Does your Shiba Inu deal with itchiness, sneezing, and runny nose? If you’re concerned about these occurrences, then you gotta know that those could be the symptoms of allergies. Although Shiba Inus are known as a generally healthy breed, they’re on a higher tendency to suffer both from food and environmental allergies. Therefore, let’s discover what are the main triggers and how can you solve Shiba Inu allergies?
The main types of Shiba Inu allergies
Just like humans, our dogs can also suffer from food and contact allergies. Food allergies are triggered by ingredients such as grains, certain types of meats, by-products, and artificial flavors and colors. The symptoms usually include itchiness, stomach bloating, diarrhea, vomiting, and hairless spots on the body.
Hairless patches occur around the eyes, on the armpit area, mouth, ears, and legs. In case you leave it untreated, food allergy can grow into a huge problem and even progress into an infection. The hairless patches can quickly become inflamed because a dog can scratch to blood.
On the other hand, environmental or contact allergies are caused by seasonal pollen, house-cleaning chemicals, mold, mites, and insect bites. This type of Shiba Inu Allergies is also followed by itchiness, sneezing, watery eyes, and runny nose. Due to itchy behavior, owners often find it very difficult to determine what type of allergy occurred in their dogs.
What is food intolerance in Shiba Inus?
Food intolerance is often mixed with food allergy. However, the main distinction between these two conditions is the symptoms of diarrhea, flatulence, and vomiting. A Shiba Inu who suffers from food intolerance won’t have itchy skin, while food allergy can include all symptoms together.
How to prevent Shiba Inu allergies?
Shiba Inu allergies can be prevented by feeding your dog with a high-quality diet. If you feed your pooch with a dry kibble diet, then we recommend you check the label on the back and read the ingredients. Shiba Inus are highly active pooches, so they require a high-protein diet based on meat. Therefore, avoid buying dry kibble that contains a high percentage of corn, soy, and grains because they’re often the cause of an allergic reaction. Besides, these ingredients can cause painful flatulence which will not be so pleasant for your Shiba.
Other ingredients to avoid are by-products such as chicken skin, legs, liver, and other body parts of animals. Try to find a diet that contains only pure meat and that will be free of artificial flavors and colors. Even though flavorous food is very tasty at first bite, it can actually cause severe skin itchiness.
In case your Shiba Inu suffers from environmental allergies, our advice is to remove all the carpets and use mild house-cleaning products. Seasonal pollen is another potential trigger that can cause sneezing and itchiness. Therefore, in that case, you’ll need to dress your Shiba into lightweight cotton clothes and clean his paws and fur every time you get back from a walk.
Strengthen your Shiba Inu’s immunity
The dog’s immunity plays the most important role in defending from food and environmental allergies. Therefore, including supplements such as Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, antioxidants such as blueberries can strengthen his immune system.
In case of food allergies, switching your Shiba to a raw diet might sound like the best choice. That’s how you’ll control the ingredients your pet eats and prevent him from further issues.
