How do you know if your dog needs to be fed hypoallergenic dog food? If you are reading this I am sure that you are a loving and responsible pet owner that’s why you want to know more about the types of food that you should be feeding your pet.
Dogs commonly experience allergies. Allergies are in fact one of the most prevalent form of health conditions that canines suffer from. It may not be fatal in most cases, but they can be extremely inconvenient and distressing for your poor pet after a while. You should make it a priority to eliminate the source of irritation that is causing your pet’s allergies as soon as possible to avoid it from escalating to a more serious condition.
How do you know if your dog has allergies? The common symptoms of dog allergies are a runny nose, vomiting or nausea, watery eyes, labored breathing, gastrointestinal complications, lack of appetite, chronic ear infections and skin irritations. Usually when your dog has skin problems, they will be scratching themselves a lot to the point of self mutilation.
If your dog exhibits these adverse allergic reactions, you can use an ointment to relieve him of his pain. However, you should not only treat the problem but the source of the problem itself because if the medication stops, the problem remains. Moreover, the situation will be aggravated when this happens because the problem might be getting worse without you or your dog even knowing about it.
Now, one of the first things you should do is to put your dog on a hypoallergenic dog food diet. You may not know it but many times the reason that dogs have allergies is because of the food that they consume. Chemicals and preservatives found in most commercial dog food brands are the likely culprits of your dog’s failing health.
What are common allergens that you should be aware of? Corn is one. Many pet food brands use corn as a filler, or other poor alternative protein sources that trigger an allergic reaction in dogs. Changing his pet food to another more organic pet food can greatly help your pet. Sometimes dogs are allergic to wheat so if this is your pet, find a dog food product that doesn’t have wheat or wheat gluten (another form of filler) in their ingredients.
When you switched your dog to a hypoallergenic dog food diet, observe if his symptoms have improved. Did the scratching stop? Is the skin clearer? Does it look like he is feeling better/ have a better disposition? The window where you will know whether or not your dog is free from harmful allergens is about 8 to 12 weeks so don’t be impatient when waiting for your dog’s symptoms to clear up.
If you don’t think that your dog’s diet is the source of his allergies, then you can go to the vet and get him to perform an allergy test on your dog. This may be a little pricey so be prepared to spend some money on this. Oftentimes though, if your dog has allergies, the best and most inexpensive way to treat this is a change in diet.
Go to the links in this site to find more information on hypoallergenic dog food. There are several excellent dog food brands in the market today that can greatly help your dog’s health if you know what you’re looking for. Find out more about the premium dog food brands that offer quality ingredients in the helpful articles in this site. Have a beautiful, healthy, happy and allergy-free dog when you invest in his best health today. Enjoy!
