Abstract
This article explores the common yet often misunderstood conditions of dog allergies, food sensitivities, and yeast overgrowth, providing clarity on their differences, symptoms, and underlying causes, particularly the role of leaky gut syndrome. Drawing on holistic pet health principles, this article outlines natural strategies to support dogs struggling with immune-related issues, from dietary changes to supplement protocols. Emphasizing the importance of gut health, species-appropriate nutrition, and minimizing environmental stressors, this article offers actionable guidance for pet parents seeking long-term relief for their dogs. Written with the expertise and experience of Everything Raw Doggie Café, this guide serves as a trustworthy resource for managing canine allergies naturally and effectively.
Introduction
There are two types of allergies that pet owners regularly encounter in dogs: environmental allergies and food allergies. Additionally, many dogs suffer from food sensitivities or intolerances, which are often confused with allergies. In this article, we’ll explain the difference between these conditions, their causes, and how to manage them effectively and naturally.
What is an Allergy?
There’s a lot of confusion around the terms allergy and sensitivity/intolerance, as they are often used interchangeably. However, they are very different conditions.
An allergy is the result of an overactive immune response. It’s typically described as an abnormal or hypersensitive reaction to a usually harmless substance, known as an allergen (see: Season Allergies in Dogs). When your dog comes into contact with an allergen, their immune system produces antibodies, which trigger symptoms.
For example, an environmental allergy stems from something in your dog’s environment. These could be airborne substances in your home, backyard, or anywhere your dog hangs out. In most cases, an environmental allergy in your dog may only cause him/her to be itchy at certain times of the year.
A food allergy is often the result of a dog’s body reacting to a certain protein, most of the time chicken. The confusion in this case is the difference between a food allergy and a food sensitivity. It should be noted that food allergies are rare and that most experts estimate that only 10% of dogs are affected (see: Dog Allergies). While the symptoms can be very similar, most dogs have food sensitivities and intolerances. The difference is in the immune response.
Symptoms for allergies and food sensitivities can include itchiness, hives or red inflamed skin, constant licking, paw biting, scooting, or hotspots, to name a few.
Allergies are among the most challenging conditions to manage, with control being the primary goal rather than a cure (see: Dr. Judy Morgan, Incurable Canine Atopic Dermatitis).
Yeast Overgrowth: The Hidden Culprit
Another condition that’s often mistaken for allergies is yeast overgrowth (see: Yeast in dogs). Yeast is a natural fungus in the digestive system, usually kept in balance by healthy bacteria. When yeast becomes overpopulated, your dog may develop a yeast infection.
How to Recognize Yeast Overgrowth
- Paws that smell like tacos or corn chips
- A greasy coat that leaves residue on your hands
- A persistent “doggy smell”
- Chronic itchiness, similar to allergies
Dogs can have both a yeast issue and food sensitivity; in these cases, both need to be addressed concurrently.
What Causes Allergies, Sensitivities, and Yeast Issues?
One of the most overlooked root causes is leaky gut syndrome. About 90% of your dog’s immune system is located in the gut, just like in humans. A healthy gut is essential for a healthy immune response.
Leaky gut may be inherited or caused by factors like:
- Poor diet (especially processed foods)
- Over-vaccination
- Frequent use of flea, tick, and heartworm medications
- Use of antibiotics or NSAIDs, just to name a few
Understanding Leaky Gut Syndrome
Leaky gut (see: Leaky Gut In Dogs) is where the intestinal lining of the stomach has been damaged, meaning the junctions of the intestinal lining are separating to a point where the lining is allowing undigested food particles and/or pathogens like toxins, bacteria, and/or fungus into the bloodstream. The body or immune system views these undigested food particles or pathogens as invaders and will therefore attack them. This situation then causes inflammation as well as whole myriad of health issues.
Leaky gut can, however, be corrected by repairing and strengthening the gut lining, helping the junctions in the gut lining to close, allowing only digested food into the bloodstream. Healing a leaky gut in dogs naturally involves several steps, and can reduce inflammation, support the gut lining, and restore a healthy balance of gut bacteria.
