Allergies

[lmcpug]

Allergies and allergen information

[lmcpug]

Posted by Pugpillow on: Mon Feb 13, 2006 12:21 pm


There is an allergy test - the patch test, just like humans get. But it's expensive and not 100% and I don't think it's all that good for food allergies. They shave a patch of hair and inject potential allergens and wait for a reaction. Then they make up a serum which you inject into the dog usually every 2 weeks to build up immunity - their allergy shots. They works in some proportion of cases but didn't in ours. I gave Kim a shot every 2 weeks for 8 years and it didn't do any good at all until we switched to raw feeding.

I understand the best allergy test for food allergies is the elimination diet where you switch to one source of food, preferably previously not eaten - say duck or fish, and add another food every couple of weeks as long as there are no allergic reactions. In some cases, this process also allows the dog's immune system to strengthen to the point where they will eventually be able to tolerate the original allergen.

Kibble has a lot of carbohydrate filler in it which will pack on the pounds. If you stick with kibble (which will make things very difficult for you re the weight and the allergies), you'll need to really cut back on portion size. The recommended portions on the kibble bag tend towards more than the dog needs as they are trying to sell more.

Good luck.

[lmcpug]

Posted by Pugpillow on: Sat Mar 25, 2006 1:07 am

http://www.antechdiagnostics.com/client ... n03_02.htm

This article discusses elimination diet for allergies, too much protein in some raw feeding regimes for dogs with renal (kidney) failure, supplements including those to boost immunity (Damzlfly - for your friend), and how typical bloodwork results may have to be rethought for dogs on raw food.

Does anyone have any thoughts, research on this last item? I find the concept intriguing and would like to learn more.
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[lmcpug]

Posted by Franklin Pug on: Sat Mar 11, 2006 10:34 pm

Well for those of you that don't me and my itchy pug, my long battle is starting to come to an end!

We have been working for about a year trying to rid my puggie of his food related allergies. At first we thought they were seasonal allergies and that they would dissapear with the first frost of 2005. Were we wrong!

Franklin scratched himself so hard and so often that he would make himself bleed - especially his "arm pits" and belly. We were so frustrated and felt so sad for our puggie. We tried 8 kibbles before switching to RAW food. Neither worked. Still he scratched.

The vet told us she didn't know what to do and advised allergy testing and steroids. I refused steroids out right as I know the damage they can cause the organs of dogs. The allergy testing was likely to come back "inconclusive" so we rejected that as well. Still franklin scratched...

So I started my own allergy testing - a quest within a quest. We started Franklin with what we thought was safe food - chicken. We knew all the major dog allery foods to avoid already: wheat, corn, beef, etc. We planned on giving Franklin raw chicken breast for 7 days - he only lasted two. It was a nightmare - he broke out into hives! We had found an allergern! My spirits rose - we made progress! My spirits drooped when I realized this could be only one of millions of food items. Still franklin scratched...

Next we went to pork chops. Another disaster - worse than the chicken breast. Another 3 days of not sleeping waiting for the dog to stop scratching.

We did some further research and took advice from other pug owners. We went with a "novelty" food - alaskan polluck. The itching slowed and we soon we added some vegetables he could handle: pumpkin and then potatoe. The itching slowed and began to decrease. We were getting really worried after 6 weeks on fish and pumpkin alone (while we added and removed various other foods). Our puggie was losing a lot of weight -he went down to 16 pounds from 21. I looked for high calorie fish and gave him HUGE portion sizes but he would not gain weight. I was spending about 6 dollars a day in fish alone. God only knows what the grocer thought I was doing with all that fish...

Now we have discovered a "hypo alleregenic, ultra high quality" dog kibble we picked up at an animal feed store called "Natural Balance". It is made from only two ingedients (duck and potatoe), but surprisingly is a balanced diet. It works! (No, its not Fromm kibble- Franklin was allergic to that too). Far less itching and no more bleeding armpits! The only problem was that franklin was pooping 7 times a day. The frustration continued (this could be due to the fact we were grossly over feeding him tying to get him back to ideal weight - he didn't seem to mind all the extra food though).

Now we have it almost sorted. We give him the kibble mixed with pureed pumpkin to keep him more "regular". For now it seems to be working and the pooping has slowed to 3 or 4 times a day. We are still awaiting final results, as it has only been 4 days on the kibble with pumpkin. He still scratches, but only once and a while. I hope it fades away even more as his body adjusts to the new diet. His armpits are black from the scratching and swelling, but they are starting (i think) to lighten.

A happy (and better rested) pug companion

rodger
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Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 8:50 pm


p.p.s. Could you share the ingredients of this kibble so other folks with itchy pugs can compare against what they're feeding?[/quote]

Okay the dog food is called "Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance" and contains:

potatoes, duck, duck meal, canola oil, potatoe fiber, DL-methionine, L-lysine, sodium chloride (which is salt, i dont knwo why they didnt just say "salt"), salmon oil, flaxseed oil, rosemary extract, natural flavour, yucca extract, potassium chloride, chlorine chloride, vitamen E, ferrous sulfate, zinc prteinate, copper proteinate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, ascorbic acis, vitamin A, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin K, riboflavin, vitamin D3, folic acid

does this help?

I seen it at pet value the other day as well and goes for about 15 bucks per 5 lbs. Its a smaller kibble size so Franklin can munch it without too much effort.

[lmcpug]

Posted by pugmomx6 on: Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:27 am
Wesley does NOT do well with bison. The signs were vomiting and diarrhea after he ate. I wasn't 100% certain it was the bison at first but he reacts to it the same way every time so he no longer gets it.

Pugsley will throw up any dairy products and both he and Wednesday will throw up anything with eggs. It took a while to pinpoint what it was but once I cut those things out, they've been fine. The vet told me dairy and eggs are one of the most common allergins in dogs along with corn.

[lmcpug]

Posted by pugpillow on: Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:39 pm


I came upon this very interesting website today which provided me with some logical information about dogs and wheat intolerance. There is a lot of stuff applicable to us humans too.

http://dogtorj.tripod.com/id32.html