Can rice cause itching in dogs

Can Dogs Eat Rice?

One of the most popular foods around the world is rice. But can dogs eat rice? The answer is yes. Rice is an ingredient sometimes found in commercial dog foods.

Many pet owners feed white rice to their sick dog. One of the reasons white rice is the chosen grain for a dog with an upset stomach is that its easy to digest, quick to prepare, and low in fiber.

We use rice as a carb source when dogs are on a bland diet after a GI upset, says Dr. Steve Weinberg, DVM and medical director/CEO of 911Vets, a mobile veterinary service in the Los Angeles area. Rice helps to bind the stool in cases of diarrhea.

Is All Rice the Same?

Brown rice is never prescribed for dogs having gastrointestinal issues, such as diarrhea. Ill canine companions need need the starch in white rice. However, white rice has a higher glycemic index than brown rice and can cause blood sugar levels to rise. If your dog is diabetic, you can still feed them a little white rice, if needed, but not on a consistent basis.

Brown rice can be harder for a dog to digest because it is not as processed. Brown rice has a seed coat where the nutrients are stored, explains Dr. Carly Fox, DVM, a staff veterinarian at New York Citys Animal Medical Center. That coat is missing from white rice, resulting in less nutritional content.

Carbohydrates are an important part of a dogs diet, along with a certain amount of protein and fat. Just as with humans, eating too many carbs can lead to weight gain in a dog. Because commercially produced dog food contains carbohydrates, be careful not to overload your pup with additional high-carb foods like rice. As long as your dog is maintaining a healthy weight, adding some rice to your dogs mealsis perfectly fine.

When preparing rice for your pup, boil it in water and do not add any seasonings or spices, which can upset stomachs or even be toxic. Keep it plain and simple; they wont know the difference. And just like with any new food you introduce into your dogs diet, consult your veterinarian first and then start off slowly.

Itching (Pruritus) in Dogs

Pruritus is defined as an unpleasant sensation within the skin that provokes the desire to scratch. Itching is a sign, not a diagnosis or specific disease. The most common causes of itching are parasites, infections, and allergies. There are many skin diseases that do not initially cause itching. Itching may develop because of secondary bacterial or yeast infections. It is possible that by the time itching develops the initial cause is long gone.

A dog with pruritus will excessively scratch, bite, or lick its skin. Itching may be general or confined to one area. Your veterinarian will perform a thorough skin history and physical examination. Parasites, including mites and fleas, are the first possible cause your veterinarian will seek to exclude.

Next, your veterinarian will look for infectious causes of skin disease. Bacterial and fungal infections are common causes of itching. Infections are often accompanied by hair loss, scaling, odor, and fluid discharge. Excessive scratching, rubbing, or licking of the feet and face are common in animals with concurrent yeast and bacterial infections. If such an infection is suspected, your veterinarian will often prescribe a 21- to 30-day course of antibiotics.

If the itching goes away after antibiotics, then the cause was a microbial infection. However, if the dogs itching is unchanged or only somewhat better, the most likely underlying cause may be an allergy. The most common causes of allergic itching are insect bites, food allergy, and a reaction to allergens in the environment, such as pollens, molds, or dust. Sensitivity to insect bites is readily identified by response to insect control. Dogs that have seasonal itching are likely reacting to seasonal allergens. Dogs with year-round allergic itching may have an environmental allergy (such as dust mite allergies) and/or a food allergy. Food allergy is confirmed or excluded based on response to a diet trial. During a diet trial your dog is fed a diet that does not include the foods it has normally consumed. Your veterinarian will specify a diet, often one containing fish or other meats not previously fed. To help your veterinarian isolate the food allergy, you will need to follow the prescribed diet fully and carefully and avoid providing treats that do not comply with the diet. Allergy testing and intradermal skin testing are also used to show antigen exposure patterns. These tests are used to determine the contents of an immunotherapy vaccine, but are ineffective in identifying food allergy.

Successful treatment depends on identification of the underlying cause. Dogs whose cause of itching cannot be identified, or those in which treatment of the underlying disease does not eliminate the itching, will require medical management for pruritus. Commonly prescribed anti-itching medications include glucocorticoids, and essential fatty acids, cyclosporine, and oclacitinib.

