Testing for food allergies with my dog....how long?

[Colleen D]

My dog has food allergies (we think) we have had her on Taste of the Wild- grain free, salmon food for about 5-6 weeks now. Still no results- she is still itching and licking alot. How long should I keep her on this food as a trial? I heard 3 months? Anyone have any other experience with dog allegies? This is such a nightmare to figure out and is going to cost lots of money at the vet

[allie24nfld]

i agree with everything aussie mum said...except the part about the skin test is better than the blood test. to an extend...yes the skin test is better but to me ...not for the dog. they have to shave her (put her to sleep) and then prick her lots of times to see if she reacts! i would never put my dogs through that. i have a yorkie with allergies and i got the blood test done! well first we tries the hypo diet but i just couldn't wait anymore he was scratching and in torment. good thing i didn't as it turns out he has 32 different allergies!7 of those are food allergies!one of which is oatmeal...one of the main ingredients in his hypo diet and the type of shampoo the vet prescribed for him!go figure!(now with the blood test you can get some false positives....but i'd rather think he's allergic to something when he's not than the other way around!
my ve told me to take away any food dishes that were plastic too if it helps! i would never have figured out all of Piper's allergies without the blood test! he's also allergic to house dust mites and diff trees and grasses!(there goes the summer!) yes 3 months...when my vet put Piper on the hypo diet she said to wait at least 12 weeks to see if he stops scratching and such(it can take that long to get the effects of the allergy to go away!) i couldn't wait that long so i opted for the blood test...it worked out for me because where he has so many the elimination diet wouldn't have worked well! now that we know his allergies my vet prescribed anti histamines(not spelled right) first and then for the really bad times he has to take a mild steriod(hoping i can control his allergies enough so i won't have to give him those!) and when he gets sores(from scratching) i am to put hydrocortizone cream on them(can get it at any drug store!)
if your dog hasn't stopped scratching or licking the least little bit then i would assume that there's something in that food your feeding her (or still in her surroundings) that she allergic too!even if she's still scratching but has stopped even a little then the food may be working but i can't say for sure...only you can decide that!
and i agree with you..it IS A NIGHTMARE!!! but we do what we can to keep our pooches happy and healthy!
i hope you figure ot what your girl is allergic too(hope it's not as many as my poor Piper got...wouldn't wish that on anyone!)
and get her all better! good luck!!!!
Keesten: i'm assuming that you are not sure what your dog is allergic to...am i right to assume that the allergy shot was actually a type of steroid? if so i would suggest staying away from that (if you can help it) because if you give them too much it is REALLY hard on them! but hopefully you won't have to use that too much! (i'm hoping my situation won't come to that either!)

[wubzy_wubzy_wow_wow]

the recommended food trial is 12 weeks. she should be exclusively on the hypoallergenic food, no extra treats, flavored toys, people food, etc, if she has had any non approved treats, people food, or flavored toys, the diet is void and has to be restarted. you also need to make sure the dog is on flea preventative (frontline or revolution or advantage); it takes one bite of one flea every 21 days to keep a flea allergy going, even if you don't see fleas, you need to treat for fleas. also if your dog is on heartgard or interceptor it has beef flavoring! the beef flavoring will make the hypoallergenic diet void, and will cause the itching to continue. if on heatgard or interceptor you will need to switch to revolution (heartworm and flea prevention in one). allergy dogs are hard to deal with, and it wears on the owners fast. just persevere, be patient and you will eventually find out what works.