Allergy testing

[puppydisaster]

I posted on another thread about our 9 month old double doodle's ongoing digestive problems. Symptoms:

• Every 3 or 4 days refuses breakfast

-Approximately every 10 days, vomits

-Loud gurgling stomach during these times (and noxious farts)

-Occasional irritation to skin which seems worse after walks / swimming

-Poos mostly OK with the occasional sloppy one

The vet thinks it's allergies and we're at the very start of the journey. We have ordered some hypoallergenic food (which is eye-wateringly expensive) and are hoping we can slowly add in a new food at a time once we've got the issue under control, but it's so hard to know where to start.

Has anyone gone down the route of allergy testing with the companies who claim to do it - e.g. Dog Sensitivity Test? Is it charlatan or actual science behind it? It seems relatively cheap, which makes me suspicious, but it would be so useful to get a head start on whatever is upsetting our poor puppy.

The vet was a bit - meh - suggested an anti-emetic (she's not being sick constantly, so no point), suggested feeding her later in the morning when she doesn't want breakfast, suggested the hypoallergenic food or a gastro-protective medicine - but didn't give too much guidance about which foods to introduce after the elimination diet.

Food allergy testing is not worth it because it could be an allergy or could be an intolerance. Tests may show an allergic reaction but won't show the longer term, slow build up intolerance reactions. The only way to be sure is an exclusion diet, which is what you sould like you are starting on.

Get her onto a a hypoallergenic diet (one with hydrolysed proteins, not just a normal pet food company that claims lamb and rice is hypoallergenic - for eg). Wait for all the symptoms you see now to go away. If they don't then you need to rethink whether it is diet related at all.

Once the symtoms had calmed down, then you identify a good dog food that you want to move to eventually. One that matches your price point and has minimum ingredients. e.g I think Skinners has only about 7-8. Min ingredients makes it quicker and easier to work towards.

Before you move to that, add one ingredient at a time to the hyp diet. For example, if you want to move to a turkey and rice based commercial diet eventually, then add mince turkey to your hypo diet as a topper. Stick with that for at least 4 weeks, better 8 weeks. If you see no reappearance of any symtoms then turkey goes on the BAD list and you look for a different food that does not have turkey. If you see no symptoms then turkey goes on the GOOD list and you add another ingredient, such as rice. Do the same 4-8 week test again. Once you get to the lower down ingredients or ones that are harder to add yourself, such as herbs or beet, you may decide not to do the full test for those and just introduce the new food slowly as the final test.

Blood and skin tests are only really relaible for environmental allergies.

With a young dog, I would also think about breaking meals down into smaller and more frequent portions, including a late night small meal to help bridge the overnight fast - sometimes hunger can cause nausea; in younger dogs, especially. So, something like four 'half' meals at 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm.

Some reading, in case useful...

www.thehonestkitchen.com/blogs/pet-food-ingredients/food-allergies-and-the-elimination-diet

www.mypetnutritionist.com/post/elimination-diets-for-dogs

vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2022/04/think-your-pet-has-a-food-allergy-eliminating-mistakes-in-elimination-diet-trials/

This is exactly what I needed, thank you. It's going to take most of her life to add one new ingredient every 8 weeks though, right?!

Are you sure about all this OP. It sounds like a very complex solution for a very minor problem. I have a dog and I love her a lot, but she’s a dog - she eats shit from the pavement fgs, so I’m not going to start worrying if she has an allergy to her kibble. She also occasionally refuses a meal and does the odd sloppy poo. I just can’t get myself that worked up about it considering what she chooses to eat when left to herself!

You'd think - but actually it goes pretty quickly.

That's why I suggest you target a food with minimal ingredients and perhaps don't test all the herbs etc individually. Most intolerances are protein based and if not, then carbohydrate based.

If all goes well, this time next year you would be on a diet you know suits her.

Keep track of the foods that pass that test and that fail it. That way you knonw what to look for if you ever need to replace her new food again (eg the company stops making your choice).

For pp, whether it is worth it does depend on the impact. Intolerances lower immunity and for some dogs that can mean they get infections more easily and those are a pita to treat etc. I did it for my dog because of a massive recurring and hard to treat infection that kept requiring hospital barrier nursing to treat. I am so glad I did. It took us about a year and he has been infection free for the last few years as a result. Whereas, before, he was getting reinfected every few weeks.

In hindsight, some symptoms had been there since he was about 6 months old but I also dismissed because they seemed minimal (e.g. occasional bad farts). As he got older, the infection started and that's when I had to pay attention. In future dogs, I would be on the alert for digestive issues right from the off.

He also eats (fox) shit now if he can get to it before I do

It seems he is not intolerant of that. Sod's law!

Other foods I identified at the time with minimal ingredients:

• Vet's Kitchen
• Fish4Dogs
• Harringtons
• Millies Wolfheart (has a few more but a very good food)
• Simpsons

Just in case that helps you when looking for one. (These are all dry foods).