Dora is a four-year-old Collie X. Bright as a button, great in every way. She has a raw diet and looks great for it; great teeth, skin, gut and poos. Molly, her owner, is very proud. But she had a long course of antibiotics for an infected leg two years ago. Now, if she gets hold of the slightest whiff of chicken, be it raw, cooked, smoked, sliced, kibbled or tinned, she’s liable to redecorate the kitchen overnight. What’s going on, and what can Molly do about it?

Food reactions are divided, in vet medicine, into three categories. Two are simple; Allergy and Intolerance; the first rare and dramatic, second common and mild. In between is Food Sensitivity, which is poorly understood, but equally causes uncomfortable and ugly scenes!

Food Allergy

In humans, think strawberries, seafood or peanuts. Remember that scene in Mrs Doubtfire with Robin Williams? Where Piers Brosnan chokes on his prawn that the hero has just dowsed in Cayenne pepper? Then Mrs D. has to do the Heimlich manoeuvre to save him from choking? You got it. That’s the drama of food allergy. It’s an immunoglobulin E, IgE, reaction for those who want to do a little Googling.

Dogs are not allergic to many things, but if they are, you usually get rapid onset face swelling, coughing, dribbling. A dose of Piriton or similar dog-safe anti-histamine will often do the trick. If in doubt, pop to the vet’s and they’ll give them a shot.

Food Intolerance

Again, in humans, this is a pretty mild, but usually a life-long issue. Some races around the world, and some individuals, cannot digest lactose in cows milk. They lack a gene or an enzyme, meaning they can no longer ‘tolerate’ that foodstuff to digest it.

Similarly, in dogs, these are food that the dog has never been able to tolerate from a puppy; a thing they’re just born with. And the treatment is to just avoid that thing. Simples.

Food Sensitivity

The reaction that everyone’s talking about. And most likely, it describes Dora’s ‘sensitivity’. What happens in food sensitivity is that you (meaning you or your dog) gradually develops a reaction to a food as it passes through the gut. You’re not born with the problem, as with intolerance, and you and dog don’t do a Mrs Doubtfire every time you eat a wee bit of the offending grub.

Typically with digestion, food is broken down, mixes and feeds the microbiome, your gut bugs, is absorbed and then waste passed out the back. 

In sensitivity problems, there is a change in the gut bugs (dysbiosis), long-term inflammation of the gut (Irritable Bowel Disease and ‘Leaky Gut’ issues) or sometimes IBS: Irritable Bowel Syndrome. 

IBS is where the gut looks completely normal, but all things digestion are disrupted regularly. IBS is not what Dora’s got as she’s okay if she doesn’t see chicken meat. And if she does, she just gets the over-night squits which aren’t an immediate threat.

We think food sensitivity is an issue due to the delicate balance of the gut-microbiome interaction being disrupted, like their telecommunications are jammed somehow. 

Dora’s problems happened after antibiotics, so it’s possible that the tablets killed a few too many friendly bugs and changed the balance – dysbiosis. 

Unsurprisingly, the gut wall and the massive immunological machine hidden there really don’t like their friends, the bugs, being in turmoil. They react, leading gradually to sensitivity. They can also take against specific proteins, even if the biome is in good shape, but this is rarer.

The Answer?

Avoiding chicken religiously is the obvious answer in the short term. Avoidance prevents nasty morning surprises but also allows the gut wall and gut bugs to get themselves back in shape and to ‘forget’ the chicken issues. If the problem persists, addressing inflammation and Leaky Gut issues is the way forward, using probiotics, raw food, broths and supplements. This is work to do with a raw feeding vet. We’ll cover this in other blogs.

Who’d have thought there was so much going on in our dogs’ guts?