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  1. #1
    Real Retriever 3ChocMom's Avatar
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    For those with allergy dogs

    Brandy's physical therapist is also a vet tech and does nutritional counseling. She sees and helps a lot of allergy dogs through changing their diets. Brandy suffers from occasional allergic reactions to some unknown trigger. Her whole face and body break out in miserably itchy and awful looking hives. I have to give her a quick dose of Pred to stop it. She just had another episode last week and had therapy on Saturday. I mentioned that she had another attack and her therapist told me about this new test that she has been recommending to her clients. It seems very similar to the Dr. Dodds food intolerance test, it only measures intolerances and potential triggers, but it tests for a lot more than just food (supplements like glucosamine, plus environmental triggers like fleas, weeds, grasses, etc.). It's a few mouth swabs and some hair that you send in, no blood.

    I don't know how accurate it is, that was my first question. Andrea said so far, she has had 9 dogs get tested and it seems to be fairly accurate. I am considering it for Brandy. I figure maybe if I remove some things that I don't know are triggers, it will help with the outbreaks. I plan on running it by her holistic vet next time we see her too. Anyway, just wanted to pass it along in case anyone is interested.

    Healthy Dog Alternative Sensitivity Assessment (c)

  2. #2
    Real Retriever
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    I never went that route.

    I tried my own test by completely eliminating all grains/starches out of my boys diet, totally calmed his system down 100%.

    Now he can eat foods that I thought were triggers, as well as grasses, etc. without issue.

    Starches/grains cause natural inflammatory conditions to worsen; it may not eliminate them all, but it definitely turned my big guy around.

  3. #3
    House Broken Lainie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Woofie View Post
    I never went that route.

    I tried my own test by completely eliminating all grains/starches out of my boys diet, totally calmed his system down 100%.

    Now he can eat foods that I thought were triggers, as well as grasses, etc. without issue.

    Starches/grains cause natural inflammatory conditions to worsen; it may not eliminate them all, but it definitely turned my big guy around.
    Can you tell me what you feed your boy? Is it raw or kibble? The only starch Jessie gets, that I know of, is what might be in the little amount of carrot mixed in her raw meat.

  4. #4
    Real Retriever
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lainie View Post
    Can you tell me what you feed your boy? Is it raw or kibble? The only starch Jessie gets, that I know of, is what might be in the little amount of carrot mixed in her raw meat.
    100% raw - I will NEVER feed this boy kibble again; the difference since switching last February is nothing short of amazing.

    Rivers has slowly regained the right to eat carrots, very very few. His main meals are ground beef (80/20), beef heart, beef tripe mixed with coconut flakes, cucumbers, mixed vegetables (i.e. broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, whatever actually) Just not potatoes of any kind, nor does he get squash.

    Rivers is back to eating canned salmon, mackerel, Pollock fish, lamb, venison, turkey, eggs, etc - no chicken of any kind, and turkey only rarely.

    He's eating all kinds of vegetables, yogurt, he also gets spiriluna ( 1/2 tspn), green lipid mussel, and MSM.

    The boy is doing awesome - eye boogers are a thing of the past, hair color is the reddest I've ever seen it, his Achilles tendon leg injury from the past doesn't even seem to bother him any more.

    He hasn't had a nibble of kibble since February - cost is actually cheaper too. I do not feed Rivers solid bones, nor does he get much ground bone either.

    Take that back....whatever bones are in canned fish and he does get ground beef bone twice a week.

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    Lainie (08-28-2014)

  6. #5
    Real Retriever SCDoug's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3ChocMom View Post
    Brandy's physical therapist is also a vet tech and does nutritional counseling. She sees and helps a lot of allergy dogs through changing their diets. Brandy suffers from occasional allergic reactions to some unknown trigger. Her whole face and body break out in miserably itchy and awful looking hives. I have to give her a quick dose of Pred to stop it. She just had another episode last week and had therapy on Saturday. I mentioned that she had another attack and her therapist told me about this new test that she has been recommending to her clients. It seems very similar to the Dr. Dodds food intolerance test, it only measures intolerances and potential triggers, but it tests for a lot more than just food (supplements like glucosamine, plus environmental triggers like fleas, weeds, grasses, etc.). It's a few mouth swabs and some hair that you send in, no blood.

