Dog Allergy Testing

[skalexander]

Has anyone had their dog allergy tested? If so, what were your thoughts on the results of the test? Have you been able to make positive changes for your dog?

Both our Cocker Spaniels suffer from ear problems, they're a mother and daughter, and allergies seem the likely cause. We cut chicken, turkey and grain out of their diets as the vet felt they were likely problems, but we're still having issues, so the vet has now suggested removing beef as well. I have no problem doing this, but it does restrict what they can have (3 out of 15 flavours with our raw food supplier, assuming they're not allergic to anything else). The vet thinks its likely to be food rather than environmental, because the issue is limited to inside the ears.

I asked the vet about allergy testing but he dismissed it, saying its quiet unreliable. I was chatting to our groomer today, and she said she has had a number of clients who have had great results with allergy testing and who have been able to make changes to deal with their dogs' issues. I'm not disbelieving the vet, but I know they can't be experts in every aspect of pets.

I'd be grateful for any experiences.

[4fromsuffolk]

Our first Labrador developed dermatitis when she was about 9 months old. She had repeated ear infections, blocked ≈≈≈≈ glands and her tummy was red raw from her scratching. Our vet referred her for allergy testing and it turned out she was allergic to lots of things. A serum was developed for her which we had to inject quite often to begin with, then ended up being administered monthly. Unfortunately this didn’t work for her but we are glad we tried. After all the investigations and doing things like replacing our carpet to hard flooring the only thing we found to work was a daily steroid. We really wanted to avoid this because of the side effects. With vet guidance we played around with the dose a lot - trying 1 pill every other day, half a pill every day etc, but it had to be 1 a day to keep her symptoms away. If the situation arose again we would still have get her tested.

[soooexcited!]

This little one has had his ears cleaned out under sedation on friday.

I've literally tried everything apart from allergy testing and ear canal ablation (last last resort) Bill has had 5 ear infections since December. He was raw fed but the chicken in it was grain fed. Hes been on tails grain free kibbles for a few months. I wipe his feet after walking on grass. He takes apoquel tablets for severe itching and bum shuffling. I asked the vet about allergy testing and he said it was likely to show a mixed allergy profile food grasses dust mites possibly. I decided not to have it done as I would prob not be able to avoid everything if he tested positive for a multitude of things. Spaniel ears seem so hard to manage if they have a problem x

[4fromsuffolk]

Poor Bill ☹️

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by 4fromsuffolk

Our first Labrador developed dermatitis when she was about 9 months old. She had repeated ear infections, blocked ≈≈≈≈ glands and her tummy was red raw from her scratching. Our vet referred her for allergy testing and it turned out she was allergic to lots of things. A serum was developed for her which we had to inject quite often to begin with, then ended up being administered monthly. Unfortunately this didn’t work for her but we are glad we tried. After all the investigations and doing things like replacing our carpet to hard flooring the only thing we found to work was a daily steroid. We really wanted to avoid this because of the side effects. With vet guidance we played around with the dose a lot - trying 1 pill every other day, half a pill every day etc, but it had to be 1 a day to keep her symptoms away. If the situation arose again we would still have get her tested.

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Thank you. The vet did explain about immunotherapy but he said they tend not to use it now, as there are better treatments available, but he’s anxious for us to explore all other options first, just as you did. Because of how limited the girls’ symptoms are, the vet’s feeling is it’s a dietary thing, but could be environmental.

Originally Posted by soooexcited!

This little one has had his ears cleaned out under sedation on friday.

I've literally tried everything apart from allergy testing and ear canal ablation (last last resort) Bill has had 5 ear infections since December. He was raw fed but the chicken in it was grain fed. Hes been on tails grain free kibbles for a few months. I wipe his feet after walking on grass. He takes apoquel tablets for severe itching and bum shuffling. I asked the vet about allergy testing and he said it was likely to show a mixed allergy profile food grasses dust mites possibly. I decided not to have it done as I would prob not be able to avoid everything if he tested positive for a multitude of things. Spaniel ears seem so hard to manage if they have a problem x

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Oh poor Bill, I’m sorry that he’s still having issues! We’ve never had a spaniel with ear problems before, but the poor girls have had a few infections now. I think I’m going to try the allergy testing with EasyDNA. It gets good reviews and it’s £84 - cheaper than another trip to the vet, and if it doesn’t give us answers, well at least we tried.