Interestingly enough, the symptoms of leaky gut can also be seen as the symptoms for allergies, sensitivities, and yeast problems.
How to deal with leaky gut, allergies, and food sensitivities
- Avoid processed food (See: Stop Your Pet’s Allergies)
Kibble companies have managed to convince entire generations that highly processed and/or ultra-processed kibble is the best food for your dog. Pet parents love the prices, varieties, and convenience that kibble has to offer, but at what cost? Dogs, like their wolf ancestors, are carnivores. The dog’s teeth, gut, and digestive physiology strongly support this.
The majority of kibble consists of at least 60% carbohydrates (something dogs are not meant to eat), very little moisture, and minimal and/or low-quality proteins. Furthermore, much of the protein in kibble is plant-based. Additionally, the labels on kibble can be very confusing, giving the impression that there is more protein in the kibble than there really is. Dogs on kibble will survive but not thrive.
Dogs thrive best on a species-appropriate diet, especially a complete and balanced raw dog food. Kibble and other highly processed foods contain many anti-inflammatory ingredients. In our experience, moving a dog from kibble to a species-appropriate diet has resulted in approximately 80% of dogs improving and sometimes eliminating environmental allergies and food sensitivities, with the biggest results in dogs with yeast problems.
2. Provide your dog with high quality Probiotics/Prebiotics (see: The Importance of Prebiotics and What Are Postbiotics)
The best way to do this is to feed a high-quality probiotic/prebiotic mix to support your dog’s gut health and to balance the good bacteria in your dog’s digestive tract. Everything Raw Doggie Café has the following products, depending on the symptoms of your dog:
- Protect (Four Leaf Rover) – This prebiotic/probiotic mix is great for dogs that are on an antibiotic, as it helps the good bacteria to not be killed off.
- Gut Soothe (Adored Beast) – While this product contains prebiotics and probiotics, it also has anti-inflammatory properties, soothes and replenishes the lining of the bowels, as well as fighting yeast.
Probiotics are the beneficial live microorganisms that help crowd out harmful bacteria, maintaining balance in the gut and regulating the immune system.
Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers that serve as food for the probiotics, helping them thrive. Together, they support the production of postbiotics, which are the beneficial compounds resulting from the fermentation of prebiotics by probiotics.
The analogy on the difference between probiotics and prebiotics is as follows. Think of a garden. The probiotic is the seeds or the plants. The prebiotics is the soil or the fertilizer. Therefore, the prebiotics are food for the probiotics. If you do not provide prebiotics, then it is no different than planting seeds in gravel. Some will flourish, but most will not. For new pet parents, see our guide on switching from kibble to raw.
- Avoid over-vaccinations (see: Safer Vaccination Protocol)
According to the utmost authorities in immunology, specifically Dr. Jean Dodds and Dr. Ronald Schultz in conjunction with the majority of homeopathic and naturopathic vets, the core vaccines provided to dogs, namely parvo, distemper, and adenovirus, have been proven to be effective for five to seven years after/from the puppy core vaccines, if not the life of the dog.
Non-Core vaccines include leptospirosis, Kennel Cough (Bordetella), and Lyme Disease. The non-core vaccines are only recommended if absolutely necessary and for only a small number of pets based on their risk of exposure to the disease (such as boarding requirements (Kennel Cough), their lifestyle (dogs that drink from stagnant puddles so water in the woods (Lepto)) or their geographic location. Since 95% of dogs are capable of dealing with Lyme Disease on their own, this non-core vaccine is not recommended.
Before considering any additional and sometimes unnecessary core vaccines, it is highly recommended that you have a titer test performed on your dog before moving forward with any additional and/or yearly vaccines. Titer tests are blood tests that can tell whether your dog has the necessary antibodies or memory cells to fight off the diseases, thereby assuring pet parents that their dogs have the acquired immunity.
Vaccinating your dog more than is absolutely necessary/required has been proven to cause a whole myriad of health issues, such as leaky gut syndrome, allergies, food sensitivities, and autoimmune deficiencies, just to name a few.
