If you have a dog with food allergies or sensitivities, you have a dog with sensitive skin. Sensitive skin is one of the issues that arises when a dog had food allergies. Hypoallergenic dog food can help ease and eliminate the issues that come with food allergies and sensitivities.
Related: Hypoallergenic Dog Food – What to do When Nothing Seems to Work
How Hypoallergenic Dog Food Works
Many people think that they have to pick a hypoallergenic dog food to address a certain symptom, such as sensitive skin. Actually, picking a hypoallergenic dog food revolves around finding ingredients that won’t set off an allergic reaction. The symptoms of food allergies and sensitivities will subside once the perfect hypoallergenic food is found.
Hypoallergenic food works by way of being something that your dog’s system has never encountered before, effectively removing the foods that your dog is allergic to. Most hypoallergenic foods are typically grain-free, because grains are one of the main things that dogs are allergic to. This only makes sense, considering that a dog’s system was not meant to digest things like wheat, corn, and gluten.
Related: What are The Basic Types of Hypoallergenic Dog Food?
In addition to being grain-free, most hypoallergenic dog food is free of the most common offending protein sources, as well. Chicken, beef, eggs, and soy are rarely found in hypoallergenic dog food, as these protein sources are the most common irritants to a dog’s system.
By eliminating the most common ingredients which cause allergic reactions and instead using ingredients like lamb, rabbit, venison, fish, potato, brown rice, and sweet potato, hypoallergenic dog food effectively removes all of the most common sources of food allergens, allowing your dog’s system to recover from the constant onslaught of edible allergens.
Pick Hypoallergenic Dog Food for Ingredients, Not Conditions
As I said, many people think they have to pick a hypoallergenic dog food based on its symptoms. For example, if a person’s dog has sensitive skin, they think they have to look for ingredients designed for the skin. That’s actually not the case. The process of looking for hypoallergenic dog food should focus on finding those ingredients that will work with a dog’s sensitivities. Once the correct food is found, the symptoms will subside on their own.
One caveat to this is hypoallergenic dog food with fish as a protein source. If a dog has severe skin issues due to food allergies, it might be wise to start off its hypoallergenic dog food journey with a food using fish. Fish based hypoallergenic dog food addresses a dog’s food allergies, which is the primary goal. However, because it is fish based, it will have higher levels of omega three fatty acids which are wonderful for the skin. It address two issues at once.
The Best Hypoallergenic Dog Food is the Food That Works
There are many varieties of hypoallergenic dog food out there, and although all of them address the primary causes of dog food allergies and sensitivities, there’s no guarantee that every food will work for a particular dog. That’s why its so important to pick hypoallergenic dog food based on the dog’s allergic reaction and not on specific symptoms. Fish based hypoallergenic dog food may be great for the skin, but if your dog is allergic to fish, it’s not going to work.
Finding the right hypoallergenic dog food is all about luck and trial and error. Never fall into the mindset of looking for a hypoallergenic dog food based on a specific symptom, because chances are that symptom will go away once the dog’s allergies are under control. Instead, the search for hypoallergenic dog food should be based around results, because those results equal relief for the affected dog.
Do you have any questions about hypoallergenic dog food? Feel free to ask in the comments.
