The Truth About Grain Allergies in Dogs

Let’s start with the most common misconception when it comes to grain allergies in dogs:

It’s not an allergy if it’s an unnatural food for your dog to eat. It’s a dietary intolerance.

Some berries can wreak havoc with our digestive system, yet the same berries can be highly nutritious to birds and other wildlife.

If your dog reacts to grains, then you should consider this in the same way. Your dog does not need grain in their diet.

Over the past two decades I have dealt with many dogs suffering grain allergies, or grain intolerance, and the solution is painfully simple – change your dog’s diet.

Usually their condition will improve within days.

If the advice on this page helps your dog, I request you come back and tell me so in the comments below!

What you will learn in this article about grain allergy in dogs

I appreciate this article is long, so here are the key points covered below:

How to know if your dog has a grain allergy?

There are many symptoms of a grain allergy in dogs, but keep in mind your dog may be suffering even without showing symptoms.

We will discuss shortly how grain in your dog’s diet can cause obesity, diabetes, nutritional deficiencies, dental disease (periodontal disease), pancreatitis, urinary tract issues, and general poor health and weakness.

But for now, lets cover the more visual symptoms of grain allergies in dogs which are often easy to resolve:

Grain allergy symptoms in dogs

Skin issues

Skin issues tend to be the most common issues, but we often put them down to our dogs being “itchy and scratchy” as if it’s normality.

• Itchy skin
• Red or inflamed skin
• Hot spots
• Constant scratching
• Hair loss (or patchy hair)
• Dry and flakey skin

Digestive issues

Digestive issues can occur when a new food (with grain) is introduced to your dog’s diet, or can increase over time as their digestive system struggles to digest the grain (worsened due to the misconception our dogs should eat the same processed food every single meal).

• Loose stools and diarrhoea
• Gas (and smelly farts) or bloating
• Frequent or irregular bowel movements
• Vomiting

Ear and paw issues

Ear and paw issues often go unnoticed until you realise there’s a reason your dog is scratching their ears or constantly licking their paws.

• Itchy or smelly ears, or “yeasty ears”
• Recurring ear infections
• Licking or chewing on paws
• Red or swollen poor pads

Behavioural issues

Behavioural issues are often triggered by underlying discomfort or pain even when there are no clear symptoms. If only our dogs could speak.

• Agitation, restlessness
• Excessive or compulsive licking and/or biting

Respiratory issues

Respiratory issues can occur, with mucky eyes often being a sign your dog’s diet isn’t optimal.

• Watery and mucky eyes
• Sneezing and wheezing

Why are these symptoms often missed?

You may realise how common these symptoms are in dogs, but consider this – most dogs are fed poor quality grain-based dog foods.

With that in mind, it comes as no surprise the symptoms of grain allergies are so common in dogs.

Unfortunately, it also means these symptoms are often considered “normal”, and therefore often disregarded.

Should you feed a grain-free dog food?

Switching to a decent grain-free dog food can clear up the symptoms of grain allergies within a week or two, and in many cases are the simplest and most affordable solution to helping your dog recover.

However, I urge you to consider the following:

Neither a high-carbohydrate dog food from grains or a high carbohydrate dog food from plants is ideal for your dog

This leads me to one more point I want you to always keep in mind:

Both grains and non-grain alternative ingredients are much cheaper inclusions in a dog food than animal ingredients

Grains are very cheap inclusions in a dog food. This is why most dog foods are literally packed with grains, and this has been the case for decades. Plant-based alternatives are more expensive, but still much cheaper alternatives to the animal ingredients your dog would benefit from the most.

For many decades grain-based dog foods were the norm. The reason for that was lack of awareness, and pet food companies capitalised on that. As consumers we often believe what we are told without question, and brands such as Pedigree remained the unquestioned norm – to this day made significantly of cereal grains.

The rise of the Internet helped information on canine nutrition to spread, and a growing awareness of grains not being ideal for pet carnivores led to grain-free dog foods springing up from smaller “boutique” pet food companies offering us a better alternative.

To this day, grain free dog foods are often a slightly better option to grain-based dog foods.

You may have heard of the unsubstantiated slur that grain-free dog foods cause heart disease, but that’s a long story of pet food politics which led to one of the leading grain-free pet food brands (Orijen and ACANA) being acquired by the world’s biggest pet food provider of all – Mars.

Meat-based is always better than grain-based or grain-free

Your best option is always a high quality meat-based diet or commercial dog food, but these are often more costly than we think.

If you live in the real world and simply can’t afford to feed your dog better than you feed yourself, then consider grain-free dog foods as almost always a better alternative to grain-based dog foods.

Quick tip: You can supplement any brand of dog food with fresh (raw) meats, organs, raw meaty bones, eggs, sardines, or species-appropriate table scraps. For most people this is a very cost-effective way to add nutrition to our dog’s diet.

