Is your dog a picky eater? If so, you know how challenging it can be to convince her to eat her dinner. Dogs, just like humans, have tastes and can prefer certain flavors, much to the chagrin of owners who just want them to eat their kibble.
Although most dogs refuse food simply because they aren’t hungry, or because they don’t care for the flavor of the food, refusal can be a sign of food allergies, too. Think about it this way; if you’re lactose intolerant, and someone continues to give you milk, eventually you’re going to start refusing it because it makes you sick.
Canine food allergies can be insidious; often, only a limited diet roots out the cause. But there are signs and symptoms to watch for – especially when it comes to these common triggers.
Beef
It’s by far the most common food allergy in dogs, but it’s also the most common meat in kibbles: beef. To most pet owners, the idea of a dog being allergic to meat at all is foreign. But meat allergies in omnivores (including humans and dogs) are actually quite common.
The Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association supports this claim. In one outlined study of 278 allergy-prone dogs, they identified a beef allergy in 95 patients. That amounts to almost a third of all dogs in the study.
The most common beef allergy symptoms aren’t gastrointestinal. Instead, they’re subcutaneous. Itchy skin, breakouts, rashes, and small pimples are easy to mistake for fleas, but may be symptoms of a beef allergy instead.
Dairy
Just as humans can be lactose intolerant, so, too, can your dog. Worse yet, dogs often react more severely to foods containing dairy that might not necessarily bother you or I, like cheese or mashed potatoes.
If you’re not sure whether your dog is lactose intolerant, you can try him on a tiny amount of milk at a time to see how he reacts–a teaspoon or two is plenty. Or, give a single piece of cheese. If he reacts, keep dairy restricted as much as you can.
Dogs who are lactose intolerant will react with whining, lethargy, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Some dogs may also experience skin itching, too. Still others experience wheezing–oddly enough, this is common in human children as well.
Wheat
Just because dogs are omnivores doesn’t mean they can’t experience the same wheat intolerances humans experience. Wheat and gluten allergies in dogs are incredibly common, especially when pet owners feed cheap foods that contain mostly grain-based fillers. Unfortunately, cheaper foods can contain many allergens and triggers, so determining whether it’s wheat isn’t always easy.
It’s a bit of a six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other situation: is it the cheap dog food, or is it the wheat in the food? If you’re not sure, try feeding a grain-free food for at least 21 days. This is long enough for the dog’s system to adjust and you should see improvement.
Generally speaking, if you give your pup a small piece of toast and he reacts with vomiting or diarrhea, he’s likely allergic to wheat. Your veterinarian can do further testing to rule out other issues.
Most importantly, avoid foods that contain fillers like wheat or corn meal as the first ingredient. Meat should always be listed first, even if your dog isn’t truly allergic to wheat.
Egg
Many dog kibbles contain eggs or egg-based products. When dogs aren’t allergic, egg is an excellent binder that supplements essential amino acids and proteins.
But when dogs do react, the reaction can range from mild to incredibly severe. On the more severe end of the spectrum is full anaphylaxis–most pet owners become aware of severe allergies in puppyhood.
On the milder end of the spectrum, egg allergies produce skin itching and other subcutaneous symptoms. Dogs who stop eating eggs often show improvement within a matter of days.
Allergies aren’t the only reason to avoid eggs. Raw or undercooked eggs can induce canine salmonella, so cook any eggs you give your dog well. Scrambled eggs are the safest bet!
Chicken
If you thought beef allergies were strange, wait until you hear this one: canine chicken allergies are just as common. Like all allergies, a reaction to chicken is an immune system response that goes overboard. It can occur on a spectrum.
Unlike other allergens, chicken can be a bit insidious to diagnose. Some dogs only seem to react to kibbles that contain chicken, while others react to even boiled chicken (often recommended for gastrointestinal upset). Still others react to even chicken broth.
As a rule, chicken allergies almost always cause skin problems first and gastrointestinal upset after. It can also induce some surprising symptoms, like coughing, flatulence, shaking, and wheezing. If your dog exhibits any of these advanced symptoms, see your vet immediately.
Lamb
For quite some time, lamb was considered the “safety food” for dogs with food allergies. If your dog exhibited a chicken or beef allergy (or for that matter, a fish allergy), vets would tell you to try lamb and rice instead.
That might be bad advice.
Lamb is an allergen itself, and often crops up alongside other allergies in sensitive dogs. It can spur on many of the same allergy symptoms as beef, including itchy skin, diarrhea, vomiting, and rashes.
Some dogs don’t seem to react to lamb until they reach adulthood. It’s difficult to determine whether this is because they are truly allergic or whether their older gastrointestinal systems struggle to break down the rich meat more than in puppyhood.
Similarly, some dogs react to lamb not because they are truly allergic, but because lamb is incredibly rich. Like a human eating a piece of cheesecake, sometimes all that fat and sugar overwhelms their bowels and produces diarrhea.
If your dog exhibits mild allergy symptoms, ask your vet about testing him with a pure, lean piece of lamb meat rather than food. If he tolerates it, slowly increase the amount over time. When all goes well, it’s a sign that it may be the richness of the kibble or wet food rather than the lamb itself–try swapping brands.
These six food allergens may be the most common, but they’re far from the only allergens your dog can struggle with. From fleas to bee stings to dog biscuits, our canine pals are just as prone to food and environmental allergy issues as we are. No matter what breed or age your dog is, your veterinarian is still your best ally when it comes to resolving those issues once and for all.