Thursday, November 3, 2011

Dogs and Allergies - What You Need to Know

By Dirk Gruenberg


It may happen that your dog starts scratching himself permanently. He seems to feel itchy at several parts of his body. This behavior produces some spots of raw skin. Overall his skin appears to be drier than usual and flaking here and there.

Most dog owners think their dog may be have been bitten by insects like fleas or just or simply suffer from dry skin. But it may well be that this condition is caused by allergies.

Many times as opposed to human beings a dog reacts to an allergy by itchy or dry skin instead of sneezing or itchy eyes.

This being different from human beings: It is very rare that dogs suffer from seasonal allergies. More frequently, however, dog allergies are caused by various kinds of foods resulting in dogs scratching themselves.

The most common food allergy in dogs is related to grains - most commonly corn. Corn is frequently the number one ingredient in dog food, and very frequently can be the culprit in your dog's allergies.

What can you then do to find out by which ingredient your dog's allergy is caused? Here is the most simple and reliable way: Switch your dog's food to a diet that does not contain corn and observe any changes to your dog.

There is another type of food that can produce allergies. It is the combination of meat and rice: Lamb and rice in many cases. But: you should know that it may take a while before you see an improvement after eliminating it from the daily diet.

Although it may be frustrating for dog owners, it is important that you patiently and consistently stick to the changes in your dog's diet. Should there be no improvement after two weeks and your dog still continues scratching himself, then there is a real likelihood of grains being the culprit.

If this happens one of your options is to put your dog on an all meat diet. This will help you to find out if grains are really the reason for your dog's allergy. But I would recommend you to do this step only after asking your vet for further advice.




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