How do you know that your dog might be allergic to food or something else in the environment? Is your dog scratching a lot more than normal, is it licking it's paws? Both are sure signs that something might be wrong.
It is always sensible to visit your vet to see what their opinion and suggestions might be.
Dog food allergies are not the only possible cause.
There might be something around the house that is different that your dog might come into contact with.
What about out on your walks, have any fields been sprayed or has your dog gone in to a new area where there may be something different, plants or insects.
Other causes could include fleas, bacteria or something has been inhaled by your dog.
If you are looking at food in particular.
Some common food may be the cause.
These foods can include corn, pork, chicken, dairy products, eggs, wheat, fish, oats and lamb.
So how do you start.
Two possible approaches are possible to try to find if the cause of the scratch is actually the food.
It really is a process of elimination.
Firstly just continue with the current diet for another week.
If the irritation and scratching does not improve, take one ingredient in the food away at a time.
You are looking for the scratching and the allergy to disappear.
This may not be easy, as it does depend on what you are actually feeding your dog.
This second approach easier to carry out.
Build up from something very simple and introduce other foods.
Say start with boiled rice and add some chicken.
Check after a couple of weeks if things have changed in the scratching department.
If nothing is better, change the chicken to say fish for two weeks.
Continue with these types of simple changes until you find some foods that stop the problem.
Then you may want to look for a dried foods that contain these types of foods.
There is an amazing array of varieties available.
It might be that, whatever you try with the food, the allergy does not go away.
It is likely to be something in their environment and a visit to the vet is necessary.
They will be able to carry out skin and blood tests to see if they can identify the actual cause.
Be warned though that it might never be possible to identify the actual cause.
It might be a long haul with the food or looking at every detail of the life your dog leads with no ultimate solution.
In these circumstances the vet may be able to give you something that will help relieve the suffering your dog is undergoing.