Dog is allergic to everything, help please!

[Levina-jade]

I'm sorry if this topic is posted somewhere else, feel free to just post the link. He's my issue, me mum owns a 8 year old mutt (beagle/rottweiler) and she has had major allergies for years. We've had her to a doggie dermatologist and allergist (i kid you not!) have had a skin test and she isn't allergic to anything environmental. Her most recent foods have been the following:

Blue buffalo venison

Blue buffalo wilderness tried both duck and samon (grain free)

prescription hills hypo allergenic (worked horrid!)

prescription Kangaroo and oat (I forgot what brand but it worked well for a while, It was however VERY VERY expensive)

Now on Natural Balance Limited Ingredients Diets Sweet Potato & Bison (grain free and chicken preservative free, chicken may be an allergy)

She seem ok on the balance but she is still licking her paws, scratching her ears, and having yeast break outs. But at least she isnt losing all her hair, and the breakouts dont seem as bad. She has been on each different food for a minimum 16 weeks so we know if it worked or not. She gets no table scraps, and only treats are of the same brand and type of food she was on. the imported dog kangaroo jerky we got from the dog boutique was one of her faves but you dont even wanna know the cost.

Since she is my mothers dog we're running into the issue "mom knows best" So that being said she's insisting the dog is allergic to grains so it must be a grain free product, I've looked at wellness avoderm and a few others but they lack the grain free. We dont know what it is she is allergic to other then it gets WORSE with chicken and beef foods, so we are trying to avoid those.
sorry for the wall of text but anyone have any help? Even if its a web site to make my own food. Due to our lovely economy cost is a factor to consider, but not a deciding factor.
 

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Wellness does have a grain free formula. Their grain free formula is Wellness Core. If you have a local Petco, you'll probably find it there. You can also look at Petco's website. Unfortunately, completely grain free is hard to find, but it is out there. smile

It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get the dog tested to find out exactly what she's allergic to, rather than guess what she's allergic to, so that way, you'll know exactly what ingredients to avoid. It'll be better for both you and the dog. That kind of test is done not with a skin scrape, but some kind of "quilt" appearanced thing where they inject various things that could be allergens under the skin, and the ones that react are the ones that they are allergic to. They do that for humans, and I'm pretty sure they do that for dogs and cats. Food allergies can't be found by a skin test, sadly.  

[pompoennetje]

My parents' dog had the same issue.

They gave her raw meat instead, and some other ingredients she was allowed to have.

It helped and the dog really loved the food.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Wellness Core is a good food. The nice thing about Natural Balance LID is it's good for figuring out what exactly she is allergic too.

If you have a suspicion to what the allergy is to. Try making your own food with one meat and one carb and see if there's any reaction.

Personally I have found the best way to go is raw for allergies like that. Where do you live? (So I know what's available to you)

Another option is the science diet H/D very expensive. It has hydrolized protein which means the protein has been broken down already in the hopes that the immune system won't attack the small molecules.

A last resort is usually a vegetarian food. It is possible, some dogs are actually allergic to meat. So that would be an option to try.

Is your dog currently on any medication? Including parasite prevention? Those may also be contributing.  

[Levina-jade]

She's on the following meds from the vet, oti-clens and otomax for her ears and paws. she has been off any heartworm or things like that for the last 3 years we only just now put her on revolution like one month ago, as the vet said its the least likely preventive to cause allergy's.

The local petco dosn't have the wellness core, I have two other petcos somewhat near i can check those. What about the wellness simple?

I live bout an hour west of Chicago.

I'll have me mum ask the vet about the "quilt" test, know what food it is would make life much easier.

I know my mom wont do a raw meat diet, she thinks its gross (she doesn't even eat meat, lol) I'm not apposed to making a food, but i know it will have to be cooked. As for getting becca to eat the food, thats never been an issue, she loves everything!  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

If the other nearby Petco stores don't carry Wellness Core, I know Petco has it on their website. Here is a link to their posting on the Wellness Core food. It is actually cheaper to buy it online than it is to purchase it from the store, I might start doing so myself for Bandit's food. biggrin I'm also reading in the comments that a person, who's dog has bad food allergies as well, switched their dogs over to Wellness Core, and the allergy problems disappeared (In fact, seeing varying comments saying the same thing about switching their dogs with bad allergies to this food and they stopped having the allergic reactions. biggrin )). biggrin I have noticed with Bandit when I switched him over to it (from a still fairly decent quality food too) that his fur became much softer and shinier, his energy levels have gone way up (I think he's more energetic now than he ever has been on any other kind of food), his gas levels have decreased a lot, he gets excited to eat, his skin is a lot better, he is scratching himself a lot less, he smells better, his poop is less stinky, and his paw pads are even becoming much smoother and softer, and the cracks are starting to disappear, and that's after just a few weeks on it. biggrin I'd say this would be a great one to try. biggrin

I'm looking at Wellness Simple's ingredients. It does have rice in it, and since your mom seems to want to avoid grains, it probably wouldn't be a good idea. One of the formulas doesn't have much meat in it, and dogs do need primarily meats.  