Treating itchiness with antihistamines is common, but their success in treating itching is highly variable. Current research does not support the use of antihistamines for itching relief in dogs.

Glucocorticoids are anti-inflammatory steroids. They are often considered the most effective drugs in the management of itching. However, these drugs can cause adverse side effects, including excessive hunger, thirst, and urination. These drugs also suppress the function ofthe adrenal glands and increase the risk of diabetes and secondary urinary tract infections. Thus, these medications are prescribed only in limited circumstances. Topical sprays that contain glucocorticoids may provide an effective alternative to pills, as long as they are used appropriately. The use of glucocorticoids to control itching caused by infections is inappropriate.

Modified cyclosporine and oclacitinib are other drugs used to manage itching. Your veterinarian will recommend a medication appropriate for your dog.

Essential fatty acids are rarely effective as sole anti-itch agents; however, they may be successful when used longterm.

Also see professional content regarding pruritus.

Why Is My Dog So Itchy? Possible Causes & Treatment

Are you thinking about your dogs frequent scratching, licking, and rolling around on the rug? You may be feeling itchy yourself, just from watching all this activity!

There are many reasons your dog may be itchy. Many veterinarians believe its best to find the cause of the itch sooner rather than later. While occasional scratching can be normal for dogs, frequent scratching could indicate a medical condition that may get worse over time.

According to a 2023 Nationwide Survey on pet insurance data, for the eleventh year in a row allergic dermatitis (skin allergies) was the top reason dogs were brought into the vet. This condition can make your dog itchy and cause them to show signs like frequent scratching, recurrent ear infections, and skin changes. Continue on to learn more about allergic dermatitis and why August is such a special month.

Possible Cause of Your Dogs Itchy Skin

So, whats behind your dogs itchy skin? It may be caused by a medical condition called skin allergies. This means your dogs body overreacts to an allergen in the environment or to food, which makes them feel itchy. There are several potential culprits:

• Flea allergy: Flea bites can create extremely itchy areas on your dog. They can be found anywhere on the body, but are most common at the hind legs, tail base, and rear end. Just because you dont see any fleas on your dog does not mean they arent there keep in mind that a bite from a single flea can make your dog very itchy.
• Food allergy: Your dogs itching might be caused by a food allergy. Some dogs are allergic to common dog food ingredients such as beef, chicken, and dairy products.1 Food allergies in dogs can lead to changes to the skin around their paws, face, armpits, and belly.
• Environmental allergy: Your dog may be allergic to environmental triggers like pollen, mold spores, or dust mites. Environmental allergens can cause allergic itch during certain seasons, or even year-round. Dogs with environmental allergies will often have changes to the skin around their face, belly, and paws.
• Contact allergy: Your dog may be allergic to substances it encounters daily. These can include things like household cleaners, shampoos, insecticides, and plants. Dogs with contact allergies will often be itchy in the area that touched the contact allergen.

Skin allergies can make your dog uncomfortable. They can also lead to secondary health problems if there is a delay in treatment. When a dog licks or scratches an area excessively, it can damage the skin and lead to skin infections and wounds. These can cause changes like hair loss, body odor, and inflammation. Severe skin infections and wounds may even be painful for your dog.

How to Relieve Your Dogs Itchy Skin

When your dog experiences these skin changes because of skin allergies, it can be tempting to try an over-the-counter treatment or home remedy. However, using an OTC or at-home solution may not relieve your dogs itch. The following treatment options are commonly available and may offer some itch relief but may not be the best option for your dog.

• Over-the-counter shampoos and oils. Treatments like coconut oil and itch-relief shampoos only provide temporary relief. Your dogs itch may come back because the root cause has not been addressed.
• Antihistamines. While studies have shown that antihistamines may relieve allergies in humans well, antihistamines are less helpful in relieving itch in dogs with environmental allergies. In fact, it has been shown that antihistamines likely offer little to no benefit in treating environmental allergies in many dogs.
• Prescription steroids. Steroids prescribed by a vet can be effective in reducing itchiness in your dog, but they may cause side effects5 in your furry friend. Dogs on prescription steroids often experience increased urination, thirst, and weight gain. They can also experience behavior shifts such as increased aggression.

