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Is Your Senior Dog Allergic To Its Food?

Although it is not very common, yes, your senior dog can be allergic to its food. Curiously, dogs don’t react to new food but develop allergies because of the food they have been eating for years, and the tendency is hereditary.

Food allergies in dogs can start at any age, and most of them become allergic to a specific ingredient in the food they have been eating regularly and for a long time, typically for over two years.

If your dog has a negative reaction towards a new brand or kind of food it is probably not due to an allergic reaction, because it has to be exposed to the food more than once to get one.

The food ingredients that normally cause allergies are: beef, chicken, fish, eggs, and milk.

If your dog is affected by other types of allergies, it may be prone to food allergies too. The symptoms are similar to those of other allergies, showing itchiness in the same places.

Some of the symptoms of food allergies are:

Itchy skin, especially around the face, paws, and ears.
Dogs with chronic food allergy experience bad skin odor, too much scaling, red bumps, and ear infections.
Self-inflicted skin trauma due to harsh itching.
In some extreme cases, diarrhea and vomiting.

The first thing a vet does is to discard food allergies, since they are easier to get under control. In order to discard a food allergy in your senior dog, several tests may be performed:

A full medical history and physical examination. The vet will examine your dog’s skin and ask about its diet.

The dog is put on an 8 to 12 weeks diet that consists only of food ingredients that it has never tried before; it is called ‘elimination food trial’.

If after this period of time the itchiness and scratching diminish and your dog doesn’t develop new skin or ear infections, it is suffering from a food allergy.

The treatment for food allergies may include one or several of these:

Stop the ingestion of the food or food ingredient that caused it.

Give antihistamines to diminish the itching.

Treat secondary bacterial or yeast infections.

A dog that has suffered from a food allergy can develop a new one at any time. If this is the case, the process has to start all over again and patience and determination are very important, because you have to be very strict and not allow your dog to eat anything outside from the food trial diet, otherwise, the results won’t be exact. In other words, your pal shouldn’t be eating treats, flavored medications or vitamins for a while.

~ Staff, SeniorDogs.com

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