Pets can have allergies to certain pet food ingredients or it can be environmental. If the issue is pet food then the key is determining which ingredient is causing symptoms such as excessive itching or hot spots. Pets can never be allergic to something they have never been exposed to, therefore you may hear of Lamb, Fish or Duck diets commonly being used as Hypo-Allergenic pet foods. However the pet can be allergic to substances other then meat proteins, therefore it is hard to determine which ingredient exactly is affecting the pet. To find which ingredient is causing the reaction, it is important to use pet foods with simple ingredient lists such as California Natural. This particular pet food uses single meat proteins in each diet, for example when they say it is Lamb they only use Lamb as a meat protein in the diet.

Steps to determine allergies:
Depending on the pet it can instantly change their situation with their symptoms or it may take as long as 4+ weeks.

1. If the pet is showing symptoms try a pet food that is composed of single meat proteins and a simple ingredient list such as California Natural Lamb.
2. Be sure not to give the pet anything else such as chews, treats or table scraps. It is important that the pet is only ingesting one particular diet to confirm that the diet is or is not working for the pet.
3. If the particular food is not working, move onto another protein such as Herring, Fish or Duck. Again be sure not to introduce anything else to the pet during this time.
4. If this has not solved the pet’s issue there is another diet available to try. EVO makes 95% Meat cans which contain the single protein and nothing else. Try the dog on one of the five flavours at a time to see if their situation improves. This method can be proven very useful since there are no other ingredients that the pet could possibly be allergic to; there is only the meat protein.