Hypoallergenic Dog Food to Keep Your Dog Healthy

Dog Skin Allergies

If your dog is suffering from food allergies, you should consider switching from your normal brand to a hypoallergenic dog food. These types of foods are less likely to cause intestinal distress or skin allergies, which will allow your pet to live a happier and healthier life.

Dog Skin Allergies

Symptoms of dog food allergies include digestive issues, such as diarrhea and vomiting, and skin irritations. Your dog could be allergic to one or more ingredients, such as beef, dairy products, chicken, corn, eggs, soy, wheat, and yeast. Unlike hypoallergenic dog food manufacturers, most common pet food companies make their foods with chemicals, preservatives, dyes, and flavorings.

Dog Skin Allergies

Unfortunately, to find the hypoallergenic dog food that works best for your pet, you will probably have to go through a trial-and-error process to find out which ingredient your dog is allergic to. You will have to start by eliminating items one by one to see which ingredient is triggering an allergic reaction.

Dog Skin Allergies

Beef, soy, and corn are common causes of allergies, so it is best to start eliminating these ingredients from your pet's diet first. If the symptoms do not go away, you should try foods without the other common ingredients that pets are allergic to, such as soy and artificial flavorings and preservatives.

In order to make sure that your food experiment works, you should keep a diary to track how the changes are affecting your dog and make sure your pet is not eating table scraps or other food items. It may be that your dog might be allergic to more than one thing, so you may have to experiment by adding or removing more than one ingredient.

Once you have determined what your dog is allergic to, you will have a wide variety of hypoallergenic dog foods to choose from. Hypoallergenic pet food is usually made with better quality ingredients and does not have the fillers used in regular pet foods. Many of these companies use lamb, bison, or venison and rice or oats instead of corn, which are deemed gentler on your dog's stomach.

You can purchase your new hypoallergenic dog food from your vet or pet specialty shops, but if you want the largest variety to select from then look online. The other advantage to shopping online is that you get to examine the ingredients and compare between many other brands. And most online pet food companies provide free shipping when buying these types of foods.

If you do not like the hypoallergenic dog food choices available, you can choose to make your own. There is a variety of recipes available on the internet or in specialty pet books. Making your own hypoallergenic pet food allows you more quality control with the ingredients used. Whether you choose to make your own hypoallergenic dog food or buy it from the store, these types of foods can help your pet live a normal, healthy, allergy-free life.

Hypoallergenic Dog Food to Keep Your Dog Healthy

Dog Skin Allergies

Keeping Your Dog's Ears Healthy- Does Your Dog Have an Ear Infection?

Dog Skin Allergies

Does your dog shake his or her head excessively and seem like he or she is in pain? Can you detect a distinct and unusual odor emanating from your dog's ear? Then take a closer look and inspect your dog for an ear infection. If the inspection of your dog's ear results in you seeing that his or her ear canal seems irritated and red with some discharge then go to the vet and have your dog's ear infection checked and treated.

Dog Skin Allergies

You should never try to treat your dog's ear infection by yourself. Do not delude yourself into thinking that you don't need professional opinion because ear infections in dogs are more complicated than you may think. If ear mites cause your dog's ear infection then it may not be that complicated to cure. However if your dog has many allergies, chances are, his or her ear infection is a complicated matter that needs a synergy of different procedures to treat.

Dog Skin Allergies

Unfortunately for man's best friend, ear infections in dogs are quite common because a favorable environment is provided by their anatomy and physiology. For one thing, their long and deep ear canals provide more area for infection. Their ears also have mast cells that produce histamines that give off an allergic reaction to certain stimuli, which in turn irritate the inside of your dog's ear. Ear infection in dogs often start with the mast cells irritating the ear canal into producing unusual amounts of ear wax.

Dog Skin Allergies

Unchecked, the ear wax will continue to build up until bacteria sets in to the irritated skin. You will notice that ear infections in dogs are more common among those with ear flaps because the appendage keeps the ear canal at temperatures that allow bacteria to thrive. The problem further progresses when yeast results from the bacterial infection in your dog's ear. Before you know it. A whole new symbiotic life system is thriving in your dog's ears.

Ear infections in dogs must be treated, not only because it causes discomfort and makes your dog smell, but because it can seriously damage your dog's ears. Because of the potentially complex nature of ear infections in dogs, it is very important that you get a reliable veterinary doctor that can properly diagnose and pinpoint the cause of the ear infection. Being able to accurately diagnose the cause will inadvertently allow for the proper treatment.

As mentioned earlier, ear infections in dogs can be caused by chronic allergies. If this happens to be the source of your dog's ear infection, you will need to find out what your dog may be allergic to. It can be one or many things and you will need to find each one out in order to prevent further allergic reactions from your dog.

At the same time, you will need to have your dog's ear cleaned and treated with topical and oral medication. I bring this all to your attention to underscore the importance of a good exam and probably some lab work to try to narrow down all the possible causes. Your vet will want to have a good look down the ear canal. It may be necessary to sedate your pet in order to clean out the ear well enough to get a good look. Or maybe he or she will have you come back after a few days of treatment to look again when hopefully the ear will be improved. When it comes to ear infections in dogs, you may also need to check and count your dog's diet as a possible source of allergy.

Keeping Your Dog's Ears Healthy- Does Your Dog Have an Ear Infection?

Dog Skin Allergies