Diets and supplements for dogs with allergies or intolerances

Dermatological problems in dogs can be of various kinds, itching being the most frequently encountered. Itching in dogs can have several causes, the most common being allergies and intolerances. A dog may be affected by itching as a reaction toward food antigens or environmental antigens. Often a dog suffering from allergy/intolerance phenomena has reactions toward both food antigens and environmental antigens. In both cases, dietary management aimed at reducing or eliminating the symptom of itching can be identified.

Discover the best products to solve your dog's allergy and intolerance problems: Exclusion Diet, Royal Canin V-Diet, Farmina Vet Life and NBF Lanes.

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Dogs with food-borne itching

In the case of dogs with food-borne itching, it will be necessary to implement an "exclusion" diet for at least 2 months. The exclusion diet can be carried out with two nutritional strategies:

1. first strategy: use of a food consisting of hydrolyzed proteins, foods consisting of a protein source whose molecular weight has been reduced so that the immune system no longer reacts in an "uncontrolled" way toward these proteins since it no longer recognizes them as antigens "to fight."
2. Second strategy: use of a food consisting of novel protein sources, toward which the dog has never come in contact during its life. It is necessary to carefully examine what the dog's "food history" has been and choose a food that contains protein sources that the dog's immune system is unfamiliar with. One usually goes for protein sources such as horse, deer, rabbit, ostrich, etc. The most innovative protein source is insects, which, since they are not a component of maintenance foods, ensure that the dog is not sensitized to this protein and maximize the success of the exclusion diet.

Dogs with itching of environmental origin

In the case of dogs with itching of environmental origin, the dietary strategy that can improve symptomatology is touse fatty acids belonging to specific categories. Fatty acids such as EPA (ac. Eicosapentaenoic) and DHA (ac. Docosahexaenoic) can change the composition of the skin by making the skin less irritable by environmental antigens. In this case it will be necessary to choose a food supplemented with oils such as fish oil, krill oil, borage oil, etc.