Amy Wood Posted November 11, 2021 Report Share Posted November 11, 2021 Hi everyone, I recently had my dog tested for allergies - I actually wanted a test for food allergies but my vet said you can’t test for those and online ones aren’t to be trusted and 9/10 it’s not food related. From the environmental test it turns out he’s allergies to grass(!), mould, dust mites and certain weeds - we’ve put him on 2 piritons a day (vet suggestion) and I’m trying natural supplements to help boost his immune system to reduce the itch and red sores around his eyes and mouth. Is was just wondering if anyone else has found a reliable way to test for food allergies as I’m not 100% convinced it’s just environmental. He’s a very picky eater and so it’s very hard for me to do a single protein at a time to see what causes the reaction because he just won’t eat the same thing twice. I just hate the thought that I’m making him eat something he’s allergic to Sorry for the big message! But if anyone has been through something similar it would be great to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robke Posted November 12, 2021 Report Share Posted November 12, 2021 @wolfpup can you help especially on the food allergies 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfpup Posted November 12, 2021 Report Share Posted November 12, 2021 Amy - I am a qualified Raw Dog Food Nutrition Specialist - and I specialize in food allergies - although I may be able to make some suggestions for the environmental ones as well - give me an hour or so. There is ONE food allergy test in the UK that is 100% accurate and reliable - I know because I have a severely food allergic husky myself and he has had three of these tests over the last 4 years. My last charge for a test was £211 - not cheap - but it is the best. The test is called ALLERVET - they do both environmental and food allergies (differrent tests). The vet needs to take a blood sample and send it off for analysis - mine was done in Lancashire at a laboratory fairly close to where I live - it can take a week to 10 days. According to the NHS a blood test is the only reliable way to get accurate results. It differentiates between true allergies (IGE) and food intolerances (IGG) and also tells you whether it is Borderline, Postive or High Positive. True allergies (my boy has 9 of them) must be eliminated from the diet totally and forever - intolerances can be 'trained out' after omitting them for some time. With true food allergies - a lot of detective work is involved ..................four years ago my boy went into anaphylactic shock after eating chicken - although he is not allergic to chicken - but he is allergic to what the chicken ate in its lifetime! He can eat day old chicks with impunity - they are not fed prior to dispatch. Do an internet search for ALLERVET and see for yourself - and tell your vet to check it out (we cannot see the vet section). Other places test hair samples - these are not accurate! Can you tell me your dog's symptoms and why you think he has food allergies - in the meantime I will check out some posts for you on natural treatments of environmental allergies - not a speciality for me so need to refresh my memory. As for the red sores round his eyes and mouth - not a usual symptom of allergies - but it IS a tell-tale sign for zinc deficiency. Can you take good photos for me? Most dogs require between 15-20mg of zinc a day - puppies 22-25mg (only around 15% of ingested zinc is actually absorbed by the body) - but huskies have the highest requirement for zinc of any breed of dog ......................... some dogs up to 100mg a day - normal food (kibble of any kind and even commercial wet food) does not provide enough for some huskies. An easy way to check for this is get some zinc based cream and rub into the areas (I believe someting like sudocrem - but check first) - if they lessen or heal - then you KNOW it is a zinc deficiency - and this can be corrected with either food or medication depending on the severity. With you saying he is a picky eater - it sounds like my dog Marley until I found out about the allergies - if it is food allergies then its a long road - but it is possible to treat this totally naturally - without almost any meds - I know because of my own boy. I am also a home herbalist so treat naturally wherever possible - don't get me wrong - vet meds most certainly have their place - and if necessary I can work with most medications - but western medicine concentrates on masking the symptoms - not curing the underlying problem. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfpup Posted November 12, 2021 Report Share Posted November 12, 2021 environmental allergies - these posts are a very good place to start. https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/5-signs-your-dog-has-food-allergies/ note, these are not the only signs! https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/natural-solutions-environmental-allergies-in-dogs/ https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/dog-allergies-quick-fix/ https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/seasonal-allergies-in-dogs/ https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/solutions-for-allergies/ Whether trying to treat environmental or food allergies - start with Bovine Colostrum (the cow is a 'universal donor' - suitable for all animals - even us) get organic. Another thing to get is dried nettle leaves - this will be mentioned in some of the posts I am sure. Dandelion leaves is also another good thing to get - this is mainly for any good gut bacterial left in your dog's intestines (their preferred food). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Wood Posted November 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2021 @wolfpup thank you for all of that! I will definitely check out the website. He was actually tested for zinc deficiency a few months ago because I thought it could be that. The sores aren’t bad at the minute I have used sudocream to help but he’s still very itchy around that area and he’ll make it bleed when scratching. Hopefully you’ll be able to see on the picture, but I just feel helpless a bit - he’s only a year old and I feel so bad because you can see it’s red around his mouth and eyes. The reason why I wanted the vet to do a food allergy test was because he was very itchy and would get a pink mouth when given chicken ham. So we did an online test (tested through his saliva) and that showed a mild intolerance (not allergy) to chicken and turkey. But I wanted to double check this but turned out the vet said they only check for environmental allergies. Yes he’s very picky - we’ve tried several dry food, wet food and now we’re on raw. We use prodog raw and use their protect supplement for allergies and oil4dogs to help with the itch. I would like to keep it natural if I can (I would rather not be giving him piriton). I will look up Bovine Colostrum and will read those links you have sent (thank you). The problem is also getting him to eat this things, I mix them in his food but because he doesn’t rate every meal every day he doesn’t get the full dose of everything. He has a few of these around his eyes but this was the best picture I could get Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfpup Posted November 12, 2021 Report Share Posted November 12, 2021 Pink around his mouth is a sure tell-tale of food allergies (or intolerances) - I really think it would be worth your while getting the Allervet test done to be absolutely sure of whether its a true allergy or an intolerance. It may well be the grains the chicken has eaten whilst alive rather than (or as well as) the chicken itself - as is the case with my dog. Food allergies can cause many types of problems with the skin (the body is trying to push the 'poison' out) through its largest organ leading to itchiness, even sores. If the suodcream works and improves the situation - then upping the zinc in his diet could well stop the condition altogether - he may not be missing enough to require meds - but an increase in his diet will help. One of the best forms of zinc can be found in organic hulled hemp seeds - in fact these little nutritional superstars hold the highest amount of zinc gram for gram - followed by two things you had better not try (pork and chicken) but next best is 95% lean minced beef. Lower grades of beef would not work as well (too much fat). Two teaspoons of the hulled hemp seeds in with your dogs dinner should be sufficient but you can add 3 or even 4 for a couple of days - then drop down to 2. For a dog not to eat food - shows some sort of dietary distress (sore stomach and intestines etc) - Marley would eat one day - then maybe not for 2 days - as a 14 month old - this was not ideal as you can imagine. Some days the only reason he would eat was because he was too hungry not to. He ended up with bleeding ulcers caused by the food he was being given. However once the problem was identified and I had started to heal his leaky gut (3 years later is still an onging battle - but we have almost won), giving him food he was not reacting to, his appetite came back strong and he has never refused a meal since. Home made bone broth will also help to line his intestines - so if there is leaky gut (and I suspect there may be) the broth will soothe the lining of the gut (it is only one cell thick that stops undigested proteins getting into the blood stream and starting off allergies). There is hope. Keep us updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Wood Posted November 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2021 Thank you for the hulled hemp seeds advice to help with zinc levels. I will look into this, bovine colostrum, and dried nettle leaves - hopefully this will help! Would you say the pictures below look more zinc related compared to food allergies? Around his lips you can see pinkness and it looks sore and the third picture of his nose you can see a light circle, that was a sore which has healed As for the lean minced beef, would you suggest raw or cooked? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfpup Posted November 13, 2021 Report Share Posted November 13, 2021 My boy tends to get far redder than this (the fur only not the skin - my boy's skin is black around the mouth and eyes), your boy appears to have slightly swollen lips (or is it just the pictures) I am afraid I just cannot be sure - zinc is more likely to cause spots rather than overall redness of the fur. Are your boy's nails white or black? If white normally, have a good look at the nail beds, is there any bronzing at all (another sign of food allergies) 2 teaspoons of Hulled Hemp seeds (organic) contain 3mg of zinc so its not a massive amount - but then again neither is two teaspoons. 200 grams of raw 95% lean minced beef contains 10.2mg of zinc - cooking of any kind will reduce the nutrient levels across the board. Between them it almost doubles his zinc intake - I would not go over this - and maybe even just add 100g of the beef a day to his diet along with the 2 teaspoons of hemp seeds - zinc competes with copper in the body - can can cause its own problems. The link will give you a fairly comprehensive guide to zinc problems in dogs - and may help you to sort this out in your own mind. I am afraid I cannot really be of more help to you - I am not a vet after all - I concentrate on food allergies. However I do fully understand the frustration you feel (and desperation ............ I've been there). If you do decide to go for the food allergy test, and it comes back positive for more than a couple of things - I will be able to help you sort out a couple of home prepared raw diets that will avoid future problems. zincdeficiencyinsleddogs.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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