Going off on a tangent, the vets can’t tell us what the allergen is, save that there likely is one, but they still tried to flog me their magical food 🙄

[CG1]

Our dog has immunotherapy and it has worked wonders. We have also tried cytopoint injections and apoquel but found this is the best thing that works for him. I cannot speak highly enough of it. It's a bit tricky to get used to at first but we have found it amazing. We also have an amazing specialist skin vet who we were referred to from our vet. It's expensive. We are insured but even if we weren't, we would still find a way to pay for it as it has improved Stanley's quality of life immensely.

[Tre85]

We had our Westie allergy tested after she developed the dreaded 'Westie Skin' which is a fungus skin problem. It came back that she was allergic to dust mites and storage mites (found in grains). As well as her skin being affected she also has random ear infection flare ups which the vet said is related.

We tried the immunotherapy but decided to stop as it just made her worse. At one point we honestly thought she might have to be put to sleep because she was just so sad. She couldn't sleep because she was constantly itching and she went off her food. We tried ALL of the things online, homeopathy etc. and nothing was working. Luckily we found a vet who was really open to trying lots of different things and we are now settled on a daily steroid (medrone), a bath twice a week with Malaseb and antibiotics if she gets any kind of skin or ear infection. We also feed her a grain free diet (Fishmongers Finest kibble, Butchers grain free tins and chicken breast).

I would say for us it was worth getting her tested because it put our minds at ease about whether it was food or environmental. Unfortunately as much as we try we can't eradicate dust mites although we have as many hard floors as we can, we hoover daily and have a room spray which we do often to kill them off!

Good luck, its so hard when they can't tell you what's wrong!

[soooexcited!]

Originally Posted by skalexander

Thank you. The vet did explain about immunotherapy but he said they tend not to use it now, as there are better treatments available, but he’s anxious for us to explore all other options first, just as you did. Because of how limited the girls’ symptoms are, the vet’s feeling is it’s a dietary thing, but could be environmental.



Oh poor Bill, I’m sorry that he’s still having issues! We’ve never had a spaniel with ear problems before, but the poor girls have had a few infections now. I think I’m going to try the allergy testing with EasyDNA. It gets good reviews and it’s £84 - cheaper than another trip to the vet, and if it doesn’t give us answers, well at least we tried.

Going off on a tangent, the vets can’t tell us what the allergen is, save that there likely is one, but they still tried to flog me their magical food 🙄

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Let me know how you get on. My new vet thankfully hasn't tried to flog me any food 😂

[Gryff]

We had a Visla girl who’s nickname was stinky lugs she actually came up and shoved her ears in your face to get you to clean them
She never scratch them once we tried everything even made her totally miserable at one point on vets advice
She wasn’t bothered by her stinky ears so wE weren’t
Ds2 has taken on a rescue Frenchie this por poor boy was miserable
Sore ears feet skin
Allergy testing and he’s a new boy mixing in within he Frenchie pack
He can’t have beef chicken in any form and DIL can’t use a couple of branded household cleaners on there hard floors which in an old farm house are them all
Our current Visla gets thick ears if the central heating is on but fine if it’s just the wood burner yes we freeze for the sake of the old man at times

[Leggibone]

I was intrigued about this - our collie has a cough, she’s been to the vet (not her usual so she was stresssed) her lungs are all clear, she’s otherwise happy, so we wondered about whether it’s an allergy to something now the grass has got long in our usual walk spot, kept her in a few days(I say in but we’ve played ball in the garden) been on a different walk, she seems to be feeling better, but without knowing what it is, it’s hard to know where to take her...