The types of dog allergies can be confusing to understand. People think their dog has allergies. They'll say...my dog has ' food allergies ' or ' environmental allergies ' or ' seasonal allergies '. Oh yah? How do you know that?
Then I'll hear the story about how the dog is itching and scratching, gets hot spots, has diarrhea or ear infections, or something!!! Well, it's all true. They're not imagining it, and the vet has probably said...he's has allergies. Fair enough, but there's more to the story.
So as a place to start, let's investigate the most common dog allergy causes.
Lets' take a closer look at each one.
Food allergies commonly occur in dogs that are fed the same food for a long time. Your dog's immune system is having to cope with the same allergens ( proteins ) for so long, that finally it just gives up and starts to have a bad reaction to the protein source.
For example, dogs become allergic to chicken because they have been fed chicken dog food every day of their lives, for years.
However, it could be any other ingredient that's commonly found in dog food too. Guess what? The foods that most commonly cause allergies in people, cause the same reactions in dogs.
Here's a list of some common foods that contribute to dog allergies.
Check your bag of dog food for these commonly found ingredients. Think about what you can do to reduce your dog's exposure to these common allergens in dog food. If you switch to another brand of dog food that contains the same ingredients, you won't fix this type of dog allergy. Read more about how to improve what you're feeding your dog.
Dogs like people, can react to anything in their environment. Here's a short list of some common environmental allergens. These things create a huge toxic load.
What can you do to reduce your dog's exposure?
If your dog is scratching in the spring, summer and fall, but less or not at all in the colder winter months, it's likely a reaction to something in the outdoor environment when the weather is warmer, such as flowering trees, plants or grasses or maybe even fleas.
If your dog continues to have allergy reactions during the cold winter months, that would indicate a non-seasonal or year-round allergy, such as a food allergen source or household environment allergen source.
So, to recap, some dogs have all three types of dog allergies.
This abnormal immune response we've been talking about creates inflammation which leads to a trip to the vet, which leads to drugs to treat the allergy inflammation symptoms, which often leads to a candida/yeast overgrowth which leads to more damaging inflammation in the gut, which leads to bowel irritation causing Leaky Gut Syndrome, which leads to a trip to another trip to the vet, which leads to more drugs ( steroid, antibiotics ) to treat inflammation for scratching, itching, hot spots and diarrhea, ear infections and anal gland problems, which leads to more candida yeast overgrowth which leads to more of the same, over and over again.
Does this sound like you and your dog?
Well, I hope you can see the big picture when it comes to types of dog allergies and the hamster wheel of treating only the symptoms you can see, without reducing exposure to all of the possible reasons why your dog's gut microbiome may be well and truly, out of whack!
These types of dog allergies don't have to happen. Isn't it time to get back to more ' normal circumstances '?
Have your say about what you've just read here. Use the comments box below.
Sharing is appreciated!