Itchy Dog? Could It Be The Wheat In My Food?

Have you ever wondered why you have an itchy dog? You already know it’s not fleas or parasites, due to you make sure your dog is treated and bug free. Was your dog bit by a spider or insect, which can be fairly common? Nope it wasn’t that either.

Dogs itch for many different reasons, and sometimes, for no reason, and it’s not uncommon. A dog has to scratch sometime, and that’s completely normal. However, sometimes a dog will incessantly scratch to the point of wounding herself, then scratching becomes a problem.

Itchy Dog

Itching without the obvious cause is  a symptom that something may be wrong inside your dog. This is the time to consider your dog’s nutrition and see if they might be having an allergic reaction to what they are eating.

Itching can be a serious condition and should never be treated topically without first talking to your vet and looking at your dog’s diet. Treating the skin alone without knowing the cause could push the problem back into your dog’s body.

An itchy dog is most often dealing with a symptom that is affecting their body. This could be a toxin of some type. For example if a dog is suffering with a long term allergy the toxin produced may be pushed into the skin to be shed in dead skin cells, which could be in the form of dandruff.

This is the dog’s immune system attempt to cleanse the body of saturation of something that could cause damage to the health of their body.

itchy dog sneezing

Allergies

Allergies have become a huge problem for dogs over the last few years. When dogs are dealing with allergies on a daily basis the effectiveness of their immune system will eventually become fatigued. A tired immune system has a much harder time coping with disease.

Wheat Allergy Symptoms

Wheat is not a natural food for dogs and especially in massive quantities. There are different types of wheat allergies but symptoms do not differ greatly.

Wheat itself is a grain while gluten is an ingredient within wheat. Both of these can cause problems in many dogs.

Wheat: Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East but now cultivated worldwide. In 2013, world production of wheat was 713 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice. source: Wikipedia

Gluten: a mixture of two proteins present in cereal grains, especially wheat, which is responsible for the elastic texture of dough.

Wheat related problems are split between having an allergy to wheat and/or a sensitivity to gluten. Both produce similar symptoms but the conditions are slightly different.

A wheat allergy can produce the following symptoms:

itcy dog symptoms

Your dog can’t tell you how they are feeling, it is up to you to notice the symptoms of a possible allergy.

A wheat allergy is one of the most common allergy types linked to a dog’s diet, but there are many others as well. Most are unnecessary additives, pesticides, colouring or flavouring which can cause an allergic reaction in dogs.

When looking for a good quality dog food, avoid highly coloured dog food or chemical additives.

A healthy dog food should be as less complicated and natural as possible. It should be prepared for a dog’s needs and without wheat products or fillers that could affect your pets health.