- Minimize antibiotics were possible
The use of antibiotics in today’s day and age comes with risks that need to be weighed. If antibiotics are the only option, it should be noted that antibiotics, in most cases, do not differentiate between a good bacteria and a bad bacteria. The best way to manage your dog’s health when providing your dog with an antibiotic or a drug that may hurt your dog’s gut or immune system, is to provide them with a high-quality prebiotic/probiotic at the same time as the antibiotic to allow the good bacteria a fighting chance against the antibiotics. Make sure you provide the probiotic/prebiotic two (2) hours before or after to ensure that the antibiotic doesn’t attack the probiotic/prebiotic instead.
- Avoid fleas, ticks, and heartworm medications
While it is common practice for dog owners to provide their dogs with fleas, ticks and heartworm medications, most people are not aware that these products are very dangerous chemicals that are being placed directly on your dog’s skin, either through the use of drops on the neck or collars.
The chemicals found in flea and tick medications, such as isozxazoline class of drugs found in Nexguard, Bravecto, Simparica, and Credelio, to name a few, function by circulating these chemicals in your dog’s bloodstream (see: Credelio For Dogs). While these chemicals are designed to kill the parasites when they bite, the biggest and most serious issue is associated with the adverse neurological effects on some dogs, including the dreaded seizures (see: Safest Flea And Tick Prevention For Dogs) The listed ingredients on the products should make any pet owner cringe.
Furthermore, it also states on most of the labels that if you (the pet owner) come in contact with the product via your hands, call Poison Control. Yet, the use of these products is highly encouraged and, in some cases, recommended year-round.
It is always best to use natural products to help your dog through the flea and tick seasons.
Amazingly, unless the dog has a yeast problem, dogs fed a complete and balanced species-appropriate raw food diet do not attract fleas. When the issue of the yeast has been corrected, these dogs will also no longer attract fleas. Fleas are attracted to the yeast smell coming from your dog, and since raw fed dogs don’t have yeast, fleas are not attracted to them.
The biggest fears that pet owners have, however, are ticks, but mostly Lyme Disease. If a dog gets Lyme Disease, only 5% of dogs will show the signs and symptoms of the disease. Most pet parents are not aware that dogs can manage Lyme Disease on their own. If a dog is showing any signs or symptoms, it’s because the dog’s immune system is dealing with something else. In this case, go beyond the diagnosis and do additional blood tests to find out the unknown cause. However, if a pet parent gets Lyme Disease, it can often become a very serious health issue, hence the fear.
In dogs as in humans, in order for a dog to get Lyme Disease from an infected tick, in this case bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, the tick must be attached to the dog for a minimum of 24 to 48 hours in order to transmit the infection.
A little-known fact is that garlic has been proven to kill fleas and ticks. There is unfortunately a very strong and erroneous misconception that garlic is bad for dogs. This is not the case. The one and only study (see: The Best Natural Antibiotics For Dogs) that was done on dogs, and that most vets are clinging to, shows that the amount of garlic that was given to the test dogs consisted of the equivalent of 5 bulbs (not cloves) of garlic daily. Essentially the dogs were receiving copious amounts of garlic, essentially overdosing on the garlic that they were being provided with.
When garlic is provided in accordance with the weight of the dog, garlic has proven time and again that it is an effective flea and tick killer. Adding garlic to your dog’s food causes the dog’s blood to become poisonous to fleas and ticks. When the flea or tick bites, the dog’s blood is now their poison.
According to Dr. Judy Morgan (see: Flea and Tick Prevention Revisited), the trick, however, is to peel and chop the garlic and let it sit for 15 minutes before you add it to the dog’s food daily. This step releases allicin, the active ingredient in garlic. However, garlic should not be given to pregnant females, puppies under six months, or Akitas and Shibu-Inus.
Yet, garlic also has so many other health benefits in that it will boost up the dog’s immune system while working as a natural flea and tick killer. As an aside, garlic is also very healthy for humans as well.
With regard to heartworm, for dogs living in Canada or the upper part of the United States, heartworm cases are rare. The conditions for heartworm to develop in these areas or zones is highly unlikely. Most positive cases are from warmer climates or other countries with warmer climates, including dogs rescued from those areas.
