With all types of allergy issues on the rise in our pets, its no wonder that one of the most common reasons you might visit your vet is due to some type of itchy skin or other allergy problem. Underpinning allergy problems is what is known as leaky gut – you can learn more about this in some of my other videos but the damage that occurs to the small intestinal lining in leaky gut is what can lead to allergies , inflammation and other health issues. Does feeding a raw diet help dogs with allergies and if so, what is the best way to try this for your dog?? Let's find out more!
If your dog is suffering from any type of allergy, treating the gut and focusing on diet is always the first place to start. Around 70% of the immune system is found within your dog- that equates to billions of cells so its no wonder that this is where allergy problems have their starting point. Most of you know that leaky gut occurs when there is damage to to intestinal lining or barrier within the small intestine (which can occur from poor diet, chemicals, drugs etc). When this barrier is damaged, it is then unable to prevent undigested food particles and potentially toxic organisms from passing through into your dog’s bloodstream, where they absolutely don’t belong and are considered by the body as foreign invaders. Once this occurs, a cascade of inflammatory processes are triggered, the immune system becomes over-stimulated, and our dogs become much more susceptible to both environmental and food allergens, along with a whole raft of other potential health problems.
So now we know a bit more about how these allergies can start, lets look at how a raw diet can help dogs with allergies. When it comes to healing that leaky gut, a diet containing any processed foods, dry biscuits etc can make things worse by not containing sufficient nutrients as well as increasing inflammation in the gut. Did you know that the way commercial foods are processed creates a particular reaction between the proteins and the sugars found within the food which is known as the Maillard reaction. This reaction causes a caramelisation between these two food types and can improve the flavour of the food. But this has also been shown to contribute to chronic inflammatory states in the gut with subsequent negative health consequences.
So lets look at some reason why this raw diet is going to be helpful for an allergy dog:
1. It’s a natural diet- I think that really says so much- A raw natural diet is more biologically appropriate for our dogs, leading to overall better health, including skin and coat health. If your dogs skin and coat are healthier, there may be fewer allergic reactions, especially if the allergy manifests as skin irritation. The closer to nature that our dogs eat, the much better their health will be overall.
2. Limited ingredients: Raw diets consist of whole, unprocessed foods with fewer ingredients, which makes it easier to identify and eliminate potential allergens from a dog's diet. Common allergens like certain grains, artificial additives, and preservatives are absent from such a diet. Whether you are making your dogs raw diet or you are buying a premade frozen version that is simply defrosted and served, you will have a clear idea of what is in the food and you have the option of avoiding those common allergen foods which I will mention in a moment.
3. Supports your dogs gut health - dogs fed a raw diet have better gut health due to the presence of natural enzymes, probiotics, and the absence of processed ingredients. This can help to establish, build and maintain a healthy gut microbiome and strong intestinal barrier which in turn helps improve the immune system's response and reduce allergic reactions. Studies have shown that dogs eating a processed diet are 30% more likely to have digestive issues. And by avoiding processed commercial dog foods, which can contain fillers, synthetic vitamins, and other additives, our dogs are more likely to have a reduction in allergic symptoms.
4. Antiinflammatory properties- raw foods, especially those like certain fatty fish, are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which have natural anti-inflammatory properties, leading to a reduction in inflammation associated with allergies. Studies have shown that dogs fed a raw or whole food diet have lower levels of pro-inflammatory markers in the body and higher levels of anti-inflammatory markers, as compared to dogs fed a standard commercial kibble diet. Diet is the biggest contributor to inflammation on our dogs diet so focusing on raw foods will naturally being in plenty of anti-inflammatory foods to help heal the gut and reduce general inflammation.
What sort of foods would you be focusing on?? High quality animal proteins and raw bones, high quality fats such as the anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish (i.e. salmon, sardines, and mackerel), eggs, flaxseeds, hempseeds and chia seeds. When a dog’s diet is deficient in omega-3 (or if there is too much omega-6 relative to omega-3), the immune system will react in a more inflammatory way, release more histamine, and increase your dog’s allergic tendency. Seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables which not only contain lots of antioxidants to help reduce inflammation but are also cancer fighting and immune supportive. And Pre- and probiotics to strengthen the integrity of the gut, support immune function and promote overall health and wellbeing.
What if your dog is currently suffering from a skin or digestive issue and you suspect that it may be due to food intolerance or allergy?
Firstly, what is the difference between intolerance and allergy?
Food intolerance doesn’t involve your dogs immune system. Instead, it occurs when the digestive system has difficulty processing a certain food. This could be due to an enzyme deficiency, sensitivity to certain chemicals, or reactions to food additives. Where as food allergy is an immune system response. The body mistakenly identifies a harmless food protein as a threat and produces antibodies (IgE) to fight it off. This triggers the release of chemicals like histamine, leading to allergic symptoms. While food allergy can certainly occur, it is much less common than other environmental allergies. One of the biggest allergens for dogs is grain, especially gluten grains like wheat. But beef, chicken, dairy, egg and soy are other common potential allergen foods in our dogs. And also brown rice is one common allergen that is often missed to be aware of that one too.
In these cases it an be helpful to feed a low allergenic diet which reduces the allergenic load, and minimising the number of potential triggers, means that you are much better placed to figure out what might be causing the problem. It also gives your dog’s gut the time it needs to heal and function normally again. A single animal species diet is one of the best way to address this. This means giving a single protein (eg kangaroo, goat, or turkey are good choices to consider) and feed the meat, fat and bone of this one raw species. Other low reactive foods such as sweet potato,(feed this cooked) carrots, green beans, cabbage and celery, along with hemp and chia seeds.
Using a single protein diet can help reduce the stress on your dogs immune system, allowing it to calm down as well as reducing the load on your dogs digestion, helping to rest this area too.
If you are looking to transition your dog to a raw diet, always check with your vet or holistically practitioner in terms of your dogs specific current health issues as this may need to be done slowly and gently to help their body change over. But feeding a raw diet is really the best option for not only overcoming allergy problems but preventing them in the future. And while diet is not the only requirement here (healing leaky gut and supporting the immune system through herbs and supplementation is usually needed), we must first start with an optimal diet. The more we can get our dogs away from commercial foods, the less likely they will be to develop not only allergy problems but many other gut and immune associated diseases such as autoimmunity and cancers.
Need some help with your dog?? feel free to email me at lyndall.pinchen@gmail.com for support.
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