Dog Food Secrets: How To Stop Dog Food Allergy Problems And Double Your Dog’s Lifespan

Could your dog be allergic to its food?

The most common causes of canine food allergies are caused by these ingredients, which include meat by-products, corn, yeast, salt, sugar, and chemical preservatives. They are often responsible for allergic reactions. Dogs suffering from food allergies will experience reactions such as itchy skin, watery eyes, ear infections, flatulence, irritated anal glands (butt dripping on the rug), rashes, hot spots, and excessive body licking, especially around the feet and belly. Repeated exposure to large amounts of allergens in food can cause long-term chronic illness, infection, and behavioral problems.

How to know if your dog’s food may be giving him allergies

If you suspect that your dog’s food may be causing allergies, you can try feeding him a special diet to determine what is causing him problems. The diet is made up of foods scientifically created with very low molecular weight proteins. Proteins below a certain molecular weight are believed to be incapable of causing food allergies. You can find this food, in wet and dry formulas, online and at many veterinary offices. If after six weeks of feeding this special diet, you find that your dog’s allergy symptoms have eased, it’s safe to assume that his food is the cause of these symptoms. To determine which ingredient is the culprit (usually by-products from meat and poultry sources), reinforce each one in the diet to see if your dog’s symptoms return. Check the ingredient list on your regular dog food label and add each item (chicken, turkey, corn, bulgur wheat, potato, or rice), for example, to the special diet, one at a time, every three weeks. At each meal, add ten percent of the test food to the bowl and reduce the special diet by ten percent. Obviously, you won’t be testing for chemicals, but you can eliminate quite a few ingredients once you’ve determined which ones caused the allergy. If your dog doesn’t react to the added ingredients, the culprit is likely a chemical or byproduct, which you’ll want to eliminate along with corn, wheat, sugar, and salt from your dog’s diet, indefinitely. However, don’t be surprised if you find that several ingredients cause a reaction. Once you’ve figured out the allergens, look for high-quality dog ​​foods that don’t contain these ingredients. Your dog may find an allergy-free or vet-recommended diet bland, but a bland diet is better than a miserable dog! As long as you’re drinking a lot of water, don’t be alarmed if you don’t take it right away. When he’s hungry enough, he’ll venture into the new food for a snack. Eventually, he’ll adjust to his new diet, especially if you make up for it with some delicious, allergy-free treats!

high in sugar

In addition to causing food allergies, a high-sugar diet also affects your dog’s mood, energy, and hunger levels. High blood sugar can make a dog hyperactive and unfocused, and a dog must be focused in order to learn. Many owners mistake their dogs for being rude and uncooperative when, in fact, their behavior may be related to food.

chemical culprits

Many dog ​​foods contain unnecessary chemical preservatives, such as butylated hudroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and ethoxyquin. Although human food also contains BHA and BHT, we consume far less than a dog in its average 15-year lifespan. Large manufacturers often use chemical preservatives in large doses because their products are manufactured in large quantities and distributed around the world, often sitting for long periods of time on store shelves or in warehouses where extreme temperatures can alter the product quality.

Dog foods that contain alternative natural preservatives like vitamin E do not last long. That’s why all-natural pet food manufacturers make smaller amounts so their products are more likely to stay fresh until sold. Mixed tocopherols (vitamin E) preserved dog food generally has a shelf life of about six months, so use this type of dog food immediately. If you are looking for a new food for your dog, visit a pet food store and ask the clerk to recommend a food that does not contain the ingredients listed in this article.

Less expensive dog foods generally include less meat and more animal by-products and grain fillers. As you can see, commercial ready-to-use processed dog food contains many undesirable substances and harsh chemicals that will cause many health problems for your dog if fed for an extended period of time.

So technically yes! You can extend your dog’s life and sometimes even double his lifespan by learning about dog nutrition and what’s really in a can of dog food or pet food. There are many records that have shown that a dog can live much longer if we feed it with the food that it should eat in its natural environment.