Are Gourmet Dog Food and Treats Hampering Dog Allergies?
June 30th, 2010
Last week, we talked about the usefulness of “novel” proteins in the diagnosis and management of dog food allergies. Today, I’m going to ask a potentially loaded question: Are gourmet dog food and treats hampering our dog allergy efforts?
I ask because once upon a time LAMB was considered a novel protein that veterinarians could use to test dogs with dog food sensitivities. If Fido ate a beef- or chicken-based dog food at home, then lamb (which he’d never eaten before) would be a good option.
Then, lamb ended up in more mainstream dog foods and dog treats, and it could no longer be used in that way.
I’m no ogre. I’m no naysayer. Personally, I LOVE buying my dogs fancy dog treats made from pumpkin, cranberry, blueberry, and other ooh-la-la ingredients. I like giving them some variety in their diet.
Whole oats here. Sweet potatoes there. A little rabbit nibble today. A dried duck treat tomorrow.
You know the drill because you do the same thing. Right?
So, I ask this question in part because I wonder if in all our attempts to improve our dogs’ lives we might be sensitizing them to more and more things.
And, dogs with allergies must first be SENSITIZED before an allergy develops. That’s how the process goes:
- Exposure
- Sensitize
- Immune Reaction
But, I also ask in the wake of a New York Times article (The Truth About Dog and Cat Food) published earlier this month that essentially panned premium foods as expensive gimmicks. (Personally, I think otherwise, but …)
Think about it. As we broaden our dog’s food horizons, we greatly shorten the list of truly novel proteins that can be used to diagnose and treat dog food allergies.
And, if whatever has caused allergies, in general, to increase significantly in the last 60 years (in both people and pets) continues, then might we someday face a situation where dogs with allergies have fewer and fewer viable food options.
What next? Turtle meat, rattlesnake meat, emu?
I’m not going to change my shopping or feeding habits, but I thought I should pause and ask a bigger question.
Flawed logic? Slippery slope paranoia? Think so? Let me know.
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Tags: dog food, dog food allergies, Dog Food Dish, dog treats, gourmet dog food, gourmet pet treats, K9Cuisine, lamb, novel proteins
Posted in Dog Allergies, Dog Food Debates, Dog Food News, K9 Nutrition | 9 Comments »
9 Responses to “Are Gourmet Dog Food and Treats Hampering Dog Allergies?”
A professional writer based in Colorado, Roxanne Hawn doesn't just love dogs. She deep-down requires them in life. Something inside her genes, perhaps? That's why it's such a joy to write about all things canine. Roxanne began writing about pets in 1995, when she worked for the American Animal Hospital Association and later for the American Humane Association. During this period in her career, Roxanne served on the board of directors for the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (a coalition of animal welfare groups). Roxanne also volunteered for many years at an animal shelter, where she witnessed firsthand what happens when the human-animal bond breaks or never forms.
Great post and very interesting question. I have been curious about this for some time. It seems to be in direct contradiction to the “Rotation” camp which argues variety is what dogs need to stay healthy. The limited protein argument would also lend credence to the argument that you should feed your dog one food for its entire life. I am a little suspect of that notion. It seems to me to be a convenient argument for major pet food companies. Setting aside my big company paranoia, I still think dogs would naturally get a varied diet. Even in recent history when dogs ate table scraps they appeared to have far fewer allergies than today. The rise in allergies seem to correlate directly with the mass production of pet food. Could it be that the quality of ingredients and the contaminates in low quality pet food ingredients play an important role in this problem?
What Anthony said.
Thanks, Anthony & Susan, for weighing in. Maybe it is the mass production and low-quality ingredients at issue.
My possibly warped logic has to do more with concerns over finding truly novel proteins, if they’re needed.
)
Roxanne, it’s so funny you bring this up because this week I was having a people “reaction” to food, because I’m sensitive to allergens without being allergic.
I think part of the problem with our increased sensitivity to food – at least with people and maybe with dogs, too? – is that we eat so little real food. Our meats come from grain fed animals, our convenience foods are loaded with artificial colors, flavors and preservatives, and instead of eating fruits, vegetables and other real food, we eat food-like products that’s readily available but not necessarily great quality.
Do you think that trend with people food is similar in dog food, too? Could that cause more frequent allergies?
Joanne
Joanne, I definitely think SOMETHING, and I don’t know what, is causing all kinds of allergies to increase in people and pets. Not just food allergies, but pollens, etc.
Some of my environmentally-minded friends think it has something to do with all the chemicals, like they are wounding us or sensitizing us in some way.
Your idea that we’re eating “food-like” stuff and not real food is a good one. Sadly, I think even the real food we do eat is nutritionally depleted these days.
I do rotate my dog’s kibble, but I avoid the all so popular lamb and fish based ones, precisely for this reason.
As for why allergies are so common, a thought:
As a child, I was extremely allergic to anything corn based. We lived at the time in the US, and my mother couldn’t even buy bread from the supermarket, since the pans where the bread was baked used corn oil for greasing. Yup. That tiny amount was enough to set of an allergic reaction.
Most store-bought cakes and cookies where out of the question too: they either contained corn starch or high fructose corn syrup.
Actually, most processed foods of the time (late 70′s early 80′s) contained corn in one way or another, so I had to void them completely.
I can help but wonder if there is something similar going on with dog food- some “hidden” ingredient which is *everywhere*, and that we are mostly unaware of.
Considering the poor labeling standards of dog food packaging, tracking down such ingredient is pretty tough, possible at all.
I agree with Shoshanna re ubiquitous ingredients like corn that you can’t get away from in the grocery store type dog foods where I’d venture to say 73-80% of people buy their dog’s food. And your environmental friends have put another part of the puzzle on the table.
I think this may be a tangled web of weakened immune systems impacted by as yet unnamed environmental impacts, fed by side effects from farming practices, pesticides, GM corn and other grain crops – hopefully they (Monsanto) won’t get to plant their GM wheat, as that study from Europe cited GM round-up ready corn as destroying soil in which it was planted, and negatively impacting rats who ingested it. Did you know they conducted a 90 day study of GM crops before submitting to FDA as “safe” as a food crop? Now after ten years of cross pollination with other things in nature in much of the modern world, now it arises that this stuff is not so great for the topsoil. Or rats. More studies follow to see if extrapolation to larger animals and humans is scientifically appropriate, but not if Monsanto can stop them with the standard yelp of proprietary claims that they have used repeatedly to play keep away with what they are doing to the food chain, even from government scientists.
These are things I think about, as well as the inclusion of research animals and the sick cows in rendered pet feed. FDA tested some food and it did show chemicals used in euthanasia; in their sample they found no dog DNA. This is what I meant by a tangled web. All kinds of synergistic effects arise from such a brew.
Well, you see what happens when you ask about a complicated subject – people start blogging on your blog!
I think the issue is ‘length of exposure’, that’s why rotating foods is recommended; and more importantly, I cannot help to believe that it’s not the type of protein at all, but the way it has been damaged/mutilated by processing.
I feel that’s where the root of the problem is. The less ‘damaged’ the protein is, the less chance to cause allergy … ?
Mary has hit it on the head. Todays processed food (human and pet) has so many added chemicals and such, from the soil to the feed, that we are all being slowly poisoned. Even “organic” foods are not immune to this sad situation. The FDA website on any given day will show several recalls of tainted food. I don’t have any answers, but people need to be aware………..