[Bobby D]

I put my dog on Taste of the wild dry dog food starting December 2nd 2015. Approximately 1.5 months later he developed a skin problem (bumpy sores all over his body). Is it possible for a dog to be allergic to a certain food and have them be symptom free for over a month or should an allergy show up much sooner than that? I’m not sure if I need to be trying a food change or if I’m looking at external allergens here.

[anonymously]

Dermatology – Common Issues

“Atopic dermatitis is a hypersensitivity or over-reaction to a variety of commonplace and otherwise harmless substances in the environment such as plant pollens, house dust mites or mold spores. Most pets with atopic dermatitis either inhale or absorb their allergens through their skin. Allergy tests are used to identify what a pet is allergic to in their environment”.
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.

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/).

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 dogs test positive for everything!

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

[Bobby D]

I’ve done a lot of reading and searching but haven’t found anything that touched on my specific question. I don’t want to spend the $600+ on the dermatologist/testing if this is something a food allergy can cause and conversely I don’t want to chase a food allergy if its not common to see a dog take 1.5 months to show that its allergic to the food.

[anonymously]

I didn’t want to go to a specialist either, so instead I wasted time and money and spent a year going back and forth to the regular vet, bought dehumidifiers, air purifiers, tried various expensive foods and diets…….with poor results.

Best of luck.

PS: I answered your question, food allergies/sensitivities don’t usually result in pruritus.
Environmental allergies wax and wane and they get worse as the dog gets older.
Even under the best of conditions, when they respond to treatment, flare-ups happen occasionally. They don’t just go away.

[Bobby D]

Oh I missed it sorry. But I will say he isn’t itchy at all. Just sores that scab up quickly.

[anonymously]

“Oh I missed it sorry. But I will say he isn’t itchy at all. Just sores that scab up quickly.”

If it was my dog I would take him to a dermatologist, he obviously has a skin condition and is uncomfortable.

[Pitlove]

Hi Bobby D- My dog started showing symptoms of allergies at a young age. One vet said it was partly due to where we live in the south. Recently we started a food trial for him with guidence from his vet, to determine if his allergies were related to food, his enivornment or both. He was put on Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein and has to be on it for 2 months. Within just a few days of feeding the food, I noticed a huge improvement in a lot of his symptoms (he gets sores as well and they all dissapeared). However, I’ve noticed that my boy seems to react quickly to environment or diet change. I’m sure it is not like that for every dog.

If you want to rule out food allergies, I would highly recommend doing a true food trial with a prescription food. I think once we can get the money I will bring my boy to the dermatologist for further testing, but for the moment this was the easier thing to do on a budget and it’s really helping him find relief.

Best of luck!

[Bobby dog]

Hi Pitlove:
What’s the next step with Bentley’s food trial?

[El]

Hi Bobby D, welcome to the DFA forums 😉

“Is it possible for a dog to be allergic to a certain food and have them be symptom free for over a month”
Yes
“or should an allergy show up much sooner than that?”
Maybe

The first thing I would do is take him to a regular vet if you haven’t done so already. I would definitely take advantage of my vet’s expertise and experience before I do anything else. Once you have a better idea of what is actually going on with his skin then you could always find out what worked for other dogs with the same diagnosis. Your vet could take one look and know what it is (hopefully). Or your vet could immediately narrow it down to environmental, or food, or fleas, or yeast, or ???

If it’s food related I would do an elimination diet before I would ever put him on a veterinary prescription food like “Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein”. Here are the ingredients;

Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein
“Brewers rice, hydrolyzed soy protein, chicken fat, dried plain beet pulp, natural flavors, monocalcium phosphate…”

It’s just rice sweepings, hydrolyzed soy and vitamins and minerals to balance it, and it costs about $100 for a 25lb bag!!!

With a TRUE elimination diet you would pick 1 protein and 1 carbohydrate that he has never eaten before and feed ONLY those 2 things for at least 12 weeks.

Once you see a vet, please come back and let us know what’s going on!
Best of luck to you and your furry one 😉

[El]

Hi Bobby D

Search google for “dog elimination diet” and you will find plenty of info on how to do one properly. I tried to post some links for you, but they keep getting filtered 😉

[Pitlove]

Hi Bobby Dog- The vet wants him on a fish and potato based food next. Not sure what his plans are from there.

[Pitlove]

Boddy D- I wanted to explain MY vet’s reasoning for wanting my dog to use the Royal Canin prescription diet for his food trial since El Doctor urged you to stay away from it based only on the ingredients.

When a protein is hydrolyzed, they break it down into its component amino acids which in turn makes it harder for the dog to have a reaction to. Now of course if your dog had a soy allergy, he would still react. Other reason for my vet wanting me to use the prescription diet and not an over the counter limited ingredient diet is because, when Royal Canin has their prescription allergy diets manufactured the machine is sterilized after each “run”. It can not be guarenteed that commercial dog foods labeled as “limited ingredient” use those same quality control measures. In fact, I believe it was another poster on here, Aimee, that once said that some over the counter limited ingredient diets had tested positive for proteins that should NOT have been in the food. Cross-contamination is NOT what you want when conducting a food trial.

The reasons my vet and I spoke about that I listed above is why when doing a TRUE food trial to test for food allergies, the prescription diet (while it may be expensive) is the recommended food. However, you’re welcome to think on what both myself and El Doctor have suggested and make your own decision.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Pitlove.

[Bobby dog]

Hi Pitlove:
If you are going to move on to another food it sounds like he is making progress!!

