Your vet may have advised you that your dog has an allergy to something in it’s food, or that due to the health symptoms they have there’s a high likelihood they are intolerant to one or more ingredients in their dog food. The vet probably would have recommended that you buy dog food that’s hypoallergenic. But is hypoallergenic dog food readily available? Well thankfully it is becoming more readily available. But there are some very specialist dog food brands out there that do cater specifically for dogs with allergies, producing grain free dog foods, chicken free meat foods and hypoallergenic dog food.
What’s Different About Dog Food That’s Hypoallergenic?
So what is different about hypoallergenic dog food, is it really worth spending a bit more on their food? Actually it may surprise you to know that some of the main ingredients in dog foods are ones that many dogs are allergic to or intolerant toward. Ingredients such as wheat gluten, corn, chicken, potatoes and soy. The grains like corn and wheat are staple products in many dog foods and are the ingredients your dog is most likely intolerant towards.
Allergies and intolerances in dogs often show in the form or skin conditions and digestive issues. So if your dog has dry skin patches, a dull coat, has bouts of diarrhea, sickness, flatulence and bloating, then there is a very good chance they are allergic to something in their regular dog food. But swapping to hypoallergenic dog food you are cutting out these main allergens and it is likely your dog’s health will improve dramatically.
Hypoallergenic dog food also eliminated artificial colors, flavors and preservatives, which can have chemicals and additives which also trigger allergies in your dog.
How To Introduce a Hypoallergenic Dog Food Into Your Dog’s Diet?
For hypoallergenic dog food to be effective you need to swap your dog’s whole diet to a hypoallergenic one. However, if you’ve tried swapping your dog’s main food before you will know that dog’s often have an adverse reaction to new food. They will often lose their appetite, refusing to eat the new food, and when they finally try it, they will have a bad physiological reaction to it, often vomiting and having diarrhea.
So they key to introducing hypoallergenic dog food into your dog’s diet is to mix a small amount of the new food in with their regular food at first, and then after several days slowly increase the amount of the new food while reducing the amount of regular food. Eventually after three or four weeks you should have been able to swap their whole meal to all new hypoallergenic dog food without them or their stomach noticing.
After two or three months of your dog being on all hypoallergenic dog food you should see a massive improvement in their health with their skin conditions clearing up, their digestive system improving immensely and their overall health much improved, they’ll have a shinier coat and more energy.
