09/05/2021
4 Clues Your Dog's Itchiness May Be Food-Related
Analysis by Dr. Karen Shaw Becker
April 20, 2020
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food sensitivity in dogs
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
If your dog is itchy year-round and has chronic or occasional GI issues, there’s a good chance she has developed an intolerance for something in her diet
Food sensitivities in dogs are very likely caused by foreign contaminants in ultra-processed commercial pet food
If you suspect your dog has a food sensitivity, the first step is to determine the specific food(s) he’s reacting to
The next step is to introduce a two-to-three-month novel diet; preferably a homemade fresh food diet
Because each case of food intolerance is different, if possible, it’s best to work with a veterinarian with experience creating customized healing protocols
Pets with environmental allergies tend to suffer in the spring and fall, but what about dogs who seem itchy regardless of the time of year? In those cases, it can be something in your four-legged family member's diet that's making her so uncomfortable.
Because most allergies in dogs, regardless of the source, tend to manifest in itchy, inflamed skin, it can be difficult to know early on whether an animal has an environmental (seasonal) or food allergy. It's important to note that while the term "food allergy" is commonly used, true food allergies in pets are rare, and are actually food intolerances or sensitivities vs. allergies.
Dogs with food allergies typically have symptoms such as itchy skin, skin and ear infections, and sometimes, vomiting and diarrhea. Unlike humans, who almost always have gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms with a food allergy, dogs are much more likely to develop skin problems first. There are certain clues that your canine companion's allergies may be food-related, including:
She's less than six months of age, or her allergies didn't appear until she was over six years of age
Her breed is prone to food intolerances
She has sores or skin damage around the neck area, especially under the collar, and her whole head is itchy
She has received steroid therapy for allergies (which I don't recommend), but the treatment hasn't provided symptom relief
If your dog is experiencing digestive issues such as vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation, it's important to recognize that these symptoms are also common in cases of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or a leaky gut (dysbiosis), and aren't necessarily indicative of an intolerance to a particular food or ingredient. If this is the case with your dog, until the underlying disease is identified and healed, it's unlikely that treating food sensitivities alone will be effective.
How Food Sensitivities Develop
When your dog has a food intolerance, his immune system perceives that something in his diet is attacking his body. To deal with the "threat," the immune system launches a counterattack just as it would against a real danger such as pathogenic bacteria.
Certain substances in the diet are more likely to trigger the immune system than others, and unfortunately, the nutrient your facultative carnivore needs most — protein — is very often the culprit.
Although no research has been published on why carnivores develop sensitivities to their natural evolutionary diet, we suspect foreign contaminants may be the culprit. Growth hormones, antibiotics and chemical residues may be the actual triggers rather than the protein in the food.
If we had multiple generations of pets raised exclusively on organic, clean, fresh, species-specific diets, we could conduct studies to determine if they also develop sensitivities to meat proteins. If this population of animals did not develop intolerances to the proteins in their diet, our suspicions about foreign contaminants would be confirmed.
However, since 99.9% of pet foods are made with conventionally raised, factory-farmed meats (and only the leftover, rendered pieces and parts), blended with glyphosate-contaminated fillers known to disrupt the microbiome,1 sensitivities will continue to be a problem for almost all susceptible pets.
And to compound the problem, often it isn't until the GI tract has been significantly compromised by the inflammation caused by a food intolerance that a dog begins to show symptoms of digestive dysfunction.
Animals fed the same food day in and day out for a period of months or years can develop a sensitivity to not only the protein source, but also grains and vegetables.
If the food is made from inexpensive feed-grade raw materials (which describes the vast majority of pet food) and is highly processed (the vast majority of kibble has been cooked 4 times before reaching the bag),2 chances are the meat contains high levels of advanced glycation end products, which in addition to antibiotics and hormones can cause the immune system to overreact.
These dogs also often develop sensitivities to reactive ingredients in the food, typically grains and other refined carbohydrates. Many grains have been genetically modified and sprayed with glyphosates, which can compromise the gut barrier and contribute to leaky gut.
