Allergy: is hypoallergenic diet really worth trying?

[Sof2023]

Hi everyone,

I would like to tackle Waffle’s potential allergy problems (a lot of scratching and licking/biting paws) and it is not new. I gave him Apoquel for 10 days and it did work, I could see a real difference. However, after reading about potential side effects, I decided to look for alternatives.

I discussed with several vets and they all advised to start by switching to hypoallergenic diet to see if the allergy comes from food. I have not yet done it as Waffle usually doesn’t handle well change of diet.

1. Do you also strongly recommend to try the hypoallergic food diet? On top of Waffle’s difficulty about diet’s change, my reluctance also comes from the fact that allergy food and sensitivity is usually rare, based on statistics. Most allergy coming from environmental factor.
2. If I decide to try hypoallergic food, should I simply go for commercial hypoallergenic food? Does prescribed hypoallergenic food exist and if yes, is it worth it? The vets only mentioned commercial hypoallergenic food.

 

[JudyN]

Would you be open to the idea of a raw diet? It is often found to reduce symptoms of allergy in dogs. If you'd like to know more just ask - we can give you a wealth of information.

 

[JoanneF]

Or alternatively, you could try an elimination diet that involves feeding something he hasn't had before (like goat for example, Gentle do a goat based kibble).

You feed that for six weeks and if the symptoms go away, you can add back one thing, like chicken, and see if there is any reaction. You can repeat that until you see what causes any problems.

 

[Sof2023]

Or alternatively, you could try an elimination diet that involves feeding something he hasn't had before (like goat for example, Gentle do a goat based kibble).

You feed that for six weeks and if the symptoms go away, you can add back one thing, like chicken, and see if there is any reaction. You can repeat that until you see what causes any problems.

Thanks Joanne. Would you (strongly) recommend to try the elimination diet before testing environmental allergy? As statistics tend to favor environmental allergy and because Waffle never reacted well when I tried to change his food in the past, I am tempted to directly test environmental allergy.

 

[Sof2023]

Would you be open to the idea of a raw diet? It is often found to reduce symptoms of allergy in dogs. If you'd like to know more just ask - we can give you a wealth of information.

Thanks Judy.
Would you also recommend to try the raw diet before testing environmental allergy?

 

[JudyN]

Thanks Judy.
Would you also recommend to try the raw diet before testing environmental allergy?

Personally - and I'm not an expert - I would test for environmental allergy sooner rather than later, because then you know what you're up against, and it might turn out to be something you can avoid. But I don't imagine a change of diet would invalidate any test results, so can't see any reason not to change straight away. Here is the thread on raw feeding, if you fancy a read: Raw feeding

 

[JudyN]

What are you feeding her at the moment?

 

[JoanneF]

If you think it could be environmental, I'd try washing everything she is in contact with (blankets etc) in water with no detergent. You could do a detergent wash first, to get them clean, then a plain water wash to get rid of any trace of detergent.

You could also put a couple of towels in and use these (damp) to wipe her down after being outside, in case it's an outdoor thing causing the problems.

 

[excuseme]

Please remember than when you do any washing with NO detergent as @JoanneF has advised, also do not use any fabric conditioner either

.

 

[excuseme]

What makes a product "Hypoallergenic".
Hypoallergenic foods are made from ingredients that are less likely to cause allergies and intolerances.
It does not guarantee that the ingredients will not cause allergies and intolerances.

 

[arealhuman]

Our rescue dog Rusty was like this when he arrived - constant itching and scratching. We took him to the vet he put him on Apoquel and, like Waffle, this worked. This was the height of summer with all the hay fever and everything else. In an attempt to tackle this we moved over to a prepared raw diet, and this has almost eliminated his itching and scratching. He still does it from time to time, as all dogs do, but before it was almost constant (and was on at least one night).

Now, it might be down to the cooler weather and lack of pollen that has helped with this, but even if that is the case, he seems to love his raw diet. He also came to us from Romania so the stress of that journey and arrival in a new home may well have been a factor, too, but it might be worth trying raw (he also has a very sensitive tummy and changes in food upset him - we had one kibble he threw up almost instantly).

Best wishes, let us know how it goes.

 

[Sof2023]

If you think it could be environmental, I'd try washing everything she is in contact with (blankets etc) in water with no detergent. You could do a detergent wash first, to get them clean, then a plain water wash to get rid of any trace of detergent.

You could also put a couple of towels in and use these (damp) to wipe her down after being outside, in case it's an outdoor thing causing the problems.

Thanks I did not think about that. Maybe hypoallergenic shampoo and wipe could help too.

 

[excuseme]

NO shampoo, just use plain warm water. The word "Hypoallergenic" is not worth the paper it is written on

 

[JoanneF]

I would agree, I'd just use plain water.