Feeding to try and rule out allergies?

J

JillA

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 May 2007
Messages
8,173
Location
Shropshire
Visit site
My little Cavalier is a phantom itcher and rather than write him off to take Gabapentin (for syringeomelia which I'm not convinced of) for life I am trying to rule out allergies. He is on a hypoallergenic kibble but I'm wondering if there is a really really reliable food (fish & rice?) I can give him to be certain there are no allergens in his diet? Any of the current crop of "natural food" producers, does anyone know?
 
As far as I am aware thw only way to rule it out it to feed a decent hypoallergenic food.
I feed purina HA to my lurcher and she has done so well on it she had been on it for almost 3 yrs now
 
The only way to be sure what you are feeding is to prepare it yourself. Why not cook chicken/fish/rice/potato yourself and feed it to the dog? That way you can monitor exactly what the dog reacts to, or not. Then you can move onto a commercial hypoallergenic kibble that contains whatever you have worked out is 'safe'.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
The only way to be sure what you are feeding is to prepare it yourself. Why not cook chicken/fish/rice/potato yourself and feed it to the dog? That way you can monitor exactly what the dog reacts to, or not. Then you can move onto a commercial hypoallergenic kibble that contains whatever you have worked out is 'safe'.
Click to expand...

Thanks - trainer at agility reckons most chicken is so tampered with these days that only fish is safe with rice, so I'm planning to ask at the local pet shop if they have minced fish available. Rice and potatoes are no problem, and I can batch cook them anyway
 
JillA said:
Thanks - trainer at agility reckons most chicken is so tampered with these days that only fish is safe with rice, so I'm planning to ask at the local pet shop if they have minced fish available. Rice and potatoes are no problem, and I can batch cook them anyway
Click to expand...


It depends where you get your chicken from! I have to be very careful about what I eat and I find that free-range chicken from Aldi doesn't upset me and it's pretty cheap compared to some others. I wouldn't buy frozen chicken fillets or similar.
 
This is a copy of a post of mine from last year. I hope you will find it helpful. Just substitute stomach settling with itching settling.

skinnydipper said:
It doesn't matter if the food is cheap, expensive or "hypoallergenic", what matters is whether it has an ingredient your dog is allergic to. Chicken and rice are common allergens. The term hypoallergenic is meaningless. Hydrolysed veterinary diets are an option but the dog might still react to them, as mine did.

An elimination diet is a good place to start - feed a novel protein, one that Hoover is unlikely to have eaten and feed only that until his stomach settles. Then add ONE ingredient, leave a couple of weeks before adding another ingredient. Done this way will you be able to identify which foods are culprits and exclude them permanently from his diet. Broadly speaking an allergy is an immediate reaction, a food intolerance can take a couple of weeks to produce a reaction but its effects to health are no less serious. When vets conduct the elimination diet they give the initial protein 6 weeks trial but usually results are seen before that but it can still take a matter of weeks before the problem food proteins are out of the system.

Blood tests for immunoglobulin reactions to food are useful and can instantly identify allergens and you then know not to add them to his diet. These tend to test for a limited number of allergens and my dog had two panels done with two different labs to cover a wider range of allergens. Although the tests are useful as a guide, they are not perfect and my dog tested negative for something that subsequently made him ill.

Some people think grain free is the answer but it is missing the point. Dogs can be allergic to any protein in any food. Pea and potato which are used as cheap fillers in dog food are both common allergens.

I wish you luck and lots of patience, there is no easy fix and it is a long road.
Click to expand...
 
My little dog is an itchy, allergic little creature. We feed James Wellbeloved either Salmon and vegetable or turkey and veg flavours (our vet said theyre the teo flavours that less dogs are allergic to). We add a supplement oil called Itchy Dog (think its Yumega?). She seems to do ok on it. Remeber that you also have to make sure that any treats, biscuits, bones or chews are also free of ingredients that may cause the itching.
 
Many dit’s with food allergies do very well on a raw diet. My dog used to have immunotherapy jabs each month but not anymore. Your dog could be allergic to any ingredient in conventional feeds...eggs, soy, wheat...the list is endless :oops:
 
My dog has a reaction to all processed food (it seems), regardless of ingredients. On raw every single symptom disappeared.
 
Last edited:
Some dogs do well with the hydrolyzed protein veterinary diets. The protein is denatured so the body doesn't recognize it. I have a friend that has German Shepherd that she got as a young adult and he had always been unthrify. She finally took my advice as to what veterinarian to see and he had start Hill's Z/D and he looked like a new dog.
If I had an animal with a food sensitivity I would go with Purina since I get a professional discount.
 
My dog is allergic to rice something we hadn't considered when looking for an allergen free food. He's also allergic to soya and wheat. We feed a grain free food of no particular brand, the shop puts their own name on it.
 
Plus there could be environmental allergies (tree pollen etc) which could be the problem. Have you had allergy testing done?

a lot of dogs are allergic to chicken because they are fed grain and it’s the grain that causes them problem
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top