Grain Free, Gluten Free, Hypoallergenic. What does it all really mean?

These labels should be self explanatory but when you really get into them all, they aren't!

Now this isn't an issue for your average dog owner. If you just want to feed your dog a grain free diet because you think it will be better for them then a grain free label will do. If there isn't a medical reason for your dog not to eat gluten then a gluten free label will cut it. Hypoallergenic, sure.

But it gets very difficult when you have a dog that has a potential medical condition that means they need to have a diet that is completely guaranteed gluten free.

Let's break the labels down.

Grain free - made without grains such as wheat, rye, barley, rice etc.

Gluten free - made without gluten

Hypoallergenic - low allergy causing recipe. A recipe that doesn't not contain the common ingredients that's cause allergies in dogs

Unfortunately what none of the labels cover is whether or not the factory the food is made in or where the ingredients are sourced from use either grains or gluten meaning there is always the chance of cross contamination. These labels cover what is added into the recipe generally. This makes looking at products in store or online very confusing.

With human food for a food to be labelled gluten free, every step of the process must be absolutely gluten free. Gluten free food before it was a trend was on the market to allow people with diseases such as Coeliac an option. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease where upon the consumption of gluten the body attacks itself.

This just isn't the case in the under regulated dog food world. Labels are just marketing schemes making our lives very difficult when trying to find food or treats for Roo.

Dog's can have Coeliac diease and other gluten intolerance related illnesses/diseases. Roo potentially has Paroxysmal gluten-sensitive dyskinesia - it basically means that gluten causes the dog to have disturbed movement without loss of consciousness, such as Roo's episodes. The best way to deal with this is for the dog to be put on a compeltely gluten free diet as any exposure to gluten, no matter how big or small can trigger an episode.

Our specialist informed us to be very wary of labels and to contact companies directly to find out if the whole process is gluten free and what the risk of cross contamination is. We have found a lot of companies are unable to rule out cross contamination. They recommended Pro Plan Veterinary Diets Canine HA Hypoallergenic Dry Dog Food as that was the food used in the study into Paroxysmal gluten-sensitive dyskinesia in Border Terriers.

However, Roo is raw fed and we were really keen to keep it this way as we had struggled so much with food. Raw food should be gluten free by default but we needed to find a brand that could say they have no gluten in any of their processes. We reached out directly to the brand she was eating at the time, Southcliffe but they were unable to say whether their processes contained gluten. Not knowing where to go next, we reached out to the place we buy all her raw food from Raw Dog Food Company. They were amazing and reached out to all of their suppliers for us. With a couple coming back and confirming they are completely gluten free - The Raw Factory and The Dog Butcher.

Next issue came to treats, as we are in the process of training Roo, treats are a big part of that. Again it was a struggle to find out whether companies were completely gluten free from their websites. We reached out to JR Pets who came to say that all of their products are gluten free as is their factory - amazing as their pates work so well as training treats. We have also been in touch will Bounce and Bella who have confirmed that all their products are grain free and contain no gluten.

Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot online on certified/guaranteed gluten free dog food and treats.