Food Allergy or Intolerance?

 This is one of the most common things we come across in our daily service as professional pet sitters, food allergies and food intolerances. Sometimes these can be hard to diagnose because some symptoms may mimic other illnesses or conditions, so here is some helpful information to consider if your pet may be dealing with a food allergy or intolerance.
Food Allergies (also known as sensitivities) happen in dogs when their immune system accidentally recognizes a food as bad. This creates defensive antibodies and causes symptoms that can range from dry itchy skin, excessive scratching or licking, bald patches, hot spots, ear infections, skin infections and in worse cases possible diarrhea or vomiting. Food intolerances are slightly different. Intolerances happen when a dog cannot digest a certain ingredient, (like a person with lactose intolerance) causing bloating, gas, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
To identify food allergies or intolerances, veterinarians recommend eliminating specific ingredients known to cause reactions like; beef, dairy, wheat, egg, chicken, soy, and pork. Instead, try feeding your dog a new food he has never tried, such as salmon and sweet potatoes. If the allergy symptoms show improvement, you enter the most difficult part, where you can try to reintroduce old foods to identify if they cause problems. This is a guessing game and can be a time consuming and fairly tedious routine. That’s why veterinarians also recommend trying a limited ingredient diet and removing all other dog foods, table foods, treats and ingestible chew toys.
A more direct process to understanding your dog’s allergy or food intolerance is having your veterinarian perform an allergy test. There are two more regularly used tests, a blood test or an intradermal skin test. The most commonly known blood tests as RAST or ELISA with ELISA being the more popular of the two as it’s typically considered most accurate. Some argue these tests are moderately helpful as they were designed for humans and transitioned to dogs; therefore, some of the markers it identifies can flag false positives. The most widely recommended option for accuracy is an intradermal skin test, which consists of shaving the skin down and injecting small amounts of allergens, then waiting and checking to identify any reactions.
Once you’ve identified your dog’s food allergy or sensitivity, the next step is finding the right food for their dietary needs. We are always happy to help answers questions about pet diets.
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