[Levina-jade]

CrissAngelLover12345

If the other nearby Petco stores don't carry Wellness Core, I know Petco has it on their website. Here is a link to their posting on the Wellness Core food. It is actually cheaper to buy it online than it is to purchase it from the store, I might start doing so myself for Bandit's food. biggrin I'm also reading in the comments that a person, who's dog has bad food allergies as well, switched their dogs over to Wellness Core, and the allergy problems disappeared (In fact, seeing varying comments saying the same thing about switching their dogs with bad allergies to this food and they stopped having the allergic reactions. biggrin )). biggrin I have noticed with Bandit when I switched him over to it (from a still fairly decent quality food too) that his fur became much softer and shinier, his energy levels have gone way up (I think he's more energetic now than he ever has been on any other kind of food), his gas levels have decreased a lot, he gets excited to eat, his skin is a lot better, he is scratching himself a lot less, he smells better, his poop is less stinky, and his paw pads are even becoming much smoother and softer, and the cracks are starting to disappear, and that's after just a few weeks on it. biggrin I'd say this would be a great one to try. biggrin

I'm looking at Wellness Simple's ingredients. It does have rice in it, and since your mom seems to want to avoid grains, it probably wouldn't be a good idea. One of the formulas doesn't have much meat in it, and dogs do need primarily meats.

the original core has chicken (and since the vet says thats a common allergy my mum has it in her head that the dogs allergic to it, lol.) But they do have a chicken free fish recipe on the wellness website i'll look for that one. I have three petco's within 30 minutes of me one of them should have it.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Levina-jade

CrissAngelLover12345

If the other nearby Petco stores don't carry Wellness Core, I know Petco has it on their website. Here is a link to their posting on the Wellness Core food. It is actually cheaper to buy it online than it is to purchase it from the store, I might start doing so myself for Bandit's food. biggrin I'm also reading in the comments that a person, who's dog has bad food allergies as well, switched their dogs over to Wellness Core, and the allergy problems disappeared (In fact, seeing varying comments saying the same thing about switching their dogs with bad allergies to this food and they stopped having the allergic reactions. biggrin )). biggrin I have noticed with Bandit when I switched him over to it (from a still fairly decent quality food too) that his fur became much softer and shinier, his energy levels have gone way up (I think he's more energetic now than he ever has been on any other kind of food), his gas levels have decreased a lot, he gets excited to eat, his skin is a lot better, he is scratching himself a lot less, he smells better, his poop is less stinky, and his paw pads are even becoming much smoother and softer, and the cracks are starting to disappear, and that's after just a few weeks on it. biggrin I'd say this would be a great one to try. biggrin

I'm looking at Wellness Simple's ingredients. It does have rice in it, and since your mom seems to want to avoid grains, it probably wouldn't be a good idea. One of the formulas doesn't have much meat in it, and dogs do need primarily meats.

the original core has chicken (and since the vet says thats a common allergy my mum has it in her head that the dogs allergic to it, lol.) But they do have a chicken free fish recipe on the wellness website i'll look for that one. I have three petco's within 30 minutes of me one of them should have it.

They might anyways. Petco's website doesn't have it, and I haven't seen it in my Petco. I saw some other online stores that have the fish one. If they don't have it, you can find online shops that have it on the Wellness Store Locator on their website. On the menu at the top, click Find Wellness, then look in the Wellness Retailers Online section. Then you can click on the links to the sites that sell them and I saw that several sell the fish one. smile  

[- Vet Tech - 2011]

As I posted in another thread, the most common ingredients I know of that are likely to cause a problem include soy, wheat, beef, chicken, egg (or so I've heard)... I still feel like I'm forgetting something. I will look it up. I would also avoid corn, or artificial colours, flavors etc.

My recommendations: Wellness core (ocean formula) or Wellness Simple, Fromm grain-free formulas or natural balance grain free diets. I would stick to diets such as duck and potato, venison and potato. They are not the common ingredients that would cause a problem.

Revolution is a pretty safe product, it's not impossible for it to cause a reaction but it wouldn't be the first thing to pop into my head to cause a reaction. Did she have the hair loss, itchy ears etc. before starting the Revolution?  

[Levina-jade]

- Vet Tech - 2011

As I posted in another thread, the most common ingredients I know of that are likely to cause a problem include soy, wheat, beef, chicken, egg (or so I've heard)... I still feel like I'm forgetting something. I will look it up. I would also avoid corn, or artificial colours, flavors etc.

My recommendations: Wellness core (ocean formula) or Wellness Simple, Fromm grain-free formulas or natural balance grain free diets. I would stick to diets such as duck and potato, venison and potato. They are not the common ingredients that would cause a problem.

Revolution is a pretty safe product, it's not impossible for it to cause a reaction but it wouldn't be the first thing to pop into my head to cause a reaction. Did she have the hair loss, itchy ears etc. before starting the Revolution?

way before we've been fighting the itchy and all that for about 4 or 5 years.  

