Puppyhood diet as a factor in the development of owner-reported allergy/atopy skin signs in adult dogs in Finland

Background The increased prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) in dogs necessitates research in its disease etiology. Objectives To explore the association between puppyhood dietary exposures and prevalence of owner-reported allergy/atopy skin signs (AASS) after the age of 1 year. Animals Four thousand and twenty-two dogs were eligible, 1158 cases, and 2864 controls. Methods This cross-sectional hypothesis-driven observational study was extracted from the DogRisk food frequency questionnaire. Forty-six food items and the ratio of 4 major diet types were tested for their association with AASS incidence later in life. Potential puppyhood dietary risk factors for AASS incidence were specified using binary multivariable logistic regression. The model was adjusted for age and sex. Results Eating raw tripe (odds ratio, 95% confidence intervals OR, 95% CI = 0.36, 0.16-0.79; P = .01), raw organ meats (OR, 95% CI = 0.23, 0.08-0.67; P = .007), human meal leftovers, and fish oil supplements as well as eating more that 20% of the diet as raw and/orPeer reviewe