Heartworm medications are neurotoxins. They kill larva by paralyzing them. Ever wonder what these neurotoxins are doing to your dog? Unfortunately, neurotoxins in heartworm medications have the unfortunate side effects of causing neurological problems in dogs such as ataxia, tremors, convulsions, and/or seizures.
Additionally, research has shown that heartworms are becoming resistant to heartworm prevention medications. Furthermore, the toxins are more likely to cause dogs to get heartworm and other parasites because they affect the dog’s immune system, a system that should be able to kill heartworm and parasites on its own.
- Immune supporting supplements
The use of medicinal mushrooms, such as chaga and cordyceps, is highly recommended, as well as bovine colostrum and any other natural products that will help boost the dog’s immune system naturally, especially during seasonal allergy periods. The trick, however, is to know when the seasonal allergies will manifest and to provide these natural products approximately 1 month before that time.
A combination of mushrooms, including cordyceps mushrooms, offers up range of potential health benefits, including boosting the immune system and reducing inflammation, to name a few. Chaga mushrooms are valued for the potential health benefits, particularly as an antioxidant and for immune system support.
Bovine Colostrum is well known for its role in helping dogs with seasonal allergies. Bovine colostrum has several key components and healing properties. The most noticeable benefits of bovine colostrum for dogs are for their use in allergies, the healing of a leaky gut, managing inflammation, acting as a prebiotic to feed the healthy gut bacteria, and helping dogs fight those stubborn yeast problems, just to name a few. It should also be noted that a new and ongoing study at the University of New Haven (see: Antimicrobial effects of lactoferrin and cannabidiol) found the lactoferrin, (the milk protein in colostrum) can help treat Lyme disease. In fact, this study shows that it may be more effective than the antibiotic “doxycycline”, the standard treatment for Lyme disease.
Conclusion
Dog allergies can be frustrating and deeply uncomfortable for both you and your pet.
Addressing your dog’s allergies and leaky gut naturally requires a holistic approach that combines dietary changes, natural supplements, and lifestyle modifications. By focusing on restoring gut health, you can alleviate allergy symptoms and enhance your dog’s overall quality of life. Consulting with a holistic veterinarian can provide personalized guidance tailored to your dog’s specific needs.
Come See Us at Everything Raw Doggie Café
Ready to help your dog thrive naturally?
Visit Everything Raw Doggie Café and speak with our knowledgeable staff. Whether you’re dealing with allergies, food sensitivities, or yeast issues, we offer expert advice and a curated selection of natural products to support your dog’s health.
Come in today and discover a healthier path for your pet. https://everythingraw.ca/
Footnotes:
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/seasonal-allergies-in-dogs/
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/dog-allergies
https://drjudymorgan.com/blogs/blog/incurable-canine-atopic-dermatitis-allergies?
https://blog.adoredbeast.com/dealing-with-yeast-in-dogs-a-natural-approach/
https://blog.adoredbeast.com/leaky-gut-in-dogs
https://www.barkandwhiskers.com/2016-08-07-nl-pet-allergies-natural-treatment
https://blog.adoredbeast.com/the-importance-of-prebiotics-for-dogs-and-cats-and-where-to-find-them/
https://blog.adoredbeast.com/what-are-postbiotics-for-dogs-and-cats/
https://peterdobias.com/blogs/blog/holistic-vet-vaccine-recommendations?
https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/people/ronald%20d%20schultz/
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/credelio-for-dogs-side-effects-natural-alternatives
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/new-fda-warning-about-flea-and-tick-medications
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/three-natural-antibiotics-for-your-dog
https://drjudymorgan.com/blogs/blog/flea-and-tick-prevention-revisited
References:
https://everythingraw.ca/product-category/raw-dog-food/
https://everythingraw.ca/product/four-leaf-rover-protect-soil-based-probiotics-prebiotics/
https://everythingraw.ca/product/adored-beast-gut-soothe/
https://everythingraw.ca/product/four-leaf-rover-seven-shrooms-organic-mushroom-mix/
https://everythingraw.ca/product/adored-beast-chaga-mushrooms-liquid-125ml/
https://everythingraw.ca/product/four-leaf-rover-bovine-colostrum/
