Caring for a food-sensitive dog brings up a lot of emotions — fear, frustration, worry, and anger — even before you identify the specific sensitivity. Although understanding your dog’s symptoms and managing your dog’s meals may seem difficult at first, it ultimately makes life easier and happier for you and your dog.
Dog Food Sensitivity Explained
Dogs with food sensitivities have negative reactions to specific food ingredients, and these reactions reside on a spectrum. Unlike food allergies, a food sensitivity does not involve the immune system, but rather the digestive system. Reactions to specific food ingredients range from mild to moderate to severe symptoms. That said, food allergies and sensitivities often share many of the same symptoms.
Symptoms of Food Sensitivities in Dogs
Watch for the following symptoms after eating. Signs that your dog may be experiencing food sensitivities include:
These symptoms occur in varying degrees and usually appear within six to 24 hours of consuming ingredients. Don’t overlook foods your dog has already eaten safely; sensitivities can develop at any time, which can be really frustrating and confusing!
The most common ingredients and foods that cause sensitivities in dogs include:
- Dairy
- Beef
- Chicken
- Wheat
- Soy
Dog Food Sensitivity Test
Unfortunately, veterinary professionals consider tests for identifying and diagnosing food sensitivities to be unreliable. These include saliva, serum (blood) and intradermal tests. However, additional testing can help rule out other issues that share similar symptoms with food sensitivities.
These tests include:
- Skin tests. Ectoparasites and skin infections cause hives, itching, and hair loss that often mirror symptoms of food sensitivities. Skin scrapings and strip preps are easy and affordable tests that eliminate ectoparasites, such as mites. A skin culture is another noninvasive test that rules out fungal infections, such as ringworm.
- Fecal test. Testing your dog’s stool sample eliminates fecal parasites that cause vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, loss of energy, or weight loss. Common parasites in dogs include coccidia, hookworms, whipworms, and giardia.
- Environmental allergy testing. Many dogs with food sensitivities or allergies struggle with environmental allergies. Unlike food allergies, reliable tests for environmental allergies do Once diagnosed, environmental allergies can be well managed with long-term treatments, such as immunotherapy. Managing your dog’s environmental allergies makes managing food sensitivities a whole lot easier!
Food Trial Test for Food Sensitive Dogs
The most formal “diagnosis” for food sensitivities and allergies is a food trial using an elimination diet. An elimination diet is a hypoallergenic diet that includes a new source of protein that your dog has never been exposed to. Examples of these proteins are catfish, kangaroo and alligator. Your dog stays on this elimination diet for about 8 to 12 weeks. Other foods, treats and supplements should be temporarily discontinued for accurate results. Choose from over-the-counter or prescription new protein diets, or prepare your own homemade elimination diet under the guidance of a veterinary nutritionist.
Commercial elimination diets, which are usually highly processed, can seem difficult for holistic pet parents. They also tend to be very expensive. Although elimination diets can be used indefinitely, consider them a temporary diagnostic tool and not a permanent solution.
Once your dog successfully remains on an elimination diet for the specified period, and if you see positive results, then you begin the food challenges. A food challenge means that you only introduce one ingredient at a time into your dog’s diet. From there, you can slowly begin to reintroduce foods and work towards a more aligned, long-term diet for your pup. This process can take months.
Managing Your Dog’s Food Sensitivities
There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Focus on the following:
- As noted, the most important aspect of managing food sensitivities is finding the root problem (food ingredients) your dog is reacting to and eliminating them completely from his diet. This is by far the most time-consuming part of identifying and managing your pup’s food sensitivities.
- Build your team. Identifying and managing food sensitivities is time-consuming, so team up with resources. Add a Dermatologist, Holistic Vet, and Traditional Vet to your team. Many holistic veterinarians offer phone consultations and are highly trained in supporting dogs with food sensitivities. Look for a good holistic match using the “Find a Member” tab on the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA) site here. Onboarding all team members at the same time can seem financially onerous. Start with your dog’s primary vet and expand from there.
- Bowel Healing Protocol. Healing of the gut and chronic inflammation can take time, and certain supplements help support this process.
Your dog’s bowel healing protocol may include:
- Add quality probiotics to your dog’s daily diet. Rotating probiotics helps introduce new strains to your dog’s gut flora, increasing diversity and benefits. Start with probiotics or make your own using fermented blueberries!
- bone broth. Filled with healing nutrients, bone broths can be very soothing to your dog’s gastrointestinal tract. Pour over your dog’s food or freeze in ice cube trays as a cool treat. Avoid broths high in fat or cooked with onions.
- Digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes help speed up your dog’s digestion and improve the absorption of vitamins and minerals. Use a commercial digestive enzyme, such as whole foods naturally rich in digestive enzymes, such as pumpkin, fermented foods, quinoa, or flax seeds. Make sure these foods aren’t sources that could trigger your dog’s food sensitivities.
- Keep a diary. You and your dog will both benefit from keeping a journal of your dog’s food journey. Not only is journaling a place to process your own emotions around pet parenting, but it’s great for setting timelines around symptoms, diet adjustments, when you’ve opened new bags of food, different treats or any other changes that may be insightful for your veterinary team as they navigate managing your dog’s food sensitivities.
- Develop a rescue plan. Stock up on your dog’s home medical pharmacy. Your vet will likely support this as well. These include anti-diarrhea, anti-nausea, and anti-itch medications. You’ll really thank yourself later if the “things” hit the fan!
Remember that supplements can trigger reactions in dogs with food sensitivities. Always start with one supplement at a time and monitor responses, while working closely with your pup’s veterinary team.
Identifying and managing your dog’s food sensitivities can seem absolutely daunting. It takes time, patience and perseverance. Working with a well-resourced team and remaining open to a holistic approach eases some of those struggles when helping your pup achieve optimal health. Part of the process may involve things that don’t seem aligned to you as a pet parent, like feeding elimination diets and cutting out high-value treats. Remember that these steps are an often temporary but important part of the process. You have this!
