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Ask the Expert on Chicken Allergies

June 8th, 2009

The Question:

Name: Dianne Pasternack
Pets species and breed: dog -mixed breed
Pets age and weight: 15 years, 34 lbs
Pets health status: okay
Are they spayed or neutered? Yes

Brand of food: wellness
Animal owned for: 11 years

“My dog is allergic to chicken. Will dry dog food that contains chicken fat cause the allergic reaction? I notice that some dry dog foods state that the chicken fat has the chicken protein removed. How does that affect chicken allergies?”

The Answer:

“Thanks for your question.  Food allergic pets usually react most adversely to the whole protein (for example, chicken meat protein), however, they may react to any component of chicken (for example, chicken fat).  Think of a person with peanut allergies; they react badly to eating peanuts, but also may have a problem with peanut oil.  Same situation.

A bit more about food allergies.  The adverse reactions many pets have are often not true allergies to a specific type of meat.  Many pets have reactions to inferior ingredients, additives and preservatives within a food.  Most tests that are available for diagnosing food allergy (blood tests, skin tests, etc) are not accurate and can lead to many false diagnoses of true food allergy.

Therefore, if a pet is exhibiting adverse reactions to food, my first recommendation is to place them on a natural premium dog food diet without added preservatives, chemicals and artificial colors to make sure it is not just the inferior ingredients that may be the problem.”

Hope that helps.

Tags: allergies, chicken, wellness
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