Food allergies in dogs

2. Digestive disorders

Food allergy can cause a variety of gastrointestinal problems in the quadruped. When your dog exhibits these symptoms, he will experience vomiting, gas, or diarrhea.

3. Puffy face

Another common symptom of food allergies is inflammation of a certain area of ​​the animal’s face. Therefore, both the lips and the eyelids or ear flaps can be affected.

Detection of a food allergy can only be done with the help of a veterinarian, applying two methods:

• based on some analyses however, this method is still not 100% safe and accurate;
• based on the substitution of the type of food . This method is the safest and for this reason it is widely used for all predisposed quadrupeds. To identify the allergen, the quadruped’s diet will be modified for approximately 30 days, with a food containing only one type of protein, one type of carbohydrate, minerals and vitamins. After 30 days he will return to his normal diet. If the health condition worsens again, it turns out that the quadruped actually suffers from a food allergy. In this case, return to the 30 day diet and introduce one ingredient at a time from your normal diet. Once a suspicious ingredient is introduced, the health status of the quadruped is monitored.
  

Food allergy can be kept under control once the problematic ingredient has been identified by following a strict diet of hypoallergenic foods that do not contain the allergenic ingredients but provide the dog with all the nutrients it needs. Most manufacturers of these types of foods use hydrolyzed proteins, broken down into much smaller molecules, to reduce the risk of allergies. Whole proteins from animal feed can cause food allergies, while hydrolyzed proteins, being in a much smaller format, are not detected by the immune system, so they no longer have the ability to cause allergies.

Even if the four-legged friend can live peacefully and happily with his new diet, know that once a dog has developed a food allergy, in the future he can develop other allergies to another food present in his current diet. For this reason it is necessary to always monitor their health.

Food allergy in dogs can be cured by applying a desensitization method. This method involves gradually reintroducing the allergen into the animal’s food, starting from very, very small doses. This process can take up to 2 years. It should be underlined here that, once the problematic food has been reintroduced into the dog’s diet, it does not always have to be made available in large quantities, since in this case the allergy could recur.

Food allergy VS food intolerance

Even though it appears to be the same condition with more or less similar symptoms, there is a difference between food allergy and food intolerance. Food allergy triggers an immediate immune system response, while food intolerance does not work through the immune system. The latter is activated when the organism lacks the enzyme responsible for processing a certain food component. Since these are different conditions, it is very important that in any situation you consult your veterinarian to follow a specific treatment and prevention plan.

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