Dr Dodds' Food Allergy Test

[macoduck]

Our mutt girlie Pudge has had itchies for years. We tried whatever the vet suggested for prescription meds and benedryl too. Prescription stuff made her vomit. Benedryl gave some temporary relief. My vet thought we were dealing with outdoor allergies, grass in particular.

We did not want to continue to make her sick with the prescription meds. We did not want to try assorted skin tests which weren't reliable.

Dr Dodds at Hemopet has developed a new food allergy test using saliva. The results of Pudge's test indicate strong reactivities to beef and wheat as the worst and to a lesser degree to corn (including cornstarch and fructose), cow's milk and soy.

I've been reviewing dog food sites until I am cross-eyed. At this time I do not want to feed raw.

Does anyone have suggestions for a beef-less, wheat-less food to try first? I thought we'd tackle the worse reactive culprits first.

hemopet linky

[Guest BiancasMom]

I've had good luck with Natural Balance. They have duck, fish, venison and others. It is available over the counter of course. This is interesting news about the Hemopet. Thanks for sharing!

[Guest DylanGospel]

I like Taste of the Wild. The salmon might be a good choice.

[OwnedBySummer]

There's also Nutro Natural Choice Grain Free. Comes in Turkey/Potato and Venison/Potato. Here's the Turkey/Potato list:

 

 

Turkey Meal,Dried Potatoes, Potato Starch, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Natural Flavors, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Powdered Cellulose, Choline Chloride, Zinc Sulfate, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Potassium Iodide, Copper Sulfate, L-Carnitine, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Selenium, Vitamin A Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Rosemary Extract.

 

I don't see any of Pudge's suspects in the list...

[Houndtime]

Costco has a grain free salmon food.

[DesiRayMom]

Desi is doing really well on Natural Balance Venison & sw.potato.

We tried duck & potato, but he had soft stool (had to catch it with a paper plate).

Wonder how close venison is to beef?

 

When I first started the NB duck/tater, I was thinking he might not be doing well with chicken;

so I called Heska...the allergy folks in Colorado...a vet there told me she doubted if it

would help; poultry is poultry is poultry. Interesting.

[Guest PiagetsMom]

macoduck, is this saliva test something that has to be ordered through your vet, or is it available to individual dog owners? I've visited the website, but I don't seem to be able to find that information there.

[macoduck]

You do not need to go through your vet. I was a little confused too so I called their office and paid for the test that way. They shipped me the test kit with a pre-paid FedEx return label.

The instructions are easy: simply take the cotton cord provided and let it soak up saliva inside your dog's cheek, place it in the container and ship.

It took a little over 2 weeks to get results via email as the tests are run in batches.

The fun part was holding a cookie in front of Pudge's nose to make her salivate more.

[Guest Audeamus]

I've had good luck with nb, acana and orijen.

[Guest PiagetsMom]

Thanks! I'll make a call to their office this week. Mirage has a terribly itchy face, and after talking with my vet (who makes it sound like finding the allergy is going to be like a needle in a haystack), this seems like it may be a good place to at least start.

[Guest Greytluv]

 

The fun part was holding a cookie in front of Pudge's nose to make her salivate more.

Poor Pudge

[Guest sirsmom]

We're trying the Nutro Natural Choice grain free turkey&potato on our border collie mix. So far she loves it and does awesome. She is itching a lot less.

[Brooker914]

I'm interested to see how Pudge does with her new food, and if Dr. Dodds test is reliable. True food allergy is IgE mediated which is unlikely to show up in saliva. Her website says it is measuring IgA and IgM, but not IgE. Hopefully some scientific data or studies will come out to give some information on her test. Please keep us updated on Pudge!

[Guest Swifthounds]

Desi is doing really well on Natural Balance Venison & sw.potato.

We tried duck & potato, but he had soft stool (had to catch it with a paper plate).

Wonder how close venison is to beef?

 

When I first started the NB duck/tater, I was thinking he might not be doing well with chicken;

so I called Heska...the allergy folks in Colorado...a vet there told me she doubted if it

would help; poultry is poultry is poultry. Interesting.

 

Venison is not beef any more than duck is chicken. Different animals, different proteins, different sensitivities.