[SmoothSavage]

Okay, hang on just a second. That is a long list of foods you've tried, seemingly recently. How often are you changing foods? Allergy symptoms can take up to eight weeks to disappear, even if the dog is not eating anything they're allergic to. If you're changing foods often, you have no idea if any of those would have worked out.

Simple is best for allergies. Wellness Core is great, but the ingredient list is long, and the longer the list the more opportunities there are for her to have a problem. Stick with simple, short ingredient lists- the Natural Balance she's on is perfect. Since you've noticed a bit of improvement, stick with it. Stick with it for at least six weeks.

The other thing to consider is to make sure that she is getting NOTHING ELSE. One treat can flare up allergies, one piece of food from the table if she's got issues. Your food trial will be ruined if she's eating extra treats or scraps while you're doing it, because if she gets a problem you won't know what's causing it. If you can find 100% sweet potato or freeze dried bison treats (i.e. the same ingredients she's eating in the food), you can use those, or use the treats Natural Balance makes to compliment the food. Nothing else, period.

If after six weeks she's still having a problem, switch her to the NB fish and sweet potato and repeat the process. That way, if her problems stop on the fish, you know bison is an allergen. If she still has issues while on the fish, then you can assume sweet potato or pea is your culprit and avoid those ingredients.  

[Levina-jade]

Savage Destiny

Okay, hang on just a second. That is a long list of foods you've tried, seemingly recently. How often are you changing foods? Allergy symptoms can take up to eight weeks to disappear, even if the dog is not eating anything they're allergic to. If you're changing foods often, you have no idea if any of those would have worked out.

Simple is best for allergies. Wellness Core is great, but the ingredient list is long, and the longer the list the more opportunities there are for her to have a problem. Stick with simple, short ingredient lists- the Natural Balance she's on is perfect. Since you've noticed a bit of improvement, stick with it. Stick with it for at least six weeks.

The other thing to consider is to make sure that she is getting NOTHING ELSE. One treat can flare up allergies, one piece of food from the table if she's got issues. Your food trial will be ruined if she's eating extra treats or scraps while you're doing it, because if she gets a problem you won't know what's causing it. If you can find 100% sweet potato or freeze dried bison treats (i.e. the same ingredients she's eating in the food), you can use those, or use the treats Natural Balance makes to compliment the food. Nothing else, period.

If after six weeks she's still having a problem, switch her to the NB fish and sweet potato and repeat the process. That way, if her problems stop on the fish, you know bison is an allergen. If she still has issues while on the fish, then you can assume sweet potato or pea is your culprit and avoid those ingredients.

Oh no this has been going on (the list of foods) for about five YEARS. I'm sorry that wasn't clear. We have been doing each trail for between 10 and 16 weeks, including the current natural balance, which she started the first week of march this year. some foods she has been on longer if they worked better. I know she was on the kangaroo for about a year, as it worked well but was recently on a recall and now were back to the food hunt. She gets no other treats other then the brand AND type of food she is on, or straight jerky of that type. I'm just becoming more and more annoyed as the years stretch on and she is still miserable.  

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

If you can find it, perhaps try out Acana Lamb & Apple - it isn't grain free, but the only grain is steel cut oats

http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/locator/

There are also a variety of grain-free options between Acana and Orijen, but the fish ones are the only without chicken or beef.

And it wouldn't hurt to look into raw (raw is better than cooked) - you can buy pre-made, or do it yourself (cheaper), and just make up a week's supply at a time so the most your mum would have to handle it is taking it out of the freezer to put in the fridge to defrost and then plopping it in the dog's bowl.  

[Levina-jade]

~ Aki - Fairy ~

If you can find it, perhaps try out Acana Lamb & Apple - it isn't grain free, but the only grain is steel cut oats

http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/locator/

There are also a variety of grain-free options between Acana and Orijen, but the fish ones are the only without chicken or beef.

And it wouldn't hurt to look into raw (raw is better than cooked) - you can buy pre-made, or do it yourself (cheaper), and just make up a week's supply at a time so the most your mum would have to handle it is taking it out of the freezer to put in the fridge to defrost and then plopping it in the dog's bowl.

Humm they have a store that sells it in my city i'll have to check price.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

hold up, you said she has ear meds. Forgive me for forgetting or maybe never seeing those drugs in pharmacology but I assume it's for infection or preventing infection.

@Vet Tech 2011, recurrent ear infections are often a secondary reaction to allergies right?

Ok, proceed. You could still cook the food I'm sure it would still be a great option. Where do you live, can you get your hands on kangaroo meat? Since she did well on a kangaroo diet, it might be a good place to start, kangaroo meat and attempt a carb she's never tried before. You could potentially add in a lil bit of kelp and alfalfa powder to cover her vitamin and mineral needs if you stick with the diet for more than a month. Which you may need to as it could take up to 3 months to see a difference sometimes. IF the diet has good results, you could one week/month at a time try adding in a few more ingredients. If her allergies flare up you know to stay away from that ingredient.