How to Determine Which Foods Your Dog Is Reacting To
The first thing I do with dogs over one year old who may have food sensitivities is complete a NutriScan saliva test. If the first thing your own veterinarian recommends is antibiotics and/or an ultra-processed prescription diet, I suggest you order a NutriScan test instead. I also suggest finding an integrative or holistic veterinarian who will work with you to identify the root cause of your pet's condition and develop a customized healing protocol.
The NutriScan panel tests your dog's sensitivity to 24 purified food extracts that recognize 56 food ingredients:
Beef (bison, buffalo)
Chicken (chicken fat, necks, flavorings)
Millet
Soy (soy isoflavones)
Pork (pork fat)
Rabbit
Venison (deer, elk, treats/chews)
Barley (barley water)
Rice
Sweet potatoes (yams)
Salmon (salmon oil)
Quinoa
Hen eggs (fertilized hen eggs)
Wheat (wheat germ meal)
Potatoes
Oatmeal
Lamb (lamb dairy, goat, goat dairy)
Lentils (peas, pea fiber, pea protein)
Corn (cornstarch, corn gluten meal)
Turkey (turkey necks, turkey fat)
Peanuts (peanut oil)
Cow milk (cow dairy)
Duck (duck fat)
White-colored fish (white-colored fish oils, herring, sardines, tuna)
NutriScan test results can often identify the specific ingredient(s) in your pet's food that are causing a problem, which makes it much easier to customize a diet to resolve the issue.
Introducing a Novel Diet
When a dog is having a reaction to something in her diet, her body needs a break from that food. After determining your dog's food intolerance(s) with a NutriScan test, my recommendation is to introduce a novel diet to promote healing. This means transitioning her to a different food she isn't sensitive to made up of ingredients her body isn't familiar with.
Unfortunately, many dog foods claiming to contain "novel proteins," don't. In addition, pet food mislabeling is a widespread problem, so if you're planning to go with a commercially available processed novel diet, be aware it will undoubtedly contain ingredients you're trying to avoid.
The very safest approach, especially for the first few months, is homecooked meals that allow you to control virtually everything that goes into your dog's mouth. Second best is a human grade commercially available fresh food containing an uncommon protein, produced by a company you trust.
It's very important that all foods your dog reacts to be avoided for two to three months. Animals often experience a reaction to both the primary protein and carbohydrate sources in their diet. In addition to avoiding all problem foods, it's important to reduce or eliminate any filler ingredients and synthetic nutrients that can play a role in food sensitivities and inflammatory conditions.
I also believe pets with food intolerances do best on a very low-starch diet. Starch (which are soluble carbohydrates) are pro-inflammatory to the body and can exacerbate GI inflammation. Microbiome expert Dr. Holly Gantz has also seen beneficial changes in pets' microbiomes when carbs are reduced.
Until new labeling standards are fully in effect, pet food manufacturers aren't required to list carbohydrate content on their labels, so you have to calculate it yourself. It's worth taking the time to do this before choosing a novel diet (less than 20% carb content is the goal).
Transitioning Your Dog Back to a Regular Diet
A dog with food sensitivities should remain on a novel diet for a minimum of two months and preferably three, to allow the body time to clear out the allergenic substances and begin the detoxification process.
During this three-month period I also address dysbiosis (leaky gut syndrome, which results from the inflammatory response in the GI tract) with the appropriate probiotics, microbiome restorative therapy and nutraceuticals necessary to address the root cause of the problem. This is where partnering with a functional medicine veterinarian with experience healing dysbiosis is important.
Because each case of food intolerance is different, again, I recommend a custom formulated protocol created by a professional that understands your pet's unique set of circumstances. Once a patient has completed two to three months on a novel diet, other foods are slowly reintroduced one at a time, and the his or her response is closely monitored.
Some pets show dramatic improvement on the new diet, and in those cases, I typically don't rush the reintroduction of food that could be problematic.
Once a dog is stable and doing well, I encourage pet parents to find at least one and preferably two other well-tolerated protein sources so that every three to six months they can rotate proteins and hopefully avoid future recurrences.
In addition, I believe the cleaner the proteins, the less chance your pet will become sensitive to them over time. Clean animal proteins are non-toxic. For example, food animals raised on a natural diet (grass-fed, not factory farmed), as well as hormone-free animals, are better food sources for sensitive pets.