 

Even form makes a difference. My good friend has a dog that is extremely reactive to chicken, but only when cooked, not raw.

[greyhndz]

Instinct (made by Nature's Variety - the people who make Prairie, make grain-free food, and also have Ltd. Ingredient diet. I've got Mafi on Turkey (w/tapioca) and it's a really nice food. Food allergies aren't an issue for her, but it's got excellent ingredients and relatively high caloric content without an exceedingly high fat or protein content. I have a couple of sample packets of the chicken formula -- if you'd like to try them, I'll get them right in the mail.

[Guest lizmego]

We're feeding Fromm Family Gold Adult Large Breed. from looking at the ingredients, no beef or wheat. Its on the higher side price-wise. Website link

[Batmom]

Even form makes a difference. My good friend has a dog that is extremely reactive to chicken, but only when cooked, not raw.

 

 

The form wouldn't matter. They would have to be different products in some other way. The proteins are the same, and that is what allergy is to.

[krissn333]

I recommend TOTW Pacific Stream...grain free and salmon-based. The other formulas have chicken or lamb in them and my dogs have a hard time with those so we stick with the fish

 

Don't forget about your treats too - those almost always have flour in them. They do make grain free treats but they are certainly more expensive than others.

[Guest PiagetsMom]

I recommend TOTW Pacific Stream...grain free and salmon-based. The other formulas have chicken or lamb in them and my dogs have a hard time with those so we stick with the fish

 

Don't forget about your treats too - those almost always have flour in them. They do make grain free treats but they are certainly more expensive than others.

 

I've ordered a test kit for Mirage, and I"m curious to see what turns up. I already have him on the TOTW Pacific Stream, which does control his stomach issues, and I do use the grain free treats. I guess it's good that we're already working with limited ingredients.

Edited July 29, 2011 by PiagetsMom

[BauersMom]

Even form makes a difference. My good friend has a dog that is extremely reactive to chicken, but only when cooked, not raw.

 

 

The form wouldn't matter. They would have to be different products in some other way. The proteins are the same, and that is what allergy is to.

 

Cooking denatures and decoils protein structures. And I have read that raw fish tends to be more problematic than cooked fish because of the denaturing of the allergenic protein for seafood allergies. I can't say that it would work the other way 'round (ok with raw, problems with cooked), but it is plausible that cooked proteins and raw proteins can be different enough to cause different reactions.

 

A quick google search found this article that talks about different processing and allergic reactions:

Because industrial heat processing is more efficient than domestic cooking in reducing reactivity in beef-sensitive children, freeze-drying and homogenization may support the introduction of processed beef into the diet of beef-allergic children.

 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900700002859

[Batmom]

Cooking denatures proteins, making them potentially *less* allergenic rather than more, as in your fish example . That's the nature of allergens -- it doesn't work the other way around (NONdenatured things are not less allergenic than the denatured ones). I have seen one article similar to your fish example, where cooked proteins didn't incite an allergic response but raw proteins did, but I don't know that that happens often or intensely, nor even whether those results have been repeated to any useful degree.

 

The commercial hypoallergenic foods such as Z/D Ultra use extreme denaturation to break the proteins down into teensy little pieces so that they don't excite immune response.

 

Contamination of various sorts *is* a problem. For people with severe allergies, that's often peanut residue hanging out where it shouldn't be. For dog foods, could be dang near anything. For meats, could also be quite a few things ......

 

Note too that there are various and sundry other variables in food intolerances (of which allergy is only one type). Water content, portion size, amount of bone if feeding raw vs. no bone if feeding cooked, etc. That is one reason that I tend to use a strict allergy-style elimination diet if a pet is having a severe problem that I suspect is related to food. Otherwise, you can drive yourself nuts in a heartbeat .

[BauersMom]

Right, I agree - I was just saying that your comment that "form doesn't matter" isn't necessarily accurate as cooked meat and raw meat are different enough to cause different reactions for some cases. Heat-sensitive proteins like BSA mentioned in that article can take pretty different forms after cooking.

 

I have also had a dog not tolerate cooked chicken as well as raw chicken, but I don't think it's an allergic response at that point - not sure what it is, just one of those things.

 

And I def. agree about food issues driving you bonkers. Been there done that!

Edited July 29, 2011 by BauersMom