Food Allergies in Dogs

Food Allergies in Dogs - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, Recovery, Management, Cost

What are Food Allergies?

A food allergy is an over-reaction of your dog's immune system to an unwelcome protein that is present in a particular ingredient of their diet.

Dogs that develop allergies to foods can experience uncomfortable itching of the skin as well as chronic conditions such as ear infections, gas, and wheezing. An allergy is the immune system of the body responding to a perceived threat, in this case an ingredient in the dog's diet.

In order to reliably determine which allergen is affecting your pet, an elimination diet may be recommended. This can be time-consuming, but it's often necessary in order to deduce which ingredient is causing the reaction.

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Symptoms of Food Allergies in Dogs

Food allergies in dogs can develop at any age, but the majority of dogs do not acquire food allergies until they are more than 3 years old. Skin reactions are often located around the face or groin, under the front legs, or between the toes.

Symptoms to look for include:

Types

Food allergy — An allergy to food is a response by the body’s immune system to defend itself against a threat. An allergic reaction doesn’t happen the first time a dog is exposed to the allergen but rather after repeated exposures. Any food can cause an allergic reaction, but foods such as beef, dairy, chicken, and eggs tend to cause allergies in canines more often than others.

Food intolerance — While a food allergy is the body’s immune system reacting to what it perceives as a threat, food intolerance has no immune involvement. An intolerance to a food type is more likely to cause a gastrointestinal response than allergies do. Additional symptoms, such as a change in the consistency or color of the stools and gurgling sounds from the digestive system, are common with a food intolerance.

Causes of Food Allergies in Dogs

Allergies of all sorts are due to an abnormally strong defensive response to a protein that the immune system considers to be an invasive substance. It is estimated that around 60-70 percent of our immune system cells actually reside in the digestive system, and the same applies to our dogs.

The process of digestion is designed to break down our foods into their smallest parts, which are known as amino acids. These amino acids are then absorbed by white blood cells called enterocytes. When proteins are not properly broken down during digestion, these enterocytes see them as intruders and attack. Over time the response of these cells becomes more aggressive and symptoms intensify. 

Although any food can become an allergen, some foods are more likely to generate a reaction than others. Frequent offenders for dogs can include:

  • Beef
  • Chicken
  • Corn
  • Dairy products
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Lamb 
  • Soy
  • Wheat

Diagnosis of Food Allergies in Dogs

The symptoms that your dog shows due to an allergic reaction will prompt your veterinarian to collect skin scrapings from any affected areas for cutaneous cytology. Cutaneous cytology is the microscopic evaluation of the skin cells to look for problems like mites, yeast infections, or signs of disease. When these are not found on the dermal cells, a food allergy may be suspected.

In order to confirm the allergy, an elimination diet is usually implemented. An elimination diet usually involves changing the dog's food to either a reduced ingredient commercial food or a diet of bland human food, such as a boiled protein and a simple carbohydrate like rice.  

Novel ingredients, which are proteins and carbohydrates that are not common in the dog’s current diet, are generally used for an elimination diet. All of the ingredients in your dog's current food should be avoided when determining the proper replacement food.

In many cases, it may be the entire food family that your pet is reacting to, so switching from a chicken diet to a mammalian source such as rabbit may have better results than switching to another avian species like duck.

If the symptoms are caused by an allergy, a properly implemented elimination diet will cause them to cease. Once this has occurred, extra ingredients will be slowly added into the diet until the allergen is identified. During this time, it is essential to ensure your dog does not ingest anything other than the food used for the elimination diet. A single treat with the allergen can cause the allergy to resurface. Sources to avoid include:

  • Cow hooves
  • Flavored medications (including heartworm preventives) or supplements
  • Flavored plastic toys
  • Flavored toothpastes
  • Pigs' ears
  • Rawhides
  • Treats

Traditionally, an elimination diet will need to be fed for around 8-12 weeks to determine the cause of your dog's food allergy. However, a 2021 study showed that it may be possible to shorten the length of this diet trial period by administering prednisolone during the first 2-3 weeks of the trial.

During the study, 39 dogs received prednisolone for the first 2-3 weeks of an elimination diet. Medications were then discontinued for 2 weeks before the dogs were then fed their original diet. If they relapsed, prednisolone was given for an additional week. Of the 21 dogs determined to have food allergies, 14 of them did not relapse after the medication was stopped, while 6 dogs had a single relapse and 1 dog relapsed twice.

So while it's still time-consuming to feed an elimination diet, it may be possible to speed up the process and reach an accurate diagnosis in a much shorter time frame.

Treatment of Food Allergies in Dogs

It can take several weeks for the elimination diet to reveal the offending allergen, and your pet may still be experiencing some symptoms during this time.

