[Naturella]

Hey, all! It’s been a while! I’ve been in and out every once in a while, but mostly been busy with work and being offline while not at work.

Well, all is good, except the day has come that I believe my non-picky, will-eat-anything, didn’t-used-to-be-allergic-to-anything dog may have developed some allergies.

Over the course of 6+(ish) months I have noticed that he has been extremely itchy while on the following foods:

Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural
Wellness Core Original
Castor and Pollux Organix GF

Somewhat itchy on:
Solid Gold Winged Tiger Quail and Pumpkin Cat Food

And had 2 days of diarrhea after consuming 1/2 of a cherry tomato.

Common denominators:
chicken/poultry
potatoes
tomato pomace (in 2 of the foods)

Naturally, I believe Bruno has developed some sort of an allergy to the above 3 items, so after I had had enough of watching him scratch himself hairless, I ran into my favorite store and explained the situation, and left with a bag of Zignature Trout and Salmon to try and heal my pup.

Now, I am somewhat familiar with elimination, and I have never noticed excessive itchiness when I have given Bruno raw or dehydrated chicken bits, so I am not even sure it is the chicken/poultry that is the problem and I may need to just give him a break and feed the plain fish Zignature for a bit to see if the itching clears up (I also plan to equip him with Dr. Wysong’s sensitive skin shampoo), but I would love to be able to feed my usual toppers to kibble, which include raw egg, various canned foods which some do have chicken or other poultry, coconut oil, yoghurt, and other dehydrated additives (whatever’s on sale really). I was told to eliminate all additives (besides lukewarm water and limited coconut oil) for 2 weeks to see if there is an improvement. I will do it and see how it goes, and hppefully I will be able to return to the usual or somewhat modified toppers, and if any of you has an idea or a suggestion, I am very open to hearing it. 🙂

[anonymously]

excerpt below from: http://www.2ndchance.info/Apoquel.htm
Food Allergies are probably over-diagnosed in dogs (they account for, perhaps 5-10%). Hypoallergenic diets are occasionally, but not frequently, helpful in canine atopy cases but you should always give them a try. Food intolerances are more common – but considerably more likely to result in digestive disturbances and diarrhea than in itching problems.

I assume you have checked via the search engine here /forums/search/allergies/

My dog was tested for environmental allergies by a dermatologist and has responded well to allergen-specific immunotherapy. We didn’t do the blood test for food allergies. As food sensitivities tend to fluctuate anyway.
I would never consider any mail-in saliva or hair test. Most people complain that their dog tests positive for everything!

The best choice would be to see a board-certified veterinary dermatologist, if one is available near you (here is a list: http://www.acvd.org/).

[Naturella]

anonymously, I did look at the allergy-related topics, yes. I will take Bruno to the vet if the itching were bad, but my mother-in-law reports that she thinks it’s subsiding after he got on Zignature Trout and Salmon. I also put coconut oil on his most itchy spots and that seems to help tremendously. So if it keeps going well, I will just keep doing what I’m doing. I really hope it does turn out that the food was the culprit, because that one is already eliminated and I will know to not feed him chinckeny, potatoey, or tomatoey stuff. So fingers crossed!

Oh, and Happy Holidays to all who are celebrating!!! Bruno got new green hemp-made collar and leash, and the new food, lol.

[Naturella]

I am happy to report that once Bruno was off of chicken for a couple of weeks, the severe itching has stopped, the chewing on his own legs too, and his fur is growing back and he is happy and itch-free. Boo for no chicken, but oh well, yay for happy and healthy dog. 🙂

[crazy4cats]

Yay for healthy and happy dog! Happy belated Holidays, Naturella!

[Naturella]

Thanks, C4C!!! It’s been a while… Good to hear from you! 🙂

[Naturella]

Hey, guys, quick question… I have been making a list of foods I could feed Bruno that are poultry and egg-free (for the most part, I have included some options with egg as I am not 100% if that’s an allergen to him yet), and wanted to know about poultry fat – I had emailed Wild Calling about the liver in their canned foods and mentioned how I wished that they didn’t have poultry fat in like every dry formula, and the response I got was that poultry fat is not actually supposed to trigger an allergic reaction.

Does anyone know if this is true?

[Amateria]

It’s funny you should mention that because Ivory Coat came out with a new formula for just that reason, despite confirming that chicken fat in this case should not cause a reaction it did for some people, so they created a new fish formula less the chicken fat.

So I believe that chicken fat on the rare occasion can indeed cause allergic reactions to dogs with a chicken allergy, but from what I’ve read over several articles it’s like getting unlucky and getting the short end of the rope because it seems to pretty rare.

[Pitlove]

Hi Naturella-

This was Dr. Rebecca Remillard ACVN answer when asked a similar question:
“The immune system does not react to carb, fat, fiber, vitamin or a mineral – only a protein.”

She does say earlier on though that within carbs there is a protein fraction of about 10% that dogs can react to. I do not believe there to be a protein fraction within fat.

[Naturella]

Thank you, Amateria and Pitlove!

I will add some foods to my list and label them “MAYBE” if they have poultry fat in them, and there are some pretty good-sounding ones by Wild Calling, Addiction, and Holistic Select (I think) that are poultry-free but have poultry fat in them. So we may give them a shot sometime. I hope they work. I just fed Bruno some Zignature Duck and sure enough, buddy started scratching and chewing his legs again, and that was within 3 days on the sample (at least it was just a sample).

At least my list has gotten pretty big and I have plenty of super-safe-for-Bruno no-poultry options! 🙂 A few hours of research do pay off if I can keep him itch-free and comfortable! 🙂

[Author]

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