    I don't know how accurate it is, that was my first question. Andrea said so far, she has had 9 dogs get tested and it seems to be fairly accurate. I am considering it for Brandy. I figure maybe if I remove some things that I don't know are triggers, it will help with the outbreaks. I plan on running it by her holistic vet next time we see her too. Anyway, just wanted to pass it along in case anyone is interested.

    Healthy Dog Alternative Sensitivity Assessment (c)
    Those reactions sound pretty serious. It's costly, but you might try a pre-made raw food with limited ingredients like Primal to see if you notice any positive effects or can isolate a protein or something that causes the reaction. I read about both of the tests that you mentioned in your post and was really tempted to try one. We ended up investing in going to a vet who did a complete food allergy panel, which helped us narrow down proteins and ingredients that we should avoid. We've seen great results and Lola is finally keeping some weight on.
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  7. #6
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Thanks. Oban's itchies are ramping up since we took him off every single med and supplement while dealing with IBD. We have our third visit with our new Holistic Vet tomorrow so I've printed this off to read and ask her about.

  8. #7
    Real Retriever 3ChocMom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SCDoug View Post
    Those reactions sound pretty serious. It's costly, but you might try a pre-made raw food with limited ingredients like Primal to see if you notice any positive effects or can isolate a protein or something that causes the reaction. I read about both of the tests that you mentioned in your post and was really tempted to try one. We ended up investing in going to a vet who did a complete food allergy panel, which helped us narrow down proteins and ingredients that we should avoid. We've seen great results and Lola is finally keeping some weight on.
    They are serious and they scare the crap out of me. It has happened now 4 times in exactly 2 years. The first time it happened, I figured out what caused it. Unscented baby wipes that I used to wipe her down when she came in from outside. So it was a contact allergen, not food. Then she went over a year without it happening again, and it has now happened 3 times since last November. These last 3 times, I have absolutely no idea what caused it, but it's obviously not the same thing that caused the first one. I don't think her issues are food related, I think it's something she's coming into contact with, but I can't figure out what. I feed half kibble, half homecooked, and I rotate kibble and give her a wide variety of fresh foods. She never has a problem when eating something new or different (except one brand of fish kibble, and that just gave her diarrhea, no allergic reactions). Her diet is geared towards reducing inflammation, she only eats cool and neutral foods according to TCM. But I could be wrong, and that's why I'm considering the test. It could help me eliminate some things I didn't realize were causing her problems.

  9. #8
    Kathy W
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    some baby wipes can cause a rash as you found out ..... Not sure if helps ( Max did not have rash ) I tried a soap free shampoo from vets twice .Both times Max had horrible coat and flaking . second time we ran into Max 's vet he said " I have never seen Max 's coat look so bad " ..... will not use it again . Max 's coat is back to normal , no flaking, stopped thinning by daily rinsing .

    wanted to through that out in case its something along those lines , it may be something being applied ...............

    good luck

    kathy

  10. #9
    Real Retriever 3ChocMom's Avatar
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    Her reaction was much more serious than a rash. Her whole face and body broke out in hives and she was trying to crawl out of her skin. That first time, she needed a steroid shot from the vet. I tried to manage it with Benadryl, but because I kept using the baby wipes unknowingly, the hives kept coming back. It was horrible. The last 3 times, I have wracked my brain trying to figure out something that I did differently, something I used on her, somewhere I took her, etc. I actually thought, for a minute, that it was the treatments she gets from the holistic vet. The second time was a few hours after she'd had acupuncture. The third time was the morning after she had an autosang treatment. But she had had both before and never reacted and she hasn't reacted to a treatment since. And this last time, it was starting when I got home from work. She had been in the house all day, for 10 hours.

 



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