Corticosteroids may be recommended by your veterinarian to reduce swelling, along with antihistamines to calm the itching. Use of these treatments may make it harder to determine which ingredient in your dog’s diet is causing the reactions by masking allergic symptoms, so many veterinarians prefer to complete the elimination diet before prescribing these types of medications. Secondary skin infections are commonly seen with food allergies, and antibiotics may be prescribed to combat this problem.

Once the allergen has been identified, the initial course of action is avoidance of the ingredient. Other supplements, such as omega-3 oils and probiotics, may also be recommended after the elimination diet is completed to support the immune system. This will help your dog to handle any accidental exposure to allergens and to prevent the cultivation of new allergies.

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Recovery of Food Allergies in Dogs

Allergies to foods are not curable, but symptoms usually cease if the allergen is removed from the animal’s diet. Any exposure to the allergen can cause a relapse, so care must be taken in the type of treats and flavorings you use for your dog.

Unfortunately, if your canine has had an allergic response to one type of food they are more likely to  develop an allergy to the ingredients in the replacement diet over time as well. The approach to combat this situation varies within the veterinary profession, with some vets recommending that your pet remain on a single source of dog food for allergies, while others maintain that a steady rotation of 3 or 4 novel protein sources is optimal.

Food allergies can be expensive to treat. If you suspect your dog is at risk of food allergies, start searching for pet insurance today. Wag!’s pet insurance comparison tool lets you compare plans from leading companies like PetPlan and Embrace. Find the “pawfect” plan for your pet in just a few clicks!

Food Allergies Average Cost

From 577 quotes ranging from $200 - $2,000

Average Cost

$1,500

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Food Allergies Questions and Advice from Veterinary Professionals

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miniature poodle

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Jezabel

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8 Years

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2 found this helpful

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2 found this helpful

My pet has the following symptoms:
Vomiting
Rash
Chewing
Diarrhea
Hives
Myself and my dog moved from the US to the UK nearly 2 months ago and ever since we’ve been here she has been having health issues. Before she was shipped she was perfectly healthy and got her health certifications to fly internationally. The first thing I noticed was every time we went on walks she would chew on grass which I’ve never seen her do before. Then about two weeks ago she had bloody diarrhea in the middle of the night. I restricted food for one day and then put her on a boiled chicken, sweet potato, and rice diet for 2 days and her diarrhea improved. After that I put her back on her kibble but kept mixing it with rice/(cooked)sweet potato. I noticed that she had bumps all over and she was chewing obsessively and licking her paws and that her rib cage felt bonier even though she was eating extra calories. She has also been vomiting yellow bile on occasion. My instincts are telling me it may be an allergy to chicken because although she is on a premium dog food it has 3 different forms of chicken in the ingredients, and her treats have chicken too. The food she was on previously was salmon and sweet potato, and lamb and rice as a puppy so she’s never been exposed to it until now. Her vet didn’t seem to be concerned with the bloody diarrhea since it had stopped (which may only be from adding rice to her diet) and was more concerned with what was causing the skin issues so she gave her a topical parasite treatment (advantage) and a steroid injection to hopefully calm the chewing. She stopped chewing for one day but seems to be chewing more than ever and now has sores and thinning hair. She suggested waiting to see if she improved, and then continue with trial and error, but I’m wondering if I can just switch her back to a sweet potato and salmon food and cut out all chicken now in case it could be something as simple as a food allergy. I know she is exposed to a lot of different things environmentally that she could be reacting to but thought of feeding her something everyday that could be causing this reaction is very upsetting.

July 23, 2018

Answered by Dr. Michele K. DVM

2 Recommendations

It seems unlikely that Jezabel developed a food allergy when she moved, but more likely that she might be having an environmental allergy problem to something in her new environment. There are many good allergy medications for dogs, including Apoquel and CADI injections, that you can discuss with your veterinarian to see if one of those medications may help her. In the meantime, feeding her a sweet potato and salmon diet should not hurt her.

July 23, 2018

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Labrador Mix

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TOMAS

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8 Years

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0 found this helpful

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0 found this helpful

My pet has the following symptoms:
Hives
my dog is 8 years old and 2 months ago or 3 started with food allergy problems and I knew it because minutes later to eat, hives started to appear on his legs, face, everywhere, he started to liking, run as crazy. we change his food to hipoallergenic(nupec) for an entire month 1/2 and nothing change, we checked again fleas, deaworm, citology was made, probiotics.....etc and is kind of crazy he can´t eat meat, toast, crackers, dog food...... just veggies he is always with hives. obviosly he needs meds inyected and sometimes pills, his problem is severe

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Average Cost

$1,500

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