Immunotherapy testing for allergies using serum/blood

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Marigold4

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Has anyone sent off blood/serum for allergy testing? My youngster has hives again (she may have had them this winter hiding under her coat but we are only now seeing them after she has shed her winter coat). My vet wants to shave her neck and send her to the hospital for skin testing. I'd rather find a different method as I'd like to show her this spring/summer. If you have an experience of the blood/serum one, it would be good to hear from you how it went and whether it identified the allergen. TIA
 
I haven’t personally but I own a pony that has. With her previous owner she had an extended period of itchy and treated with the normal stuff - steroids / topical. Eventually allergy tested and came back positive for mites. So she has a monthly immunotherapy injection. Tbh since I’ve had her I wouldn’t know she ever had an issue. Injections work out approximately £40/month
 
ihatework said:
I haven’t personally but I own a pony that has. With her previous owner she had an extended period of itchy and treated with the normal stuff - steroids / topical. Eventually allergy tested and came back positive for mites. So she has a monthly immunotherapy injection. Tbh since I’ve had her I wouldn’t know she ever had an issue. Injections work out approximately £40/month
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Thanks, that's useful to know. We tried a steroid injection last year - lasted two weeks. Also various topicals. Did this pony have a blood/serum allergy test, do you know? It would be SO useful to know what sets the hives off.
 
Marigold4 said:
Has anyone sent off blood/serum for allergy testing? My youngster has hives again (she may have had them this winter hiding under her coat but we are only now seeing them after she has shed her winter coat). My vet wants to shave her neck and send her to the hospital for skin testing. I'd rather find a different method as I'd like to show her this spring/summer. If you have an experience of the blood/serum one, it would be good to hear from you how it went and whether it identified the allergen. TIA
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My knowledge is probably a bit out of date now, but I don't think the situation has changed much.

The problem is, the blood tests are not very accurate for many allergens in horses, you tend to get a lot of false positives, and some false negatives.

Skin tests are considered the "gold standard" and are likely to give much more accurate results...but often not for dietary allergies.

For dietary allergies, the best is a strict exclusion diet, then rechallenging with one item at a time (you will know more about ingredients by the end of it than you would ever wish for, and will still have the uncertainties of grass/hay compostion!) You have to think about every single thing including treats/carrots/polos etc etc.

...... the hair grows back pretty fast at this time of year (clip the whole horse for consistant regrowth!)

As an example, my own horse with major recurrant hives actually showed nothing at all on blood tests.... some minor reactions on skin which helped point us in the right direction......it was all about the diet in his case ( in particular he cannot have any yeast products!)
 
One of my horses had terrible hives and at one point was driven demented with the itching. He had to be sedated.

I was advised to first try an exclusion diet before allergy testing due to the reasons given above. There's only so many tests they can do with the skin tests so you can't test for everything and they were expensive at that time.

While doing the exclusion diet I also rewashed all my horses stuff in non biological detergent and followed with a second wash just with water. I know someone who had a horse who was allergic to some type of washing product but mine wasn't it was diet related.
 
Marigold4 said:
Thanks, that's useful to know. We tried a steroid injection last year - lasted two weeks. Also various topicals. Did this pony have a blood/serum allergy test, do you know? It would be SO useful to know what sets the hives off.
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Just checked the clinical history I got with her, it’s bloods to Axiom if that’s any help
 
I did the blood tests around 8yrs ago for a really tricky hives horse.

They showed allergies to various things. All dietary. None environmental.

We did cut out all of the allergens (linseed, alfalfa, carrots, peas, etc etc).

And he certainly stopped getting worse.

But it was an Equibiome test and sorting out his hind gut, that really sorted him out.

Once his gut was happy, he happily tolerated the “allergens” for years.

I lost him last year, but we never had a re-occurrence. And he’d had ever worsening hives for over a year. And we’d tried various washes, steroids and antibiotics until then.

I had a whole post about it at the time.
 
I did blood/serum, threw up a ton of environmental allergens which confirmed what I thought anyway, I did the immunotherapy jabs which didn’t work at all and then opted to explore other options of managing via a dermatologist.
 
ihatework said:
I haven’t personally but I own a pony that has. With her previous owner she had an extended period of itchy and treated with the normal stuff - steroids / topical. Eventually allergy tested and came back positive for mites. So she has a monthly immunotherapy injection. Tbh since I’ve had her I wouldn’t know she ever had an issue. Injections work out approximately £4
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quizzie said:
My knowledge is probably a bit out of date now, but I don't think the situation has changed much.

The problem is, the blood tests are not very accurate for many allergens in horses, you tend to get a lot of false positives, and some false negatives.

Skin tests are considered the "gold standard" and are likely to give much more accurate results...but often not for dietary allergies.

For dietary allergies, the best is a strict exclusion diet, then rechallenging with one item at a time (you will know more about ingredients by the end of it than you would ever wish for, and will still have the uncertainties of grass/hay compostion!) You have to think about every single thing including treats/carrots/polos etc etc.

