Bully Sticks

Dealing with dog allergies

It’s that time of year again… Spring has sprung.

Yep, Spring has sprung forth with massive amounts of pollen ready to irritate you and your dog.

Dogs are increasingly showing signs of allergic reactions to pollens, flea bites and even some food products.

In most cases, the first sign of your puppies allergies is the familiar scratching.  You think it’s just your basic average scratching until you notice it’s non-stop and his coat is missing patches of hair, revealing a lovely shade of pink skin.

So what’s a pet owner to do?

First off, see your Vet.  There are test that can be done to determine exactly what is causing the problem.  Allergies cannot be cured, but they can be managed.

Food allergies can be a bit trickier to detect.  You’ll need to switch you dog to a new dog food, preferably one with only one or two ingredients.  After a couple weeks on the new food, if your dog has stopped the scratching you will know it was something in the old food.  If the scratching continues, then you know the culprit is one of the ingredients in the new food.

If you do have a dog that is sensitive to food allergies, you may want to try hypoallergenic dog food and dog treats like kangaroo and emu all natural dog treats.