Causes of Meat Protein Allergies in Dogs
There are two ways to describe a dog’s abnormal reaction to food. One is allergy, which affects the immune system, and the other is intolerance, which affects the digestive system. Meat protein allergy is usually triggered after your dog has eaten food with meat protein in the ingredients before, because it is the previous exposure that primes the allergic reaction. Meat protein intolerance happens the first time (and every time) your dog eats the food with meat protein ingredients because the body cannot tolerate any product including meat protein.
How Common Are Meat Allergies For Dogs?
A 2016 study by Professor Dr. Ralf Mueller, who is on the European Board of Veterinary Specialists, observed the most common food allergens for dogs in an effort to identify ingredients or categories of ingredients that can cause cutaneous adverse food reactions (CAFRs), i.e. skin reactions. The study tested hypersensitivities across a variety of common dog food ingredients. The study found that the most frequently reported food allergen was actually beef with 34% of all the dogs in the study showing signs of skin allergies when consuming beef.
The study analyzed many other ingredients and listed the following ingredients as the highest frequency of causing skin allergies or an immune system reaction for your dog:
The prevalence of meat ingredients that cause skin allergies or a negative immune system response for dogs is concerning as most commercial dog foods have used low-quality versions of these ingredients for many years.
Millions of dogs around the world are suffering from itchy skin, skin irritation, hot spots, constant ear infections, gastrointestinal issues, and other allergy symptoms because of the meat in their food.
If you have noticed that your dog is suffering from daily allergies then you might want to consider the possibility that they are suffering from meat allergies. You can read about the customer success stories that thousands of customers around the world have seen from switching to Wild Earth Cruelty-Free Dog Food.
Diagnosis of Meat Protein Allergies in Dogs
Allergies in dogs are even harder to diagnose than allergies in people because dogs cannot tell you what they ate when you were not looking. The best way for the veterinarian to determine the diagnosis is to eliminate other illnesses or injuries that are being overlooked.
A physical examination will be done right away, checking your dog’s overall condition and demeanor. The veterinarian will check body weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse and respiration rate, breath sounds, reflexes, skin condition, and will include a thorough examination of the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Laboratory tests, such as a complete blood count (CBC), blood chemistry profile, electrolyte panel, glucose levels, urinalysis, and fecal examination will be done to rule out any underlying disease or illness. The veterinarian may also take a skin scraping to sample in order to rule out bacterial or fungal infection.
Intradermal skin tests and allergy blood tests are available but can produce false positives and negatives and are costly.
Food Allergy in Dogs: Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment
Your dog is itching like crazy and shaking their head constantly. Your vet just told you it could be a food allergy. What does that mean? To find out, we talked to Susan Wynn, an internationally known expert on holistic pet care. Wynn is former president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, a clinical resident in nutrition at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine and author of four textbooks on integrative practice, focusing on dietary supplements such as nutraceuticals and herbs.
A: Ten percent of all allergy cases in dogs are food allergies. Dogs also can suffer from food intolerance, which is different from a food allergy.
A: Anything from chronic ear inflammation, gastrointestinal problems, and chronic diarrhea to chronic gas, licking their feet, or an itchy rear end.
Q: What are the most common things that could trigger a food allergy in my dog?
A: Itâs a genetic problem, and when itâs triggered, itâs by exposure to whatever theyâre allergic to. The most common allergens are beef, dairy, wheat, egg, chicken, lamb, soy, pork, rabbit, and fish. And, most dogs are usually allergic to more than one thing.
A: Itâs a multi-factorial thing, but certainly you have to have a genetic predisposition to develop allergies. The environment can affect it, too.
Thereâs a lot of research going on right now to determine what, in early puppyhood or early kittenhood, makes the immune system more likely to express that trait. Thereâs an immune education process happening in the first few weeks of life. Young animals treated with antibiotics could potentially be predisposed to problems later in life because antibiotics change the environment inside the gut, which is the largest immune organ in the body. That could be a predisposing cause, but then the trigger would be being exposed to the allergen.
A: There are some, but I think it depends on whom you talk to. It also can vary by country or part of the country. It may be as simple as what breeders, with their line-bred family of animals, are in your area. So if you have a very prominent breeder who is breeding a line known for their allergies, youâre going to think that breed commonly has food allergies. In my experience, retrievers, German shepherds. Dachshunds, cocker spaniels, and rex cats are the most commonly affected breeds.
Q: How do I determine if my dog has food allergies, or something else is causing the problem?
A: Thereâs only one way to diagnose food allergies accurately, and that is an elimination diet and challenge. So what we do is take the dog off all the foods its eating and we put him on a food that they have never had before. With all the exotic diets out there now, this can be pretty difficult. Ive sent people out for alligator and yak. Once the dog has improved, we start reintroducing the old foods that we think caused the problems in the first place. If they have a reaction, which usually takes a few days to a few weeks, then we know they have a food allergy.
Thereâs specific testing to rule out other problems as well. For instance, you might take a sample of discharge from the ears to see if theres a problem there, or do skin testing for environmental allergies. Blood testing is not an accurate test for any allergy.
A: If the dog has been sensitized to something in that diet it could. Thereâs no way of knowing if your dog has been sensitized to an ingredient, though.
Q: Can my dog suddenly develop a food allergy to something that they have eaten for years with no problems? Will this keep happening?
A: Thatâs common in food-allergic dogs. They have to be sensitized; they have to have been exposed for some period of time. So, in general, theyâre not going to react really dramatically the first time they eat it but a dog that has eaten a food for years could suddenly become allergic to that food.
If an elimination diet improves the petâs clinical signs and the owner is able to find two to three diets the dog can tolerate, I recommend rotating through them every two to three months. The whole point is to keep them stable for a period of months to years so you can eventually do their challenge testing to identify what the dog is really allergic to. If youâre really lucky, then you can go back to a more normal diet and not these expensive, exotic diets.
A: You can try to cover up the signs, but if youâve got a disease thatâs caused by what you put in your mouth every day, the best treatment is to stop putting that in your mouth every day. I use herbs all the time, and I do think they can help, but not as much as avoiding whatâs causing the problem.
Q: Should I cook for my dog, rather than buy them food? What about a raw diet, will that help?
A: The upside of a cooked diet is you know exactly whatâs going in it and you can control that. The disadvantage is itâs more trouble and, unfortunately, most people wonât do it right. They will leave off supplements, they wonât follow instructions, and theyâll end up giving their dog or cat an unbalanced diet.
Thereâs nothing magical about raw diets. Some dogs do very well on them and some dogs do not do very well on them. The protein structure might be different from that in a cooked or processed diet and that does make a difference for some dogs. But itâs not common enough that we need to tell everybody they should try a raw diet.
A: I donât think anyone is going to tell you that you can prevent food allergies if your puppy is predisposed. My opinion is that if you provide a diet that has some variety in it, so theyâre getting a natural rotation, youâre maintaining gut health by doing that.
I do recommend for young puppies and kittens that people put them on probiotics. Iâm very concerned about the use of antibiotics in growing animals. I think it messes up their gut balance and I think it may make them more likely to become allergic over time. So for puppies, I try to avoid antibiotics and use probiotics up to six months to one year of age and give them a diet thatâs fairly high in variety.