What is Hypoallergenic Dog Food?

Hypoallergenic dog food is a diet specifically designed for pups with sensitive stomachs that get upset by specific ingredients.

Compared to traditional dog foods, hypoallergenic dog foods are tailored with protein sources and other direct sources of nutrients that will avoid triggering your canines’ antibodies. Often novel sources such as boar or fish.

Other ingredients such as soy, egg and dairy are usually all eliminated from hypoallergenic dog food to make it nice and easy to digest, even for dogs with sensitive digestive systems.

If your pup is on a normal doggy diet and has frequent stomach upsets, there might be a chance they need hypoallergenic food. If they only seem to have certain symptoms after eating, then it indicates that something in their food is causing an allergic reaction.

An allergic reaction from food doesn’t always just look like an upset stomach, they can actually have a few different reactions, some more subtle than others. Symptoms of an allergic reaction caused by diet include:

If your pup doesn’t feel great after every meal, they’re likely to start associating mealtimes with itchiness and an upset tummy so to avoid it they might start skipping meals or leaving food behind.

Any food can cause diarrhoea, but if introduced gradually into their diet, hypoallergenic food is specifically designed to avoid causing any stomach upsets.

The best way to introduce a new diet is to slowly change the percentage of both the old food and the new food until the new food is all they’re eating. It should be done over a two-week period and if they still get diarrhoea from their new diet, they may need a different protein source or other hypoallergenic food. It can be a little trial and error sometimes trying to work out what exactly your pup is sensitive to.

It can be a frustrating process trying to find a suitable dog food for your pup with no allergens to make them feel unwell. We’ve picked out some of the best hypoallergenic diets to help your pooch flourish and get a bounce back in their step. They will be excited about their meals in no time once you get it right and banish any allergens from their dinner.

Burns Hypoallergenic Mixer is a great place to start if you’re considering hypoallergenic diets for your pooch. Burns is a company that was started and developed by John Burns, a retired veterinary and surgeon so who better to design meals than someone with hands on experience in treating allergens in dogs? Where possible all ingredients are sourced locally, and the company’s farm even produces a lot of them themselves.

The natural ingredients include brown rice, duck fat, peas and oats which are all novel and not usually found in regular doggy diets, so you’re far less likely to come across something to trigger an allergic reaction.

Barking Heads Doggylicious Duck is a diet made under the guidance of expert vets and nutritionists, so your dog will get the best nutrients available without having a negative impact on their health.

Duck is a novel source of protein which means that it doesn’t commonly occur in regular diets. This means that their digestive system is less likely to already have a developed sensitivity to it if they’re intolerant to proteins like beef or chicken. Barking Heads say they only use premium quality and all natural ingredients to produce this hypoallergenic diet so you can be sure that your pup will thrive on this nutrient rich diet.

Harringtons Dog Grain Free Turkey & Sweet Potato is great for any dogs with sensitive stomachs and intolerances. Turkey is a highly digestible source of protein that doesn’t often flare up a reaction from their digestive system.

Harrington’s Grain Free diets are especially good for dogs who have intolerances for grain commonly used in dog food diets. It contains beetroot pulp and chicory to promote digestion so you can make sure everything is running smoothly and your pup is in tip-top condition.

To make sure your pup has the perfect diet to suit their needs and for all your other doggy essentials, take a look at our wide range of products in store and online.