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Ideas on identifying allergies/hypo-allergenic food

Delirium
November 2nd, 2004, 08:35 PM
Alrighty, Sneaky, my beagle, has chronic otitis. I've known this since I got her in April. However, i'm attempting to find out what's causing it. Today, we got her vet test results back and they found no bacteria in her ear. The assumption now is that the cause of her otitis is either an allergy to something or a hypo-thyroid.

Now since she's not a good looking candidate for thyroid, i'm going to tackle the allergy question first I think. However, my vet, in true vet form, recommended Hills or Medical hypo allergenic foods to do a trial on. The problem is, i'm a little skeptic about Hills and know why vets recommend the foods they do. Medical I can't comment on and i've not yet had opportunity to check the label on the bags. So, any ideas on what the best hypo-allergenic food to go with is? I'm thinking that I want to go straight to plain jane rather than weed out individual food types one by one. I'll go straight to hypo-allergenic, see if her otitis stays away, then start reintroducing foods to see if I can catch the bugger that does this to her. If given the option, I don't want to sacrifice quality for this and Hills scares me. Thoughts?

I'm open also to home cooked food i'm convinced that that's the best option.

Would love some share experience if you've got it.

Dee

moontamara
November 3rd, 2004, 04:00 AM
This is a slight digression but something for you to consider if the hypoallergenic food doesn't work out. My vet thinks my dog's otitis is caused by a kind of ear mite he came to me with (probably from his mother). I don't know if western vets would agree with this -- I'm in Korea. But just wanted to mention it. Mites are usually detectable, but apparently not always. I just did some research on this online.

Karin
November 3rd, 2004, 06:23 AM
IVD has some great dog food such as Duck & Potato, Venison & Potato and Rabbit & Potato. Remember, anytime you try a new diet the results are not going to be instant. It does take time.

Heska labs has an allergy test, all your vet has to do is draw a blood sample and send it in...but it does take a few weeks.

GsdDiamond
November 3rd, 2004, 10:38 AM
Speaking as one who's been through what you're going though, in trying to find hypo-allergenic dog food, there are three types I use:

Dick van Patten: canned dog food (without chicken as it's a chicken allergy I'm testing for) If it is Beef food, it only has beef in it, no chicken.
Fromm: Duck and Potato or Lamb and Rice or Whitefish and Potato
Nutro Performatrin: Lamb and Rice Puppy formula

Duck and Whitefish are considered to be the staple of a hypo-allergenic diet more than Lamb, which is starting to gain popularity in many dog foods.

Karin listed some great foods, that I myself haven't tried. Rabbit and Venison are supposed to be great for allergic dogs. But it can be hard to find. I know, because I haven't found it here yet.

Allergies in dogs can cause recurring ear infections. At least that's what my Vet said. If you do get an allergy test done, which I haven't due to cost, you can expect to pay upwards of $500 or more. I don't know how much it is to test a human, but I'd think that it's a bit pricy for a test done to the blood. My opinion though, because it can be so worth it!

Let us know how it goes with your little guy!

Delirium
November 6th, 2004, 09:41 PM
Just updating in case people think I posted and forgot :).

Still researching. No change in doggie diet as of yet.

Dee