One of the comments we hear most often in the store is “my pet seems to itch like crazy, I’m worried that it has an allergy to its food.”

While I’m not a veterinarian, I deal with these issues every day, so I will share my observations on what has helped my clients.

Do food allergies cause itching? In many cases, yes. Itching can be a sign of an allergy. But food is not the only source of allergic reactions.

When someone has a peanut allergy, we don’t just remove peanut butter and jam sandwiches from the diet, we must eliminate all forms of peanut, no matter how small. Snacks and treats must be peanut-free, and if the allergy is bad enough, treats must be made in a peanut -free facility.

If a food allergy is suspected in pets, though, most people change to a hypoallergenic food, but many don’t change the treats they use. Sometimes other family members or friends will sneak pets a little treat without realizing it may be loaded with allergens. No amount of special, expensive hypoallergenic food is going to fix things if the pet is slipped some pizza crust.

Often the itch continues, even with a strict hypoallergenic diet. If your pet is scratching at its ears and chewing at its paws, it may just be a habit. But you should inspect the ears and paws to see if they are affected by a rash or dry skin. In some instances, the source of the itch may have stopped, but the scratching habit continues, so other means of changing that behaviour should be implemented.

Scratching at the skin is not always a food allergy, it can also be a contact or environmental allergy. This is when you should consider your use of air fresheners, hairsprays, cleaners, detergents and fabric softeners. Many people use heavily scented cleaning products to wash pet beds, or their own bedding which may irritate the animal if the pet sleeps with them. Those scents can be the culprit in many cases. Moving to more natural, unscented cleaners can be all it takes to fix things.

If the scratching happens or increases as winter starts, and gets worse as the cold increases, it is likely a humidity problem. The minute our furnaces fire up, humidity in our houses drops. Fresh air systems can make it worse, especially if the humidifier isn’t working at maximum efficiency. A gauge may say the outside air is 80 per cent humidity, but that is relative to the outside temperature. Warmed up, the same air can be less than 10 per cent humidity. So, our houses can be extremely dry in the winter, and that can be very hard on the skin of our pets. Especially when going in and out of the cold.

Make sure your humidifier is in good working order. Change the pad, make sure the filler is working properly, that the humidistat is working and that the water is turned on. These are easy things to check but can also be easily overlooked.

Skin issues can also be a sign of missing nutritional components. The biggest one is Omega 3. Adding some fish to the pet’s diet, or buying a fish-based diet can help a little, but actually adding the fats into any diet is easy, inexpensive and very effective. Fish oils are good, seal oil is better. Zinc is another skin nutrient that can help with dry skin and harsh coat. Mushrooms are another treatment for skin and coat issues – a blend of extracted tremella and reishi mushrooms can help.

Scratching isn’t always an allergy, so if allergy cures don’t work, you may have other options.