...... the hair grows back pretty fast at this time of year (clip the whole horse for consistant regrowth!)

As an example, my own horse with major recurrant hives actually showed nothing at all on blood tests.... some minor reactions on skin which helped point us in the right direction......it was all about the diet in his case ( in particular he cannot have any yeast products!)
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Thanks, quizzie. A bit of a minefield then! How did you go about starting your exclusion diet, if you don't mind sharing.
 
nutjob said:
One of my horses had terrible hives and at one point was driven demented with the itching. He had to be sedated.

I was advised to first try an exclusion diet before allergy testing due to the reasons given above. There's only so many tests they can do with the skin tests so you can't test for everything and they were expensive at that time.

While doing the exclusion diet I also rewashed all my horses stuff in non biological detergent and followed with a second wash just with water. I know someone who had a horse who was allergic to some type of washing product but mine wasn't it was diet related.
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Thanks, I'll try and get my head round how to do an exclusion diet.
 
HayleyUK said:
I did blood/serum, threw up a ton of environmental allergens which confirmed what I thought anyway, I did the immunotherapy jabs which didn’t work at all and then opted to explore other options of managing via a dermatologist.
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Thanks, that's useful to know. I'm getting the feeling it won't be easy to find what's bothering her!
 
Marigold4 said:
Thanks, I'll try and get my head round how to do an exclusion diet.
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You just feed your horse on one thing exclusively. Cut out all other feeds, supplements and treats. I'd probably try horsehage timothy. They also do ryegrass alone but I was told this was more likely to cause allergies than timothy grass. You need a couple of weeks for the immune system to calm down then start adding in additional foods. Start with small amounts of straights e.g. sugar beet, oats, grass nuts, barley. I was advised to change the bedding to paper or cardboard. I didn't do this as I'd been using the same bedding (wood pellets) for a couple of years so was confident it wasn't that.
 
Marigold4 said:
Thanks, quizzie. A bit of a minefield then! How did you go about starting your exclusion diet, if you don't mind sharing.
Click to expand...

nutjob said:
You just feed your horse on one thing exclusively. Cut out all other feeds, supplements and treats. I'd probably try horsehage timothy. They also do ryegrass alone but I was told this was more likely to cause allergies than timothy grass. You need a couple of weeks for the immune system to calm down then start adding in additional foods. Start with small amounts of straights e.g. sugar beet, oats, grass nuts, barley. I was advised to change the bedding to paper or cardboard. I didn't do this as I'd been using the same bedding (wood pellets) for a couple of years so was confident it wasn't that.
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Very much as Nutjob says.....If it is possible to use single species hay/haylage and keep off the field, then start there...and use straights for further energy requirements after a couple of weeks.

However, be aware that even single species hays will inevitably contain a small amount of other types. Grazing is inevitably mixed.
Also, don't assume that something he has had previously without issue, or something that has been in his environment is not relevant....allergies do develop due to exposure, so ideally switch to new /hypoallergenic beddings/washing powders etc with no fresheners/fragrances! Time of year can also be relevant ( think pollens/moulds etc)

It is a very frustrating condition. I was lucky that mine was not itchy despite horrendous lumps/wheals ....I was far more upset about them than he was. He was actually able to continue eventing with them.

Often it is not one single allergen, but as Gino Geo mentions a "leaky gut" can be involved, and when that is improved, they can tolerate small amounts of things they may have reacted to previously. As someone described it to me...their system can cope with 3 or 4 challenges, some may even cope with 5 or 6....but then just one more will be the metaphorical straw that breaks the camels back!

Good luck!
 
quizzie said:
Very much as Nutjob says.....If it is possible to use single species hay/haylage and keep off the field, then start there...and use straights for further energy requirements after a couple of weeks.

However, be aware that even single species hays will inevitably contain a small amount of other types. Grazing is inevitably mixed.
Also, don't assume that something he has had previously without issue, or something that has been in his environment is not relevant....allergies do develop due to exposure, so ideally switch to new /hypoallergenic beddings/washing powders etc with no fresheners/fragrances! Time of year can also be relevant ( think pollens/moulds etc)

It is a very frustrating condition. I was lucky that mine was not itchy despite horrendous lumps/wheals ....I was far more upset about them than he was. He was actually able to continue eventing with them.

Often it is not one single allergen, but as Gino Geo mentions a "leaky gut" can be involved, and when that is improved, they can tolerate small amounts of things they may have reacted to previously. As someone described it to me...their system can cope with 3 or 4 challenges, some may even cope with 5 or 6....but then just one more will be the metaphorical straw that breaks the camels back!

Good luck!
Click to expand...
I think I've struck lucky! I looked up which were the most frequent dietary allergens, eliminated alfalfa from her feed and, hey presto, hives have gone! Maybe a coincidence, I guess, but I'm hopeful.
 
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