Food allergy trial

[Christina]

I posted the below on the forum and no relies.... Hoping to get some feedback here.
Thanks for reading....

We have been battling some type of allergies with our 8 month doodle for the past two months. His local vet has seen Oakley twice and made the suggestion for us to see a vet who specialized in dermatology/ allergies and thankfully we live 20 mins form UC Davis veterinary school and teaching hospital which is ranks as one of the best in the nation. We brought Oakley in last week for a 3 hour appointment where they took a history and ran a few skin and hair tests. Based on Oakley age and the areas he is licking and chewing (mostly paws and base of tail) they suggested we start a food trial and put him on a prescription diet for 2 months and try and determine if it is an allergy to a protein source. They explained that environmental allergies are much more difficult and expensive to diagnose and they felt we should start with food first.

I know from the discussions on here that food allergies make up a small amount of the allergies dog have but they are the experts and who am I to argue with them as to how to begin diagnoses. So we are doing all they have suggested in addition to the two different medications they have prescribed for the bacterial infections Oakley has due to all the licking and chewing. Fun times!
So far Oakley has been a good sport, seems happy with the food and the one type of treat I am able to give him while he is being tested. Such a good boy!

Wondering if any of you have deal with a similar situation and can share your experiences. They mentioned that after 2 months on the prescription food they will have home return to his regular Fromm Grain- Free food and see what his reaction is. Sounds to me like this could be a long process but it will be worth it if we can give this guy some comfort. Poor thing seems miserable. If you have any experience with a food trial like this, please share your experiences with me.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL, I know you said you were looking for a broader response, but most of the members who have done food trials or consulted a dermatology specialist are in the Atopic Dermatitis Group and have posted about it here in TFG. 

I can tell you that most of the people who did food trials did not have good results. That's because as you know, 9 out of 10 times, food is not the issue. But we have had one I can think of whose dog did respond to the trial diet. 

You may want to look at the discussions in the A.D. group for people's experiences with food trials. I know they are older discussions, but the info is still just as relevant. 

I hate to disagree with the specialists at UC Davis, because it is an excellent veterinary college, but it is NOT more difficult to diagnose environmental allergies. More expensive, yes. But the skin test is simple, straight forward, and gives clear, immediate results. Additionally, it's one day versus two months. 

I am hoping that what they meant was that Oakley is too young for testing, and that you have to have the dog off all meds to do the testing, so it's very difficult to do during peak allergy season. 

I'm disappointed that the specialists at UC davis didn't give you the option of using a better food with a novel protein source for the trials, like kangaroo or rabbit, rather than having to feed Oakley Rx garbage. It's so low in protein, especially for a growing puppy. Which one did they prescribe? 

At any rate, I hope the trial does work well and no further testing is necessary. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's a question you might ask the specialist. let's say that Oakley does have a pollen allergy which is what's causing his symptoms. And let's say that that pollen will be gone in 6-8 weeks. (That's the case with ragweed, which is one of the most common allergens in dogs, and the one that causes the most misery.) This is the time of year when most dogs with inhalant allergies are having the most trouble. And the flares usually end by Halloween, when the ragweed is finished pollinating. 

So 6-8 weeks from now, Oakley's symptoms are greatly improved. How would you know if that's due to the food change, or due to the weed pollens being gone? 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

This is just a question from one who knows nothing about this stuff, but why couldn't they test for environmental allergies while doing the food trials? I do know when we were going to test my springer  for environmental allergies, we needed to wait until the cortisone was totally out of his system.

[Christina]

Guess they don't recommend testing him for environmental allergies until at least a year old. And this vet wanted to start with food since it is less expensive then the process they go through for environmental. Also Oakley is also on medications so expect they wouldn't do anything until that wS out of his system as well. The Vet said if we needed to test for environmental allergies it would most likely run us at least $1000. Need to start saving up now in case we need to go that route.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's been a few years since JD had his testing, but that sounds very high to me, especially for a teaching hospital; they are usually less expensive than private vets. 

One more reason it's so important to have pet insurance. Unfortunately, at this point, it will be considered a pre-existing condition, but it would still be a good idea to get insurance for anything else that comes up down the road. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Our environmental testing was done this past March (however in Cincinnati vs CA).  Because the skin testing ended up not showing what they anticipated they then did the blood testing.  She gave me a 50% discount on the blood test as a professional courtesy.  The total on that bill was $616 including both tests. That did not include the first round of immunotherapy drugs though.  That came a couple weeks later at $214 for the first set of shots.  Those lasted until August.    Those refills are now about $170.  Not sure how long those will last as we have had to back up to doing weekly vs every two weeks during this ragweed season.  We are also still on the Atopica which is probably running close to $150 a month right now.  We will hopefully get off of that in the next few months.

[Linda and Zoey]

I recently saw a veterinary dermatologist at the Ohio State University. Similar to UC Davis, it's ranked in the top 5 in the nation. My dog is nearly 5 yrs old and has had milder issues with scratching/chewing/licking/ear infections/anal glands for a couple of years, but it became more severe, especially in the past 4-5 months. Although I tried a food trial at the suggestion of, but with minimal guidance from my general vet, mistakes were made, including giving him a flavored heartworm/flea med. The specialist said various foods, including premium ones (Acana was one of them) were tested and found to contain ingredients that were not listed on the label. She preferred we attempt a new trial for 8 wks with a prescription kangaroo and oats food (IAMS). If the chewing/licking/scratching stops during the food trial, she wants me to begin introducing a food he's eaten before, but probably not Fromm because it tends to contain multiple meat sources. She said it would be best to introduce meat sources either with home cooked or prescription foods. If there is no reaction, then a commercial food can be tried. If the trial is ineffective, or If the symptoms don't return after the trial, but do return next spring/summer/fall, she would suggest either skin or blood testing (or both). The two types of tests are quite different, and one may find something if the other doesn't. She said that the sensitivity and specificity of blood testing has improved in recent years. I was given a topical flea/heartworm med (Advantage Multi) and a foaming mousse (Douxo) for the bacterial infections in four places from licking/chewing. She wants to recheck for bacteria in four weeks to make sure it isn't contributing as a source of irritation by itself. She mentioned immunotherapy, and that it isn't always effective. If it doesn't work there are a couple of drugs that are immunosuppressive. One is Atopica and a newer one is Apoquel. The latter is less expensive, and there have been side effects associated with both, but if my dog is suffering and nothing else works, I would consider these drugs. Apoquel is not available right now due to a shortage. I'm going to follow through with the advice of this vet and try to take it one step at a time.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Please keep us posted on how things go. 

[Christina]

Sounds like an identical situation. oakley has been on the food trial for 2 months and we get to start adding back his original food in 2 weeks. He is still itching which leads us to believe it isn't a food allergy. We still have him on an anti itch steroid and as soon as we try to lower and wean him off slowly he begins to lick himself raw all over. Frustrated to stay the least. Going to follow through with the trial as we have a lot of time and money already invested in it but not optimistic. I did address the comment on here regarding food vs enviro. Allergies and the vet explained that it is rare to see any enviro allergies in puppies. She pulled up some Info online which also agreed that because of his age ( was 5 months when symptoms started) he is young to show signs of enviro allergies. I know some of you have replied that isn't the case but I have to trust that they know what they are doing at UC Davis and at least follow their advice for now. Thank you to all who have added comments and suggestions. I printed out this tread and brought it into our follow up and reviewed it with her. I will keep you all posted and please do the same. Hope Bamboo feels better soon!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I hope all these itchy pups find relief soon.