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-   -   For anyone who has considered food allergy testing (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=80881)

Rgeurts April 26th, 2012 11:18 AM

For anyone who has considered food allergy testing
 
This looks pretty awesome!! I was lurking on Hemopet and came across a new test developed by Dr. Dodds. We have seriously considered allergy testing with Nookie, since he has SO many GI issues, itching, redness and watery eyes. The main reason we haven't done it yet is because I have read accounts from people who have done it and they seem to be split pretty even... those who say it's a waste of time, money and completely inaccurate, and those who say it has been a lifesaver. This new test from Dr. Dodds actually tests the saliva for reaction, not the blood. It's supposed to be pretty accurate, and compared to traditional methods, much less expensive (so it it doesn't work out as well as I'm hoping, it's not much lost lol). She breaks it down into 2 columns, each column having different foods and is $125 per column, so if testing for both, $250 plus the cost of the kit $15.00. We aren't positive that Nookies allergy symptoms are food related, but we know he does have intolerances to many. This lists the reaction levels from no reaction to severe reaction. So even if it doesn't help with his actual allergies, it will still help to know what foods to avoid, and what foods he can have. Up to this point, we're limited to just fish for him, which is so costly. It would be nice to be able to use other proteins... not only for cost, but for a bit of variety for him as well.

This is the link:

[url]www.hemopet.org[/url]

Marty11 April 26th, 2012 12:12 PM

I hope that's available in Ontario now. I would love to look into it for my pooch. Thanks for the tip. :thumbs up

Rgeurts April 26th, 2012 12:54 PM

[QUOTE=Marty11;1038695]I hope that's available in Ontario now. I would love to look into it for my pooch. Thanks for the tip. :thumbs up[/QUOTE]

Marty11, if none of the vet clinics in Ontario have it, you can order the kit directly from Hemopet, then use it and return it to them for anaylsis. Even with all the blood tests they perform, they give detailed instructions on what to do and how to ship it. The only thing you need a vet for is to draw the blood (for the other tests... no blood needed for the allergy test :D) :)

Longblades April 26th, 2012 12:56 PM

Only for food allergies? Hope it works out for you. Too bad it doesn't test for seasoanl allergies which is what my dog has. He can eat the three foods in his rotation just fine all winter and itches on all three in the summer. I've heard just as many sad tales about the inefficiencies of allergy testing for that too.

Rgeurts April 26th, 2012 01:05 PM

[QUOTE=Longblades;1038699]Only for food allergies? Hope it works out for you. Too bad it doesn't test for seasoanl allergies which is what my dog has. He can eat the three foods in his rotation just fine all winter and itches on all three in the summer. I've heard just as many sad tales about the inefficiencies of allergy testing for that too.[/QUOTE]

Longblades, same here. We're pretty sure that Nookies allergies are, at least in part, enviromental, which are the toughest to figure out and deal with. We do know that he has a lot of food senstivities, though. So I'm hoping that this test will at least help in that respect... and we may get lucky and figure out that it is just food related allergies lol. That would be awesome!
Hopefully, someday, Dr. Dodds will come up with something for enviromental. She's such a brilliant woman :)

Marty11 April 26th, 2012 06:55 PM

I am not convinced my dog has food allergies, but it would be nice to rule it out. One step at a time.

Etown_Chick April 27th, 2012 07:18 PM

I thnk Scruffy has envirnmental allergies too. I caught on when I took him to the vet the second time for symptoms, and he told me it was a year to the day since we were in for the same thing!
Now I've noticed his act up the same time as mine. I feel bad for keeping him off chicken for two years. I hope this works for Nookie. Please let us know

Rgeurts April 27th, 2012 11:46 PM

I will definitely let you know how it turns out! We won't be doing it until the middle of next month, then it takes 2-3 weeks to get the results back. We are quite sure Nookie is allergic to chicken. His eyes have been cleared up for almost a week now, but MIL made him some scrambled eggs yesterday and by the time I got home from work his little eyes were just soaked all the way around and he was chewing on his paws like mad.


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