Itching that will not stop even after a change of shampoo, ear infections that keep coming back, loose stools with no clear cause. If this sounds familiar, you may suspect a food allergy in your dog. Allergy symptoms are easy to confuse with other problems, though, so the first step is a visit to the vet. In this guide we show what an elimination diet looks like when your vet recommends one.
How to recognise a food allergy in a dog
In dogs, a food allergy most often shows up in the skin and the digestive system. Typical signs include persistent itching, reddened skin, recurring ear infections as well as loose stools or bloating that appear for no obvious reason.
These symptoms can be misleading and resemble other health problems, so guesswork alone is rarely enough and the diagnosis is best left to a vet.
Start with a visit to the vet
Before you change your dog’s food, book a visit to the vet. Itching, reddened skin or loose stools can have many causes, such as parasites, a skin infection or an allergy to something in the environment, like pollen or dust mites. Your vet will rule these out first. If a food allergy is still suspected, they will suggest an elimination diet, help you choose the protein for it and decide how long it should last.
Get in touch with your vet during the diet as well if the symptoms get worse, appear suddenly or do not ease despite the diet.
What an elimination diet looks like step by step
If your vet recommends an elimination diet, it usually runs in several stages.
- One new protein. Your vet will help you choose a protein your dog has never eaten before, such as venison, or recommend a food with hydrolysed protein. The less common the meat source, the lower the risk that your dog’s body has met it before. If the current food is the suspected allergen, dogs are usually switched straight away, without a gradual transition.
- For 8 to 12 weeks, only this one food and water, with no treats, chews or any extras from the table. Even a small exception can skew the whole trial.
- Watching and taking notes. Write down skin and digestive symptoms, ideally in a simple diary with dates. This makes it easier to spot a real improvement rather than just a good day, and your vet gets concrete information at the follow-up visit.
- The challenge test. If the symptoms have clearly eased, your vet will usually recommend a short return to the previous food. If the symptoms come back, most often within a few days to two weeks, a food allergy is practically confirmed.
- Old ingredients one at a time. Finally, the old ingredients are brought back one after another at a pace agreed with your vet, to see which one makes the symptoms return. This is the stage that finally points to the specific allergen.
What exactly is a new protein
A new protein, also called a novel protein, is a meat source your dog’s immune system has not met before, so the risk of it triggering an allergic reaction is much lower. Venison is a classic example. Proteins from closely related species can be similar to one another, though, so the choice of protein is best discussed with your vet.
In practice, it is not only the name on the front of the can that matters but the whole ingredient list: a single meat source and no hidden traces of other proteins. We show how to check this on the label in our guide to reading dog food labels.
The most common mistakes on an elimination diet
- Changing the food on your own, without a visit to the vet, which makes it easy to miss another cause of the symptoms.
- Giving treats or table scraps during the diet, which in practice undoes the whole trial, even if it seems like a small slip.
- Overlooking “hidden” proteins, for example in flavoured tick tablets, chews or dog toothpastes. Ask your vet about versions without flavourings.
- Keeping the diet too short, so the skin and digestive system do not have time to recover fully and the result of the trial is unclear.
- Changing several things at once, for example the food and the shampoo at the same time, which makes it hard to tell what actually helped.
How Veli supports an elimination diet
If your vet recommends a diet based on a new protein, at Veli you could consider the Venison + EntoPro™ recipe. It combines two proteins most dogs have never eaten: venison as the only meat source and EntoPro™, our proprietary bio-protein found in all our recipes. The broth in this recipe is also made from venison, so it does not bring in any other meat.
We list the full composition of every recipe on its page, and it is worth going through it with your vet with an eye on what your dog has eaten before. For example, Salmon + EntoPro™ also contains 9% chicken offal. When you build your bundle and tick your dog’s allergies, we will leave flavours with those ingredients out of our suggestions. For the duration of the elimination diet, choose one flavour rather than a mix and do not introduce any other new proteins alongside it.
Can I start an elimination diet on my own?
It is better to start with a visit to the vet. Symptoms that look like a food allergy can have other causes, and the vet will help rule them out, choose the protein for the diet and assess the result.
How long does an elimination diet last for a dog?
Usually 8 to 12 weeks. The skin and the digestive system need time to respond to the change, so a shorter trial is often unreliable and can easily lead to the wrong conclusions.
Which protein should I choose if I suspect an allergy?
The choice of protein is best made with your vet. It is usually a protein that is new to your dog, meaning one they have never eaten before, such as venison, in a food with a single meat source and no other proteins mixed in. A food with hydrolysed protein is sometimes an alternative.
Is wet food suitable for an elimination diet?
Yes, as long as it has a simple recipe with a single meat source and no unnecessary extras. Dogs with an irritated digestive system also often eat wet food more willingly than dry food.
