I’ve been putting off writing this post for a while, I think because I’m tentative on how it will be received. It is somewhat of a pet peeve of mine but I think it is important to write about. There are many many pets (and owners) who suffer from allergies. When your pet is insanely itchy or gets continuous skin or ear infections it can affect your life too! When your pup gets up every 10 minutes during the night to shake and scratch it can also limit your z’s. When you have to take your pet in to the vet to have their ears treated every two months, it adds up! Environment and food are two of the big drivers of allergies.

People like to follow trends, they like flashy advertisements, hey I do it too! However marketing agencies know the power of this and they see $$$$. Grain free!!! I get it, you want your pets to have the same quality as you and we’ve all heard about how bad grains are for us. Spoiler alert, grains aren’t the cause of your pets allergies (or at least very unlikely according to the current published scientific literature) more often than not the animal source of protein (think chicken, pork, and beef) is the cause of the inflammation and allergic reaction.

Hey I’m not saying you can’t feed your pet whatever fancy pet store grain free, premium human grade meat based caviar pet food. I’m just saying if you have the feeling your pet has food allergies the best bet is to do proper veterinary food diet trials. Veterinary elimination diets are different from the pet store versions in a few ways:

1. veterinary elimination diets are formulated to focus on the most well known allergens (that show the most allergenic potential)
2. They have a hydrolyzed version, this process breaks down proteins into their most basic building blocks (amino acids). This makes it near impossible for the immune system to recognize and react
3. Processing of these veterinary diets: these diets are made in specialized factories, they either have a dedicated line or there is a total clean out period to ensure there is no cross contamination between diets

No angry emails please, maybe your dog did do really well on a grain free diet, that’s fine. My point is that if you think your pet is allergic to food, probably the animal protein is the cause. Don’t feel pressured to buy into the flashy marketing schemes of these grain free bags. If you want to approach it in a sensible, logical, scientific manner visit your vet!

 

 

How it is typically addressed in the clinic:

1. Start pet on hydrolyzed diet a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks
2. If symptoms have improved on hydrolyzed diets move on to step 3, if not should investigate other possibilities eg environmental
3. can attempt to introduce other protein, ideally a veterinary hypoallergenic diet (duck and potato, venison and barley)
4. During diet trials it is critical to stick to hypoallergenic diet/kibble ONLY, additional treats or scraps confound the diet trial (eg whats the point in removing all chicken protein from the diet if we give them treats with chicken in it)

Want some light reading? check out the World Small Animal Veterinary Association nutrition guidelines:

Click to access Selecting-the-Best-Food-for-your-Pet.pdf