Like humans, dogs can also have many problems that can be attributed to allergies. These problems are common with many popular dog breeds. One way to help reduce the symptoms of allergies is to use hypoallergenic dog food.
When dogs have allergies, the symptoms can show up in many forms. For example, they can have itchy skin, including biting and licking their feet or chronic or frequent ear infections, to name a few. These symptoms are consistent with food allergies. There are also symptoms associated with air-borne or seasonal allergies including sneezing and watery eyes similar to seasonal allergies in humans. In order to rule out other health problems that could be causing these symptoms, an exam with a veterinarian is advised.
Dog food for hypoallergenic dogs is different from regular dog food because it is normally formulated with fewer ingredients and only those ingredients that are less likely to cause allergy problems. Ingredients that can cause dog food allergies are low quality grains such as corn, certain dairy products and proteins, and also other fillers typically used in low quality dog food. When looking for the best hypoallergenic dog food, you’ll have to examine the list of ingredients to see if any of the common allergy-causing ingredients are included in the food. Once you have decided on one to try, you will have to do a food trial to try to eliminate those common allergy-causing ingredients to find out which out which particular food might be causing the problems in your dog.
Two of the popular hypoallergenic dog food brands are Wellness and Blue Buffalo. These two high-quality dog foods both use human grade ingredients and they make sure to leave out the low quality fillers that may other dog foods include. Wellness also offers grain-free formulas called Wellness Core and formulas that only use one grain and one protein source to help dog owners figure out which protein and/or grain might be causing the allergy problem. Other brands that offer special allergy formulas include: Purina and Royal Canin. There is also a prescription dog food for allergies from Hills Science Diet – Z/D Dog Food.
When trying to determine the cause of your dog’s allergies, trying a new food can be a good choice. After deciding on which one to try, make sure to only give your dog that food for several weeks so you can rule out certain ingredients. You should see an improvement after several weeks if the hypoallergenic dry dog food is working for your dog.