Who knows their dog is allergic to a food item?

ORIGINAL: brookcove

Like's Ben's chicken allergy - we struggled together with his horrible skin reactions and frequent stays in the hospital, then someone told me they'd had similiar problems after their dog got a different brand of rabies shot. I checked Ben's records and sure enough that was the brand and type he'd gotten that year. I took him off chicken and eggs, and his problems cleared up within a few weeks to the extent that my vet didn't even recognize him when I brought him in for a recheck. She was astonished, took all the material I gave her (including a peer reviewed study from Purdue), and resolved never to use that particular brand of rabies vaccination again.

It just so happened she had some vet friends in the clinic that were there to accompany her to a conference, and she brought THEM in too and told them what happened. There were four people there altogether plus my Dr and only one had ever heard of the rabies vac/chicken allergy connection. I didn't laugh maniacally and do the happy dance that I knew something they didn't. Vets are people too, and I realize the constant battle they face trying to balance keeping up with current research while still offering a sufficient amount of quality time with their patients.

what brand of rabies vacc is it?

How do you know that it is an allergy instead of a sensitivity?

I don't.  Nor do I care which it is.

I simply know that if my Cocker Spaniel gets more than a small amount of grain in a day - let's say 2 - 3 small Milkbones treats - his ears get red, stinky and itchy.

No grains - no ear problems.

Don't care which it is - sensitivity or allergy.  I avoid them both.

That would definately be a food allergy (type I hypersensitivity I think)... question answered... although I know you don't care...

I am going through the work to find out exactly what my pup is allergic to so I can feed him all the junk he used to get, minus whatever he's allergic to... not everyone has a "need to know" like I do... I'm just wierd like that.

When it comes to diagnosing a pet, 9 times out of 10, I'm going to go to the vet, even if I have received good advice, here.

Yep,, me too Ron!   
But you know, in the case of Ollie,,,this forum (as it was known as Idog back then)  and  even more so GDL website, was very helpful after going to more than one vet with Ollie and his allergies.  
And I am still forever grateful to people that posted about their horrible experiences with the injectable heart worm shot.  Gee, I'm sure had it not been for the Internet Ollie would have gotten that shot..and with all the trouble he had at that time, God knows what would have happened to him.
Other then the skin vet, the other two that we took Ollie to, didn't really help much in the way of his allergies. They suggested a few things,,,but in the end we wasted a lot of time and money on medication and supplements that really didn't help.
I agree also that to me it doesn't matter if its an allergy or sensitivity, if it bothers my dog, she will not get it.

ORIGINAL: lauric

How do you know that it is an allergy instead of a sensitivity?

I don't.  Nor do I care which it is.

I agree.  Sally scratches her ears out when she eats treats with wheat.  Take away the wheat and the ears clear up.  She was horrifically itchy and was chewing her fur off on chicken based food.  We took her off the chicken and she is less itchy and the hair on her legs is growing back.

ORIGINAL: Misskiwi67

ORIGINAL: dyan

here is nothing better in the world then personal experience.  The doctors can tell you anything they want...many of them having no exerience with what they are talking about,,,only what was taught to them, and often what is preached to them by food and drug companies. 

I'm sorry I offended you about your idol, and I know you don't want to get into a conversation about veterinarians here, but you really did bring this upon yourself. I think its really funny that you think veterinarians don't have any experience. So let me think out loud here... A vet can see and treat 20+ animals a DAY, have 8-12 years of education, and uncounted hours of ongoing education, or they can breed dogs for 20 years and have more experience... Man, I really need to drop out of school right now and start breeding dogs!! The 120K in student loans sure isn't going to pay off, because well, that education isn't nearly as hands-on as the contact with real dogs that a breeder has, veterinarians never see real dogs, couldn't possibly know about the special needs of MY breed... nope, my neighbor across the street doesn't have a weimeraner, and we haven't discussed the pros and cons of the purdue study at length, and I don't know about the importance of gastro-pexy because well, I've never owned a great dane so I don't have enough personal experience...

And vets, well, we don't have dogs, we don't feed them different foods, we don't care about animals at all... all we care about is listening to drug food companies and selling their product for them...

RANT OVER... excuse my unprofessionalism...

ORIGINAL: dyan
What part of Lindas website don't you like?

Ya know, its nothing major, just little untruths that are annoying. Things like calling Malassezia a systemic infection, and talking about candida albicans in the same sentence as if they're in any way related diseases. Malassezia is SPECIES of yeast that infects the skin, and has nothing to do with gut flora. Candida (which she uses in the same sentence) is another SPECIES of yeast, and causes candidiasis, or thrush, which is a very uncommon disease in the US, but she makes it sound like its a common thing seen in all dogs and has to be managed by every dog owner, and her yeast removal kit is a joke. She says that puppy acne is a staph infection (it has little to nothing to do with bacteria), and in general sounding incredibly intelligent to those who don't have the veterinary education to know any better.

Her information on large breed foods is among the best I've seen, and she encourages owners to ask the questions and do procedures (like presurgical bloodwork and IV catheter) that most vets can't get owners to do. Obviously she pulls a lot of weight and does a lot of good. I don't dislike her, I just dislike people taking her word as gold.

