.
An intolerance to some types of food should not be mistaken for dog food allergy. Having an allergic reaction to a specific food and being intolerant are different matters. Allergies usually cause skin irritation and/or itching of some sort. But with food intolerance, the symptoms would be vomiting and diarrhea instead of skin itches that are probably dog dander allergy symptoms instead.
Many wrongly think that by putting their dogs on lamb and rice diets, dog food allergies can be eliminated. This is only a temporary solution because the diet is still new. Therefore, they have not had time to develop an allergy to them. It is likely that if this diet is fed continuously, the dogs could develop an allergy over a period of time.
The simple answer to treating both food allergy and food intolerance is to provide your dog with a diet that is totally free of the food items that cause the problems through an elimination diet. 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.
Know that it takes a month or more before you will be able to know which particular food is the cause of the problem. It takes that long for any remaining allergens from previous foods to leave your dogs system.
To ease the suffering of your dog, bring it to the vet for blood tests and other diagnostic procedures as this will enable the causes to be determined more efficiently under clearer instructions.
Find out more on dog allergies symptoms and its causes.
