The Effect of Early Diet on Canine Atopic Dermatitis (CAD) in Three High-Risk Breeds

The effect of diet on the occurrence of canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) in the high-risk breeds boxer, English bull terrier and West Highland white terrier was investigated as part of an extensive case-control study. In that study, a sparing association was seen for feeding the bitch a diet containing non-commercial ingredients during lactation and the subsequent development of CAD in the offspring. The purpose of this study was to further explore the role of diet of the bitch during lactation as well as early dietary exposure of puppies (up to six months of age) on the occurrence of CAD. Two factors were significant in a final logistic regression model: “not feeding non-commercial animal products (meat, egg or milk-products) to the bitch during lactation” (OR = 3.39, 95% CI 1.46-7.92) and “feeding non-commercial meat to the puppy between the age of 2-6 months” (OR = 2.97, 95% CI 1.27-6.93), and further analysis revealed that there was an interaction between these two factors. If a bitch didn’t receive non-commercial animal products during lactation, and the puppy was fed non-commercial meat any time until 6 months of age, the puppy had an increased risk of developing CAD (OR = 5.1, 95% CI 1.2-21.9). If the bitch received at least some non-commercial animal products during lactation there was no difference in risk of CAD for the offspring, regardless of whether the puppy was fed non-commercial meat or not until the age of 6 months (OR = 1.6, 95% CI 0.5-5.6). It seems prudent to feed bitches some non-commercial animal products during lactation.