Question about dog allergies......

[teenagebambam]

....My little boy Fred, for the past two evenings, has been having what appear to be allergic reactions. His snout, ears, and "underarms" get red and inflamed, and he runs around like a crazy thing for a minute, then all of a sudden will drop and be very submissive. The behavior coincides with his daddies foolishly buying a different brand of dry food to hold us over til we could get to the PetSmart for our regular brand. Said new food contains a lot of dyes (I'm assuming, since Fred and his sister have suddenly had different-colored poop). Suffice to say, the new food went in the trash, and the trip to PetSmart is today.

Anyway, my question is.....assuming this IS a reaction to the food dyes, it's been happening about five to six HOURS after mealtime. Is that possible for a food reaction to take so long? Nothing else in the environment has changed, unless it's an environmental allergy to some night-blooming something-or-other (there is lots of Jasmine around our neighborhood, that would be the only thing I could think of.)

[hobbit709]

1. If it keeps up, I'd go to the vet

If it stops after going back to the regular food, I wouldn't buy any more of that brand.

[China_cat]

2. Look for the amount of corn in the food

and beet pulp. Corn, wheat and soy are the biggest offenders in canine allergies and beet pulp will often turn the stool reddish black or even look like there's blood, or sometimes green (I don't know why, just that that is what I've noticed).

And yes, the areas you name are the ones that show allergies first, along with paws and rear ends near the tail.