The Hype About Hypoallergenic Dog Food Is It Really A Cure For Allergies? By: Robert Mueller Quick fixes are not a cure. If you have ever had a pet with this problem, you know the aggravation that exists not only with the pet but with the guardian as well. If your pet can’t sleep because it is itching and scratching all night, guess who else can’t sleep? And we feel so helpless if we have tried everything and even the vet has given up! You see, the customers that search us out, have been told by their vet that they have no further suggestions. They have administered antibiotics, steroids, and topical sprays and ointments that haven’t worked. Here at BARF World, we call them “Band-Aid” fixes - the ones that may give initial relief but in the long term they cause more harm than good. The first question we ask when a customer calls with an allergy issue is: “What are you feeding your pet?” The answer is often kibble or a grain based diet of some sort. The next group of questions has to do with the environment factors since many allergies are a result of environmentally triggered conditions. When the pollen count is high or when the lawns get chemically treated with pesticides we see the allergy numbers get higher. Remember, your dog keeps his/her nose 2 inches from the ground and this allows for more reaction to environmental triggers. Is “Hypoallergenic” Pet Food The Solution? Theres a variety of hypoallergenic foods on the market today The latest marketing blitz is all about “hypoallergenic” pet food formulas. Being of a curious nature I did a little research on the term “hypoallergenic” and here’s what I found. The term first came to use in the cosmetic industry (makes sense!). Basically it means that the product or food is “designed to reduce or minimize the possibility of an allergic response, by containing relatively few or no potentially irritating substances.” And here’s something even more interesting. There are NO labeling guidelines or regulations to using the word “hypoallergenic” on any product or pet food. I searched AFFCO to see if the term was even mentioned anywhere in the regulatory codes for dog food...and it’s not. Likewise when the FDA tried to establish regulations for the cosmetics, the big cosmetic money interests lobbied to block them and nothing, to my knowledge, is in place at this time to regulate the usage of the term in that industry! And that all started in about 1955. So just like term “natural”, it appears hypoallergenic can be used by almost anyone. Keep that in mind. Now in most cases, the well-known pet food companies are responsible enough to reduce allergy-causing ingredients in their product when they do label them “hypoallergenic”. Remember the definition - “containing relatively few or no potentially irritating substances”. Hmm... so doesn’t that mean that the rest of their products probably do contain substantial amounts of the ingredients that do cause allergies? Or can they just label anything these days “hypoallergenic”? I do believe that most reputable pet food companies do reduce some of the allergy-triggering ingredients when they claim “hypoallergenic and if you choose to feed this food you will be giving your dog “less” of the harmful ingredients that may have caused the problem in the first place. For example, if the hypoallergenic food contains less grain and if grains are responsible for triggering the allergy then by eliminating the grains you will eliminate the trigger. But this is only a halfway point in solving the allergy issue. BARF Is Naturally Hypoallergenic! Your pet will experience fantastic results when converted to a complete and balanced raw meat diet formula. The reason this diet works so well is because all of the grains and processing damage are eliminated and the ingredients are of much higher quality. By completely removing the possible contamination from pesticides, herbicides, foreign chemicals, fat sprays, and preservatives when you feed the BARF diet, you will immediately reverse the allergic condition of your pet. Most people are astounded by the results. When will I see results from the BARF Diet? The time frame we see normally is between 30 to 90 days. It is during this time that the body undergoes a detoxification of the poisons and emits them through the skin. We offer warnings that a skin condition may be aggravated during this process but we encourage the guardian to stay with the program because the allergic condition generally takes a long time to develop and it will take a while to cure. That is just good common sense. Oh and one more point about the “hypoallergenic” diets. Since different pets are allergic to different ingredients, there obviously can be no such thing as a food that is hypoallergenic for every pet on the planet. If it is a food ingredient that is the trigger for the allergy, the natural raw meat diet is without question relief waiting to happen. Our files are full of satisfied customers that had almost given up hope to finding a cure to this problem until they called BARF World. In general, bad quality pet food may deplete the immune system over time, because they are laden with toxins and other substances that place unnecessary burdens on your pet’s body, or because they lack important nutrients, antioxidants, enzymes and so on. The importance of the immune system cannot be over emphasized. It is this protection mechanism in the body that helps defend healthy dogs from having allergy concerns. We find those pets most affected are ones that have been exposed to the “Band-aid” fixes that have compromised the immune system and thus the allergies prevail. If your dog suffers from any of the following common signs of allergies, it is time to make a change to raw: chronic itching and scratching dandruff and odorous coat chronic ear infections chronic licking of paws diarrhea, vomiting, gas, bloat lethargy or hyperactivity. Simply eliminating high-risk ingredients such as corn, wheat, soy, rice, and beet pulp can help some pets that have food sensitivity. For others, the problem is more complex and an easy solution is to convert to the BARF diet, a higher quality food, with no heat processing or harmful ingredients.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 02:57:28 +0000
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