August is Itchy Pet Awareness Month. If your dog is scratching frequently in August or any time of year, schedule an appointment with your vet to discuss the most effective ways to relieve your dogs itch. If your dog has skin allergies, then a prescription treatment from your vet may be needed to get your favorite sidekick feeling better. So, call your vet today!

American poet Ogden Nash said, Happiness is having a scratch for every itch. For your dog, happiness is relieving the source of every itch.

Chicken allergy in dogs: Vet reveals everything you need to know

While still fairly uncommon, a chicken allergy in dogs can lead to a range of uncomfortable symptoms, including skin rashes and stomach upsets. If your pup is unlucky enough to be among the small percentage of pups with a digestive system that can't tolerate poultry, you're likely wondering what can be done about it.

However, before you go swapping your canine companion over to the best dog food for allergies, it's important to get a proper diagnosis from a vet.

That's because changing dog food needs to be done slowly and carefully to avoid upsetting the balance of bacteria in your dog's intestines. Once you know for sure that a chicken allergy is causing your pup's health complaints you can work with your vet to formulate a plan.

Below, Dr. Catherine Barnette explains the main symptoms of a chicken allergy and shares her favorite prescription foods for dogs who can't eat chicken. Plus, Dr. Hannah Godfrey outlines exactly how your vet will go about testing your fur friend for a chicken allergy so you know what to expect.

Dr. Catherine Barnette

Dr. Barnette graduated from the University of Florida in 2006 where she received both her B.S. in Zoology and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). She has 15 years of clinical experience as a small animal veterinarian, treating dogs, cats, and occasional exotic patients. When shes not writing content as a freelance veterinary writer, Dr. Barnette lives in southwest Florida with her husband and daughter (plus two cats, a dog, and a rescued dove!) and enjoys kayaking, biking, and hiking.

Dr Hannah Godfrey studied Veterinary Medicine at the Royal Veterinary College London. After graduating in 2011, Dr Godfrey went on to become a veterinary surgeon, conducting surgery consultations on a range of animals at a small independent practice in Cardiff, South Wales, UK. Dr Godfrey has a strong interest in soft tissue surgery. When shes not helping animals back on their feet, Dr Godfrey writes a number of veterinary and animal-focussed articles.

What causes allergies in dogs?

"Allergies in dogs occur when their immune system overreacts to a substance, recognizing it as a threat when it is actually harmless," explains Godfrey. "The cells within the immune system will remember this substance and will continue to react if exposed to it in the future. Dogs can be allergic to almost any substance, but pollen, food allergies, and parasites are reasonably common."

Can dogs be allergic to chicken?

"Dogs can be allergic to chicken," Godfrey says. "Chicken is one of the most common food allergies in dogs, alongside beef and dairy products. However, to be allergic to chicken, their immune system must be familiar with the protein, so a dog must have eaten it at least once before."

Symptoms of chicken allergy in dogs

If you've been asking the question 'why is my dog itching, scratching, and biting himself constantly?', a food allergy may well be to blame.

Food allergies are often clinically indistinguishable from other types of canine allergies. There are four common allergies in dogs: dust mite allergy, environmental allergies (tree, weed, and grass pollen), flea allergy, and food allergy.

While there may be slight differences in the signs between these different types of allergies (for example, you may see visible fleas in a dog with flea allergies or you may notice seasonal signs in a dog with pollen allergies), it is nearly impossible to distinguish the cause of your dogs allergies based on appearance alone.

In dogs, nearly all allergies manifest as irritation of the skin and ears (check out our guide to skin allergies in dogs for more on how a food allergy can affect the skin and coat). Common signs of dog allergies include:

• Generalized redness of the skin
• Itching
• Chewing at the paws
• Hair loss (generalized or patchy)
• Frequent hot spots or skin infections
• Scratching at the ears
• Recurrent ear infections
• Less commonly, food allergies may trigger gastrointestinal signs, such as vomiting and diarrhea.

If your vet suspects your dog has allergies, they will recommend an appropriate diagnostic workup to determine the cause of your pets allergies. This workup may include the consistent use of the best flea treatment for dogs (to rule out flea allergies), intradermal or blood allergy testing (to rule out environmental allergies), and a food trial (to look for evidence of food allergies).

