Dog with allergies

Question
QUESTION: My dog was rescued about three months ago and we don't know anything
about his history. He has allergies but we are not sure if they are
environmental only, food only, or a combination of both. He does not have
any fleas.

Last week I brought him to a new vet (the old one was simply not helpful) and
he decided on a mild course of action as a first step. He prescribed 1 adult
benadryl (25 mg) twice a day, Welactin fish oil once a day, and Douxo Calm
shampoo and spray. He told me to keep feeding California Natural lamb meal
and rice for 3 months, which he was already eating for the past 3 or 4 weeks,
but with treats that had other ingredients.

The shampoo treatments call for 3 baths in 7 days, and then to use the spray
every 3 days for a month. After the first bath the dog seemed to be better,
with a soft coat and calmer skin instead of the pink/red skin he always had
before. But yesterday I began to notice he has some raised spots (they look
like scabs) in his back which seem worse today and he has some tiny red
spots that look a little scaly in the belly area. He is extremely itchy this
morning, even biting and chewing his back.

During the exam, the vet noticed one spot that looked like a scab, but today
there are at least 5 more of those, so I assume it is getting worse even
though he is on Benadryl, the shampoo, etc. I was wondering whether you
have seen those symptoms before and could help me to suggest something
else to my vet. I cannot believe he would miss something as serious as
mange, for example, but maybe there is something else he is missing. We
discussed the blood test for allergies, but he said that most of the time they
are not helpful because they cannot diagnose food allergies and often it is
impossible to keep the dog from getting in contact with whatever it is he is
allergic to in the environment.

I also had tried to get the dog to start eating EVO red meat yesterday by
introducing it as treats, which he would not eat. I managed to get him to eat
2 pieces a little after 12 pm yesterday. Could an allergy to beef or another
ingredient in the food cause such a powerful reaction this quickly after such a
small exposure? I got advice from some people in Internet forums to switch
him to BARF or another type of raw diet to resolve this problem. My old vet
was deeply opposed to this idea, and I don't know what the new vet thinks
since I didn't ask. What is your advice?

Thank you and I'm sorry this is so long...

ANSWER: Beef is the number one allergen dogs have. Second to that are wheat, barley, chicken, eggs, dairy, soy, whey, preservatives and nowadays, lamb. So the answer to your last question is yes, it could.

Barf and raw diets do not address these issues because to be fully balanced, which most of them are not, they must include one of these sources of protein in their most basic form, which usually causes the worst allergies. When food ingredients are cooked properly, they lose a lot of their allergen causing substances because their are broken down during the cooking process.

I went to a few seminars by veterinarians on the BARF diets and not one of them was for it. These were not vets that had any vested interest in selling dog foods, these were experienced Vets that have had many dogs come in very ill, and some dying from being on BARF diets.

As far as your vet missing mange, if the lesions didn't look mange like, and now you are saying that the dog has gotten many more from eating some beef, then I can see him not doing a skin scraping yet. For one thing, mangey dogs do not normally scratch all over from mange.

I would stop the spray and shampoo and get him on an ultra-allergen diet such as D/D from the vets. That way, and only that way, can you start an allergen trail with food. For one thing, Lamb and rice is usually sprayed with beef digest to help with the flavoring and make it more palatable to the dog. My own dog is allergic to beef digest.

Secondly, treats are full of junk for the dogs unless they are hypoallergenic. Those are not out there on the market yet (I have only seen true hypoallergenic treats through Hills).So cut out all the treats. The food you are feeding looks fine, as I see no beef digest in it, but since rice can be an allergen also, you might want to try a novel protein and carb source such as potato and duck or venison and potato or salmon and potato. These are the diets you can rotate through to find one that he is allergic to.

So those are your starting points Tatiana. From there it's a trial and error to see what works for him.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions about diets.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you very much for getting back to me so quickly! I really appreciate
your answers. The dog is a little off today, scratching a lot, and his poop has
a much softer consistency and weird smell and color. Which brings me to
more questions... (Sorry!)

Since he seems to need a diet change again, I was wondering if you think a
homemade diet would work instead of the prescription diet, which is way too
expensive for my financial situation at the moment, especially after all of the
vet appointments lately... I was thinking about cooking up a batch of chicken
and rice tonight for his first meal tomorrow or try to cook the carbs and use
canned 100% meat that he has never had before. He has had the chicken and
rice diet before when he had a bout of vomiting about 2 months ago and he
seemed to love it and tolerate it very well.

My follow up questions are the following:

1) Do you think I can feed him a homemade diet that is not nutritionally
balanced for 3 months or will this impact his health? Does it really need to be
fed that long to determine food allergies?
2) Would it be better if I used boiled and mashed potatoes (regular and/or
sweet potatoes) instead of rice or can I alternate between them? No salt or oil
added, of course. How about adding small amounts of cooked and pureed
carrots and green beans?
3) Would it be ok if I used cans of Before Grain 100% meat (Merrick) instead
of cooking my own protein? I have 1 can each of buffalo, salmon, and turkey
right now. I never tried to feed him this as he got sick right before I opened
the first can and I got very scared of feeding him new things...
4) Is string cheese ok to use as treats since I cannot give him anything else? If
not, what would be a suitable alternative?
5) How much should he eat per day? He is an active 26 pound beagle/terrier
mix, about 15 months old.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out with this!

Answer
First of all, I wouldn't use chicken and rice at all. I would use a novel protein and carb source as I first stated, such as venison and potato. The problem with homemade diets is that they are NOT balanced and can cause some major issues if fed for too long. It is very hard to balance a diet properly at home for dogs. If you want to do massive research on the vitamin/mineral requirements etc, and then add those, you might be able to do it.


These cans of food you have, if they have the vitamin/mineral balance you need, then try them with potato. Regular white potato, not sweet potato.

Do NOT use string cheese at all, dairy is on of the common allergens.
Canned green beans (no salt brands) raw carrots, are the best thing to use for treats. You can mix the green beans into the food also.

Most feeding trials are done for a minimum of one month. It takes one month for the prior food to clear out of the body and the new food to start to work, so 6-9 weeks should be the bare minimum.

As far as amount, you would have to see how much one can is supposed to feed weight wise. Feeding homemade diets are very hard to manage with amounts. But if one can of food feeds an 8 lb dog, then you need to add the carb to that and then mix enough food for a 25 lb dog, then divide it in half. Feed this twice a day.

Aim to have protein levels etc for an adult dog, not a puppy.  
The beauty of prescription diets, other than the fact that they are balanced and complete, is that they can be fed for life, they are not that expensive (wait until you see how expensive homemade food is) and they work. My dog is on prescription diet W/D from Hills for life and she is 11 yrs old. I started her on it at a year old when beef digest on Adult formula made her break out in pustular dermatitis.

She is fit, active and very healthy for an 11 yr old and her food (30 lb bag of dry) lasts me for months and months. It is worth the money to me to feed this to her since she is so very healthy on it.

Prescription diets are more expensive at the start but save you a lot of money in the long run. You might want to try one bag of the Z/D or D/D before you hop on the homemade food bandwagon.