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Author: John Burns BVMS Lic.Ac. MRCVS
Teal is the colour chosen to represent the initiative, same as Burns!
In dogs, food allergy and intolerance most frequently affect the skin and digestive system. However, adverse reaction to food should be suspected when a pet shows persistent symptoms affecting any part of the body which will not clear up or which recur after treatment.
I’ve just been reading some recent research material from the USA.Tests in vitro, that is in a test tube, not in real live animals, show that serum samples from dogs without any symptoms of allergy showed antibody reaction to a number of different protein sources, namely chicken, salmon and white fish.
This is called false positive and confirms what we’ve known for some time, that is, that a blood test for food allergy cannot be relied upon. The gold standard for diagnosis of food allergy is an elimination trial.
For most pet owners, a proper elimination feeding trial is not practical nor even necessary. A simpler approach is to try a commercial prepared food with a restricted number of ingredients including a single meat ingredient, a so-called hypoallergenic diet.
This try-it-and-see approach can often be effective in controlling signs of allergy and intolerance. Burns Pet Nutrition produces several types of hypoallergenic foods, each range having different ingredient profiles. These foods have been designed by me to avoid adverse reactions to food. This is the result of my training and experience as a veterinary surgeon and acupuncturist.
For example, Burns Free-From Range uses duck, potato and buckwheat as the principle ingredients.
Another food to consider in dogs with sensitive skin is Burns Sensitive Fish & Wholegrain Maize.
For dogs with a sensitive digestive system, I recommend Burns Sensitive Pork and Potato.
See also my guides and leaflets below for further information.