Yes, Aimee has written about the meticulous process manufacturers of Rx diets practice to ensure there is no cross contamination of ingredients. Maybe she’ll pop in with more info.

Here’s a site with a good explanation on proper elimination diets:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=2499

[anonymously]

@ Bobby D
Unless your dog has been seen and diagnosed by a board-certified dermatologist, you have no idea what is causing the skin condition.
His problems may have absolutely nothing to do with his diet.

For example: “Sebaceous adenitis (SA) is a relatively uncommon, immune-mediated dermatosis causing a crusting cornification abnormality, which in turn can lead to progressing alopecia with tightly adherent scales and crusts (see Figure 1)”

Canine Sebaceous Adenitis

[aimee]

Hi Bobby D.

I’ve read that if sensitized, the response following reexposure is within hours but up to 14 days. “Symptoms can appear within an hour of eating the offending allergen, but may be delayed with a peak in clinical signs noted to be up to 14 days in one study.”

www dot lsu dot edu/vetmed/veterinary_hospital/services/dermatology/ce_lectures/food_allergy.php

When doing an elimination diet home cooking with one protein source and one carb source that your dog hadn’t previously been exposed to is the “Gold Standard. If pursing that do not buy ground meats as the grinders are often not well cleaned and there could be cross contamination. You need to buy large cuts and grind yourself.

If using commercial foods, use food from the vet office that have been made specifically for this purpose. They are costly as you are paying for extensive quality controls ( ingredient “fingerprinting” PCR analysis, complete breakdown and cleaning of all equipment and closing the plant to any ingredients except those in the diet being made) to ensure no cross contamination. Limited ingredient diets from retail sources are often cross contaminated with other proteins which will interfere with your results.

IMO a skin reaction 6 weeks out is less likely to be a hypersensitivity unless a newly developed one and if related to the diet may have to do more with the full nutrient profile not supporting skin health.

I know when I’ve trialed other foods it is usually 6-8 weeks before I note problems with Brooke’s skin and coat( dry flakes, dullness, and increased shedding)

Pitlove: Glad to here your dog is doing well. Is the plan to introduce each ingredient separately before changing the diet completely? For example add potato for several weeks and if all well then test the variety of fish in the food you are considering.

[El]

Hi Pitlove

“In fact, I believe it was another poster on here, Aimee, that once said that some over the counter limited ingredient diets had tested positive for proteins that should NOT have been in the food. Cross-contamination is NOT what you want when conducting a food trial.”

I completely agree, and that’s why aimee and myself both agree that:

“When doing an elimination diet home cooking with one protein source and one carb source that your dog hadn’t previously been exposed to is the “Gold Standard.”

[Pitlove]

Hi Aimee- Thank you! Yes, he’s doing quite well. I’m not/can’t home cook so we will have to introduce both together. He said we will talk about over the counter foods I could use. I’ll use whichever dry kibble he suggests. He is not much a fan of the over the counter limited ingredient diets for the reasons you explained, but he knows I can’t afford the rX formulas forever.

El Doctor- I was speaking to him as though he wanted to use a dry kibble and not homecook. You and I simply have two different trains of thought- neither is wrong. It simply depends on what the OP would like to do. Hell, he might not even be interested in a food trial at all. I simply wanted to provide the reason for my vet recommending this food as we did not talk about homecooking since he knows I can’t/don’t do that.

Both Aimee and I agree that “If using commercial foods, use food from the vet office that have been made specifically for this purpose.”

[El]

Hi Pitlove

“I was speaking to him as though he wanted to use a dry kibble and not homecook”

And I was speaking to him as though he might want to know what’s the best option for determining if his dog has a food allergy.

[Pitlove]

That is your opinion.

[Susan]

Hi Bobby D, Yes a dog can take up to 6 weeks to show any signs of a food sensitivity…. My Patch was doing really well on the Wellness Whitefish & Sweet Potato (Read ingredients hardly any sweet potato full of barley) after 5 weeks he started scratching, hive like lumps under skin & sloppy yellow smelly poo’s, so I emailed Wellness Well Pet & the lady said yes it can take any where from 1 day to 6 weeks to show any signs of a food intolerance…

A few people have been complaining about Taste Of the Wild their dogs have dry skin & are real itchy, if you look at the Omega 3, it is lower in some flavours & higher in other flavours…..
Change brand of kibble with higher omega 3….. start adding a couple of small sardines in spring water (69c at Aldi) to 1 meal a day or give as a treat…..I have found just feeding a Fish & Rice kibble with no other ingredients my boy does the best on…I also feed a cook meal for dinner so only 1 meal is kibble… if you can feed freeze dried or raw is the best if your dog can handle a raw diet…

[Susan]

Hi again, a few people in a Face Book group called “Dog issues, allergies and other information support group” their Dermatologist put their dogs on vet diet “Royal Canine” Rabbit & Potato & there’s Venison & Potato PV for their itchy allergy dog, then after 3 months when skin & coat was itch & sore free they started introducing 1 new ingredient for 2 months then if everything was good another new ingredient wait 2 months again no scratching redness etc then add another new ingredient….
I feed the Vet Diet Royal Canine Hypoallergenic HP (Australian) Rice & Hydrolysed poultry liver cause Patch has intestinal & skin problems….

Elimination diet is the only true way to find out what your dog is sensitive too…..
also few people have done the Jean Dodds Nutri-Scan Food Sensitivity Salvia test, it test for 24 foods…..
http://www.nutriscan.org/

or change the kibble your feeding to another brand & see how your dog does, preferably different ingredients with higher omega 3…..

[Author]

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