As a dog and horse owner, I rarely take any one vet's word as gold either.  My horse has two vets that see him.  Ask what worming program he should be on, you'll get two answers, ask what feeding program he should be on, you'll get different answers there too.  His previous owners vet told them he should be on 60 days rest for a pulled suspensory.  Every other vet I have talked to has said 6 months to a year.  I've heard many vets who don't put much stock in chiro work, and I've seen horses vastly improve on it.

to know what spherical trigonometry is...

 
And most guys I have encountered in the electrical trade don't know about it, either. I have been studying electrical theory and electronics since Oct. 1974. When I wanted to know why the square root of 3, I figured it out on my own. Knowing how 3-phase power is generated led to using spherical trig to solve it. Then a phasor diagram led to using Pythagora's Theorem. But a lot of guys who don't know it are still effective as electricians because what they do is based on experience. They usually leave the engineering to the engineers. But I have an insatiable need to know why. Anyway, that brings us back to what is more valuable. Experience, creds, or both? I suppose it would depend on the situation.

I am going through the work to find out exactly what my pup is allergic to so I can feed him all the junk he used to get, minus whatever he's allergic to... not everyone has a "need to know" like I do... I'm just wierd like that.

 
 
  I'm like you and want to know exactly what foods Jessie's allergic to so I don't have to limit my kibble choices to grain free duck or fish diets, or whatever.

I absolutely HATE that he can't have treats. Granted I used to feed him a lot of junk like greenies and rawhides, but he can't have a lot of buiscuits or raw meaty bones either... Its been very difficult to keep him entertained, so I've had to cheat and allow chew hooves, praying that he's not allergic I also started stuffing his kong with oatmeal since he's on kangaroo and oats diet. Its not quite as fabulous as canned food, but it does keep them stimulated for a while....

I know it doesn't really matter if a dog is allergic or sensitive, I was just wondering for those who use the word allergy how they determined it was an immune system response instead of something else.

Thanks everybody for the (mostly) good discussion. There's a lot of good information here and it's interesting reading.

I also started stuffing his kong with oatmeal since he's on kangaroo and oats diet. Its not quite as fabulous as canned food, but it does keep them stimulated for a while....

 Do you think it would be okay to put some canned EVO or Nature's Variety rabbit, venison, or duck in his kong since he probably hasn't had those meats; just a thought. Also, Cathy had her Lab on a pork and buckwheat elimination diet and she baked treats for Sassy made from the same ingredients; maybe you could do something similar. Jessie is on a restricted diet right now; she had been doing very well with imunotherapy and avoiding foods with chicken but she started having flare ups this summer. The vet tried different therapies to control them; first he changed her shot schedule from twice a month to weekly, then he had me bathe her with Epi-Soothe shampoo and use Resi-Cort leave in lotion once a week; then she went on a short term low dosage of Pred in September. My vet said that a lot of his allergy dogs were having problems at that time. Each therapy helped for a few weeks to a month but then she would have problems again. In October, I tried IVD Potato and Rabbit and she was better but she had just finished the Pred and we had some early cold weather so I wasn't sure what had caused the improvement. She had soft stools and frequent bouts of eating grass on the IVD so I transitioned her to Sensible Choice Lamb and Rice by Royal Canin and she's been doing very well; it only has lamb and rice; no other grains, flaxseed or eggs. She was getting Eagle Pack Fish or Duck with Nature's Variety raw medallions and various canned foods before; I hope she's not allergic to eggs or flaxseed because she loves the medallions. I am going to start adding eggs and other foods in a few weeks to see if she has a new food allergy or if it was just a bad allergy season. Interestingly, besides the fact that she's not shaking her head and scratching her face and body,  her coat seems softer and DH, who doesn't normally notice such things, thought I had brushed her because of how shiny she is, and she hasn't had fish oil for several weeks as part of the allergy diet. Also, she had her anal glands emptied last week and it's usually painful for her because the fluid is pasty and hard to express but this time she didn't whine and they emptied a lot easier, so I'm wondering if that's related to the diet change. Well, that's enough rambling; I know it's hard not to give Romeo treats but it is so worth it. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

I know it doesn't really matter if a dog is allergic or sensitive, I was just wondering for those who use the word allergy how they determined it was an immune system response instead of something else

 
  Kelly, I'm not sure if this answers your question, but from what I understand, when a dog has diarrhea or vomits from eating a certain food, that's intolerance, and when eating a certain food causes itchy ears and ear infections, paw chewing, chewing the anal region, etc., ( like chicken does with Jessie) that's a true food allergy. Merry Chrismas to you, Boomer, and the rest of the gang. []

Thanks, hope you all have a safe and happy holiday also! []

Remembering something that someone told me a couple of years ago.  It was the husband of Bubbys breeder, my son worked with him and it was back when Ollie used to be with me more then Mike and I was the one trying to figure out his allergies. But Jason told my son that one of the Danes in his house had  allergies which they thought was a food allergy...it took a lot of changing food,  but they got it cleared up. And then one day, the dog started having major problems again, and they hadn't changed a thing. It took them week to figure it out... Jason had changed his brand of After Shave, and here the dog was allergic to that. Once they realized it, he quit wearing the new and the dog went back to being okay.     I think this ads to the confusion about allergies.  We think of what our dog is doing different, or what we are giving him thats different...but a little thing like after shave change I don't know how many people would figure it plays in the role of allergy causing to our pets.
This IS a very interesting conversation....but I honestly don't know anything more now then I did...which was very little!!!  LOL! THAT is the tough part about allergies!   I hate them...I see so much of it at work, it makes me sick.
Happy Holidays to you'all!