“I’m going to say something super controversial right now. Your pet probably does not need a grain-free diet.” – Dr. McGlasson

If you’re concerned that your pet may have a food allergy, talk with your vet about some diet options. Food allergies are actually pretty common, and there are some things we can do to figure out what your pet might be allergic to.

Some symptoms that we see in pets with food allergies can be:

• Excessive itching of the skin
• Chronic ear infections
• Licking the feet
• Sometimes vomiting and diarrhea

The most common ingredient in pet foods that is going to trigger food allergy is actually going to be the protein source – not grain.

Food Trials
Chicken and beef are the number one and number two allergens that we see causing food allergy symptoms in our dogs. There’s no great diagnostic test that we can run on your pet to see if they’re allergic to a protein in the food, so instead we do what’s called a food trial.

There are actually special diets that have very limited ingredients, and we feed your pet that for a period of time to see if the symptoms resolve. Before you switch your dog to a grain-free diet because someone in the pet store told you to do so, check your sources and talk with your vet so we can make the best decisions for your pet moving forward.

If you think your pet might have food allergies, come in and see us! We’d love to talk with you about options and see what we can do to make sure your pet is as healthy as possible.