In a food trial, you will be asked to feed your dog a hypoallergenic prescription diet for a period of 2-3 months. During that time, you will need to avoid all treats and table food, to ensure that your dog is not being exposed to any potential food allergens. If your dogs signs resolve during the food trial, you and your veterinarian can safely assume that your dogs allergies are caused by something in your dogs diet.

Next, you will begin gradually reintroducing different food items, in an effort to determine which ingredients trigger an allergic response in your dog. If you feed chicken, for example, and your dog begins itching within 24 hours, you can safely assume that your dog is allergic to chicken.

Why are so many dogs allergic to chicken?

A chicken allergy is one of the three common food allergies in pets. Beef and dairy are the most common food allergy triggers in dogs, with chicken coming in at number three on that list.

Dogs can develop an allergy to any protein that they have eaten. Historically, most dog foods were made with beef as the primary protein source. Therefore, most canine food allergies were associated with beef, because thats the protein that the immune system had seen the most often.

In recent years, however, an increasing number of chicken-based diets have been created, often marketed as sensitive skin or sensitive stomach foods. Therefore, veterinarians are seeing an increase in the number of dogs with chicken allergies. If kangaroo meat were to suddenly become a common ingredient in dog food, we would likely see an increasing number of dogs with kangaroo allergies. Dogs can develop a food allergy to any protein they have been fed.

If a dog is allergic to chicken, are they allergic to turkey?

Chicken and turkey are both poultry. There are enough similarities between these birds that some dogs with chicken allergies will also react to turkey. In fact, some dogs with chicken allergies will even react to duck.

However, this isnt always the case. Some chicken-allergic dogs can eat turkey or duck with no problems. Therefore, you may need to experiment with a bit of trial-and-error in order to determine whether your dog can tolerate a turkey-based diet.

If you want to be on the safe side and minimize the risk of an allergic reaction, it is probably best to avoid feeding turkey to a dog that is allergic to chicken.

Diagnosing a chicken allergy

"Blood and skin prick tests can help diagnose a chicken allergy in your dog, but these tests can be costly and take some time," Godfrey explains. "They may also show inconclusive results, which can be frustrating. Eliminating chicken from your dog's diet completely for eight weeks (known as an elimination diet) can allow you to see whether your dog's symptoms improve, but this will only work if you check the ingredients on all of their food and treats."

Best food for dogs with chicken allergies

If your dog has chicken allergies, you will need to find a nutritious, balanced dog food that does not include chicken meat, chicken meal, or chicken by-products. You may opt to feed a prescription diet (under the guidance of your veterinarian) or search for an over-the-counter diet.

The most highly-restricted diets will be prescription diets as opposed to the best dry dog food and the best wet dog food that you can buy off the shelf. These include products like Hill's Prescription Diet d/d Skin/Food Sensitivities Potato & Venison Formula Dry Dog Food or Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Hydrolyzed Protein HP Dry Dog Food. Prescription allergy diets are manufactured on dedicated manufacturing lines, reducing the risk of cross-contamination, and careful attention to ingredients. Your veterinarian can help you select the most appropriate prescription diet for your pet.

You can also attempt to use an over-the-counter diet that does not contain any chicken, such as Purina Pro Plan Adult Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food. Over-the-counter diets are often less expensive than prescription diets, which may make this an appealing option for some dog owners. Be aware, however, that these diets may be made on the same manufacturing lines that are used to create chicken-based diets. (This is why they are often less expensive.) Depending on the severity of your dogs chicken allergies, even a small amount of cross-contamination may be enough to trigger an allergic reaction.

How common are food allergies in dogs?

"Its much more common for dogs to experience allergy symptoms due to environmental allergens like pollen from trees and plants, or parasites like fleas and mites than food allergens," Godfrey says. "While its not easy to control the symptoms caused by any allergy, it's easier to keep your dog away from food allergens than pollen and other environmental allergens."

A chicken allergy in dogs can be a frustrating condition, but there are ways to manage it successfully. Work with your veterinarian to accurately diagnose the underlying cause of your dogs skin issues, then come up with an appropriate plan to minimize your dogs exposure to foods that trigger an allergic response. With long-term efforts and maintenance, you can minimize the frequency of flare-ups and successfully reduce your dogs signs of allergic dermatitis.

For more on what foods are safe for your canine companion to consume, check out our guide to what human food can dogs eat where a vet explains which foods you can share with your pooch.