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Are you battling with food allergies or intolerance and you've been trialing with so many different dog foods and yet to find one that would give your dog the perfect poo poo and silky smooth coat? Have you wondered why dogs have such "sensitive stomach" despite they are designed to be a carnivore that eats all sorts of wildlife? Have you wondered why you get to eat a variety of food but your dog is has limited options, can you imagine eating the same food for the rest of your life? This is what most pups have to live with!
What is food allergy and intolerance?
Dogs can develop adverse reaction to specific food, including skin itchiness and rashes, gastrointestinal upset. These reactions are often described as food allergies or intolerance. The main difference between these two terms is, allergies involve the dog's immune system attacking the offending ingredient, while intolerance does not involve the immune system and mostly related to gastrointestinal symptoms.
Food intolerance can happen the very first time the dog consumes the food, e.g. just like lactose intolerance, the dog can experience soft stool or frequent flatulence shortly after consumption. On the other hand, food allergies could show immediately after consumption or it could take weeks to months to develop.
Common symptoms of food allergies:
- Soft stool or diarrhea
- Skin redness (you might notice the skin in the ears, near the groin area or tummy is more red than usual)
- Skin itchiness (pay attention whether your dog is biting its paws, biting its back, scratching behind its ears or neck more often)
- Undigested food in the stool (usually that undigested food is the allergen)
- Frequent, strong odour flatulence
Why most dogs are allergic to chicken?
Even though most commercial dog food claims their grain-free dog food or treats to be hypoallergenic, in reality the common allergens in dogs are proteins, such as chicken, beef, egg.
Chicken is commonly used a protein source in food, also as meat meal, flavouring, animal fat in treats or supplements, hence dogs have higher chance of being constantly exposed to chicken protein, which may explain why chicken is one of the top allergens.
Food allergy is common among dog, but it doesn't have to be feared!
Return to The Nature's Way: Rotational Diet
As more pawrents are struggling with food allergies feeding their dogs off the same dog food, pawrents are looking for alternatives to their dogs' diet, learning more about their dogs' health and canine dige
stive system.
Rotational feeding is the practice of simply - rotating your dog's food, this includes the source of protein, types of food (fresh ingredient, wet food, freeze dried etc.) and other food choices (fruits,
vegetables etc.). There's a lot of flexibility in how to implement rotational feeding, some prefer to change up every day, some prefer monthly. It's recommended to change up the protein type at least every 3 months to prevent food allergy. After all the key to success is variety!
Rotational diet mimics the ancestral diet of digs and helps create a strong intestinal environment. If a puppy is fed a rotational diet early on, it helps them develop stronger digestive health and immunity.
The Benefits of Rotational Diet
Prevent Food Allergies
A major benefit of why pawrents turn to this holistic feeding approach is to prevent the development of food allergies. Food allergies most commonly occur after constant exposure to the same protein, certain substance from the digestion of such protein eventually becomes the allergen. Simply by switching around your dog's food, especially the protein source, drastically reduce the risk of developing food allergies.
Stronger Immunity and Healthier Digestive System
Canine GI tract has both good and bad bacteria, probiotics are the good bateria, and they are vital to keep off the bad bacteria and create a healthy digestive system. When a dog is eating a limited diet, it lacks variety of beneficial bacteria, which could lead to a series of health issues including regular diarrhea, constipation, skin irritation, weight gain etc.
Consuming a variety of beneficial bacteria helps build a strong digestive system, since the majority of your dogs' immune cells are located in their digestive system, canine immunity is highly associated with their digestive health. So by supporting their digestive health, you help them naturally defend against infections, bacteria, viruses, fungi, toxins and parasites.
All in all, the food we provide our canine companion plays a big role in keeping them healthy and strong!
Better Eating Behaviour and A Happier Pet
Offering your dogs a variety of tastes help reduce the food-picking behaviour and keep meal time exciting. The overall happiness of your pet will also increase since they don't know what's to be expected for the mealtime and keep them stimulated!
Getting Started
If your dogs have been eating a limited diet, you may want to take things slowly at first to introduce variety, slowly add different ingredients/ food toppers to their diet to monitor the result. Or you can slowly transition to the diet following the one-week transition standard - starting with 20% new food and 80% old food, and slowing increasing the new and fade out the old food over the course of a week.
If your dogs are experiencing some GI upset at the beginning such as soft stool, frequent or smelly flatulence, don't be discouraged, it could be that they're not used to the new food or variety just yet. Take things slowly, introduce new ingredient in small quantity and monitor for any adverse reactions.
Note: this article is not meant to be medical advice, discuss wit your vet for any dietary changes.
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