Download Food Allergies in Dogs2 - Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital

Wheat Ridge
Veterinary Specialists
EXPERTISE YOU CAN TRUST.
internal medicine • oncology • surgery • emergency & critical care • dermatology • radiology, ultrasound & CT Scan
Food allergies are due to an abnormal immune response to proteins, carbohydrates and rarely
preservatives in your pet’s diet. Food allergy contributes to the clinical signs in 10 - 20% of all
Food Allergies in Dogs
allergic pets. The symptoms can begin at any age and in any breed. As with allergic inhalant
dermatitis, the principal clinical sign is pruritus (scratching) that may be localized to one or more
specific area or become generalized. One hallmark of food allergy is that the symptoms tend to
be present year round.
Besides the scratching it is very common for the pets to have flaky and oily skin which is
accompanied by a rancid odor. This condition is called seborrhea. 90% of the animals with
allergic skin disease will also have an accompanying bacterial or yeast skin infections. The
seborrhea, yeast and bacterial infections contribute to the discomfort associated with the allergic
reaction and must be addressed at the same time as the allergy in order to give the pet relief.
The only way to accurately diagnose a food allergy is to place the dog on a hypoallergenic diet
for 12 weeks. Skin testing and blood testing for food allergy are of no value. The hypoallergenic
diets can be given one of two ways, a home made diet or a commercially prepared
hypoallergenic diet.
The best method for a food trial is to cook a homemade diet with a carbohydrate and a protein
that your pet has never previously eaten. For the carbohydrate you can use potatoes (white, red,
sweet), baked, boiled, or microwaved, with or without the skins. They are mixed with a novel
protein source such as pork. For every three cups of potato, one cup of the protein source should
be added. One cup of the mixture should be fed for every eight pounds of body weight. It is best
to divide the total daily food volume into two or three equal feedings.
If cooking is a problem a few commercial diets are available for the food trial. They are:
1. Iams Veterinary Formula response F/P (fish and potato) or K/O (kangaroo and oats).
2. Hills z/d diet with hydrolyzed protein.
3. Royal Canin, Limited Ingredient Diets that come as a duck and potato, venison and potato,
whitefish and potato, and rabbit and potato.
Wheat Ridge Veterinary Specialists
IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE PET GET NO FOOD OTHER THAN THE HYPOALLERGENIC DIET
DURING THE FOOD TRIAL. If they do get something other than the special diet, the trial is invalidated and must be started over at the beginning. If the pruritus is indeed caused by a food allergy, the overall skin condition will improve, the scratching will decrease, and the pet will become more comfortable. The improvement may be slow and steady or may not occur until a sudden change is noted at any time during the trial, sometimes not until the 11th or 12th week.
In order to confirm that the improvement in the dog’s symptoms was due to the foods we first reintroduce the original diet the pet was eating prior to the food trial. If it was the food to which the
dog was allergic the symptoms of pruritus will recur within 7-10 days, or as early as 12 hours. If
the provocative test proves that the dog truly does have a food allergy it is then placed back on
the hypoallergenic diet until symptoms abate, usually within 1-2 weeks.
There are several ways to approach long term management of the food allergy. First, one by one,
add the ingredients that are listed on the regular pet food until one or more is found that causes
recurrence of the skin problem. If it is possible to identify individual ingredients that cause clinical problems, a commercial dog or cat food may be found that does not contain the allergyinciting ingredients and it may be used for the pet’s regular diet. A second option is to maintain
with a commercially prepared hypoallergenic diet that was used during the food trial. A final option would be to use a home made diet that is balanced but does not contain any of the ingredients that have been identified as causes of the allergic reaction. The good news is that if your dog
does indeed have food allergies and they are properly identified, your pet can live a life free of
the constant itching and scratching associated with that disease.
WHEAT RIDGE
3695 Kipling St., Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
Tel 303-424-3325 • Fax 303-420-8360
2