Food rotation to help prevent allergies is one of the best tools you can use. We’ve been rotating Winston’s food with each bag and have greatly reduced his reactions. Of course the occasional chew item will catch me off guard.
We’ve had previous discussions about the symptoms of a food allergy, this time I’m taking a different approach to addressing this serious issue. Following a recent conversation with one of our Old Mill families regarding their dood’s ever changing intolerance to foods, I did a little bit of investigating.
Just to be clear, food allergies are different from food intolerance. I repeatedly stress the need to avoid variety with the Doodle puppies – this is due to an apparent sensitive digestive system, not an allergy.
Food allergies are the over-response of your dog’s immune system to an invading protein. In the case of a food allergy, this protein is contained in your dog’s food. Proteins are present in most of the foods your dog eats. While most people recognize that meats are a source of proteins, there are also proteins present in grains and vegetables. Any one of these proteins has the potential to cause a food allergy.
Assuming that you’ve determined your Doodle’s symptoms indicate a food allergy, the first step is an elimination diet— feeding a food that has a different protein (meat) source and a different carbohydrate (grain) source than what your dog has had before. A common anti-allergy food would be a venison and potato formula. This prevents the immune response from continuing to be triggered. Your vet may recommend a “hypoallergenic” diet – I’m of the belief that the easier (and less expensive) approach works too.
Winston, our sproodle, was showing signs of a food allergy after eating the same food for 10 months. I switched from the chicken based diet to a lamb and rice variety and his paw licking stopped, however, the ear infections never quite went away. Looking back, I think the change of food stopped the allergic reaction and the ears continued to be a bother because I wasn’t addressing them properly.
Once you’ve found a food that doesn’t cause an allergic reaction, it’s extremely important to rotate that food with other equally well tolerated formulas in an effort to avoid developing a new resistance. Studies have shown that a dog with food allergies is very likely to develop a new allergy to ingredients fed exclusively. A food that only has one or two protein sources can be helpful in giving you more choices later on should your dog develop an allergy. For example, you feed a diet with chicken as its sole protein source and your dog develops an allergy to it, you can easily find a diet that doesn’t contain chicken. I’ve switched Winston to the Taste of the Wild line of grain-free kibble. Their line of foods has a fairly consistent base, with several protein varieties to select from. By switching between the varieties I’m able to rotate Winston with every bag and still avoid the gastric upset that might come from switching brands each time. Taste of the Wild isn’t the only brand of dog food available that offers a wide variety of protein sources.
An update: Winston continues to eat Taste of the Wild. He loves it and has never developed another allergy. I rotate the “flavor” with each bag, Wild Boar is a definite favorite. As I blend for a day or two he’ll spit out the other flavor and only eat the Wild Boar until those peaces are gone, and only then will he eat the other flavor.
I will keep Winston on a grain and chicken free diet though, since his ears have remained infection free on his grain-free food.
While your dog is on any special diet, it’s very important that she doesn’t get any other food such as cookies, treats, rawhide, people foods, etc. Since you don’t know yet exactly what she is allergic to, you don’t want to give her something other than her food and trigger the allergic reaction. Once you’ve got her on a food that she is not reacting to, you can start to reintroduce treats, one type at a time. If your dog reacts, you’ll know exactly which food (or foods) causes the problem.