If you can afford better, have a browse of the best-rated dog food list.

Some grain-based dog foods are better than grain-free dog foods

Even though grain-free dog foods are often better than grain-based counterparts, there are exceptions.

For example, a dog food made of high-quality meat ingredients combined with a healthier grain such as oats or barley is likely a better option than a grain-free dog food made almost entirely of plants.

I urge you to read the reviews on this website of any brand you are considering feeding your dog. Each review will explain the formula as a whole, assessing the ration of animal to non-animal ingredients and much more.

We’ll consider the worst grains for dogs next, and I will cover why most commercial dog foods contain grains when your dog has very little reason to consume them.

What grains are dogs most allergic to?

When it comes to general dietary allergies in dogs I find most “official” information differs greatly from my own experience with hundreds of dogs over the years.

A veterinarian will often inform you dietary intolerances (or allergies) in dogs are caused mostly by animal proteins such as chicken, beef, or lamb. While this can be true in some cases, I disagree.

What we often fail to realise is most scientific research in canine nutrition is conducted or funded by the pet food industry itself. This sounds like a conflict of interest, and of course it very much is. The pet food industry not only funds research, but our Universities, and many veterinary practices as well.

In my experience, wheat is the grain most likely to cause allergic reactions in dogs, followed closely by other gluten-containing grains.

Avoid “wheat” and “cereal grains” in dog food

If I was give a dollar for every time I helped a dog recover from a food allergy by telling the owner to stop feeding a dog food made of wheat I’d be a very rich man.

Veterinarians may have been told meat proteins are the most common cause, and in some cases this can be true, but I disagree.

I consider wheat and cereals/cereal by-products (often itself being wheat) as the most common cause of dietary intolerance in dogs.

Wheat in pet food is often a poorer quality inclusion than wheat you may consume yourself in bread or pasta. If wheat as a high-gluten ingredient isn’t problematic enough, wheat mites can often wreak havoc with your dog.

For cats, I consider the use of wheat and other grains in a diet for obligate carnivores who should not have grains in the diet to be the number one reason so many cats diet of renal disease and other known diet-related disease.

If a dog (or cat) food contains wheat, or some concoction of ambiguous cereal grains and by-products, you can be sure of two things:

1. It was cheap to produce; and
2. It probably isn’t very healthy or appropriate for your pet

If your dog is suffering any of the symptoms of a grain allergy we discussed earlier, and their food contains wheat or cereal-grains, I will almost guarantee you that’s the root cause.

The allergy risk of common grains in dog food

If you’ve read this far you will hopefully have realised grains are mostly used in dog food to lower production costs rather than benefit the health of your dog, but it has to be said some grains are better for your dog than others.

Below we will summarise the most common grains and how likely they are to trigger a grain allergy or intolerance:

High Allergy Risk

• Wheat – High gluten, very cheap inclusion in pet food, often causing numerous symptoms of dietary intolerance and allergy. Should be avoided.
• Rye – Also high in gluten and associated with gluten intolerance, but not very common in pet foods.

Medium Allergy Risk

• Corn – Very common in dog foods as it’s not only very cheap, but also inflates protein. Protein from animal sources will always be better for your dog, but many large pet food manufacturers use corn as a much cheaper alternative.
• Barley – Another high-gluten grain which can cause issues in gluten sensitive dogs.

Low Allergy Risk

• Sorghum – Used more in pet foods these days as a gluten-free alternative and less problematic, but question whether it provides nutritional benefit for your dog.
• Rice – One of the least allergenic grains, and being cheap also means it’s very common in pet food formulas – especially grain-based hypoallergenic diets. However, despite being a low allergy risk, like most grains is questionable in terms of nutrition for your dog.
• Oats – What I would consider one of the better grains in a dog food, with some nutritional benefit, gluten-free, and easier to digest than other grains.
• Millet – Rarely found in pet foods, but millet as a gluten-free grain is a better alternative to grains such as wheat.

Quinoa can be an addition to the above list, and can be considered very low allergy risk. Quinoa has crept in to some boutique pet foods, and although not technically a grain (it’s actually a seed but classified as a pseudograin) is a better alternative to many on the above list (although always second to animal ingredients).

If you notice your dog reacting to their food, consider switching to a grain-free diet or one with a carefully chosen single grain, such as oats, that is less likely to trigger sensitivities. Or better yet, switch to a high quality animal-based pet food, homemade, or raw.

Avoid wheat (often labelled as cereals, whole grain cereals, or cereals/cereal by-products), and if possible keep all grains (and high carbohydrate grain-free alternatives) to a minimum.

Always endeavor to prioritise a diet rich in high-quality animal protein.

Your dog will thank you for it.