Hi I am new to the list, and find the information, is fabulous, on allergies, having read past messages, I took a copy of yorktest site, to my vets this afternoon, she seems reluctant to do food allergy testing, also seems to think that yorktest is very expensive, and that might get it cheaper else where;;; is their such a thing as bad lab testing, I notice that it is york testing that is mentioned all the time (sorry this is new to me). I am looking for advise on my beardie, who has suffered with food intollerances, and itchy skin, along her back since last summer, after a change in diet. she is now fed on naturediet lamb and rice and naturezyme supplement (previously she had probiotics only) she has been on this for 10weeks. Her stools are fine aslong as she has the supplement, but the itchy back is still their, has got worse in the last three weeks. also if you touch her middle back , it seems to be uncomfortable. I have been looking into fatty acids, but find it confusing, too much of one can cause itchiness to get worse, I have tried loads of different things too many to mention. last week I started to give her piriton twice a day.
I have a T.T. with severe allergies who is on atopica and doing well, but again, novaris advise , when weaing off ,to supplement with fatty acids, but my vet has yet to tell me the correct ratio. any help or suggestions pls  anyone else using atopica ?  sorry this is so long its so good to talk  regards eleanor

Hi Eleanor,

I have looked/tried many possible solutions for allergies on my westie. Not yet found the solution not sure I ever will. But a lot of the stuff I have looked at on the net can be found in the book "The Allergy Solution for Dogs" by Shawn Messonier. The author is an American Vet so not all of the suggested remedies are easily available here in "Britain" but the book is in my opinion worth reading as it pulls lots of stuff together into one book (saves priniting off loads off similar stuff off the net.

Hope this helps

Ailsa

Hi Eleanor,
     I too have a dog with itchy skin and hair loss.  Hasn't been too bad over the winter, but has since developed a huge balding patch on his back leg.  The vet gave me steroid cream to use, but after three weeks no improvement.  So for the last two weeks I've been spraying Quistel lotion on the patch (twice a day), and the hair is actually growing back.  It's made from natural ingredients (stops itching and encourages hair growth).  The lotion was about £20, but when you consider, you spend that much at a vet's visit, so you might want to give it a go - use it on your dog's back.  The website is www.actigeneruk.co.uk.  (have a read of the testimonies on there).
  Hilda

I can only speak from experience.  Yorktest may not be cheap (if you are insured this should cover it if you have the appropriate policy) but they are good.  The results indicated that my dogs was allergic to beef, wheat, oats, soya, potato and maize (he suffered from chronic ear problems); once these ingredients were removed from his diet the ear problem disappeared.

Allergy testing removes the long process of elimination diets and means that you are armed with facts rather than supposition.  IMHO.

Piriton or topical sprays may ease symptoms but will not tackle the cause.

Fish Body Oils are, IMHO, the best source of EFA and Omega 3s and the least likely to trigger allergies or itchies, unlike flaxseed oil.  You cannot OD on FBO really and if you find a reputable make which lists the DHA/EPA content this will be helpful. (If your dog is allergic to beef you may need to find a source which does not use gelatin in the capsules such as Healthspan).  With this you need to supplement with Vitamin E.  I would suggest with your Beardie you feed 3000mg of FBO per day for a couple of weeks for therapeutic use and then go down to 1000mg per day and give 400iu of Vitamin E per day (natural not synthetic, make sure it says D-alpha-tocopherol on the label) the natural Vitamin is more expensive but doubly effective.

HTH

Hi, thanks for all your advice on dealing with allergies, I have ordered the quistel lotion and shampoo, thanks Hilda for that tip, and Ailsa for the book on allergies.

Thanks for the advice on testing, I have contacted my veterinary surgery, again to say that whatever the cost, I would like to have Molly food tested, hopefully they will get in touch with yorktest, to find out costs and so forth,  (as I have insurrance) rubbish policy though, too late to change, Molly & Barney are only covered for £1500 per illness, (pet shield) costs the same as some of the better ones (which i found out about through your list) today I changed my other dog, poppy, over to sainbury  she has £6500 vetinerary fees. (All thanks to freya who does springer spaniel rescue) I met her in the park a few weeks ago, and she told me about your site. I have started Molly on Holland&Barret fish oils, I have to get hold of vit E, Why do you have to give vit E ? I have also read through the search engine that a lot of people supplement with EPO, and antihistamine why is that ? just curious;;  . Having done two years off and on of food trials for Barney, I think I will go crazy, if I have to do the same with molly, its so awful watching them scratch day and night. 
Barney recently developed luxating patella, any suggestions on how to treat it, he is only 3 1/2yrs (his heart stopped twice after a booster vaccination at 14mths) I no longer vaccinate them.
Does anyone use or know more than I do about Atopica? Barney has been on it since march, he is doing great, but I cannot find out if this is a cure or when he comes off it, his allergies will return, my vet is not sure either, as the drug is new. His quality of life before was awful, I did not want to go down the route of steroids, and after trying many many alternatives, decided, to try atopica. thanks again for all your help and suggestions eleanor

Vitamin E must be given with FBO as they have a synergistic effect. I won't bore you with the details but it is also good for skin.

EPO is high in Omega 6s which most diets are high in anyway, hence the need to give balance with the additional Omega 3s.  EPO is contraindicated in dogs with epilepsy but can be useful in combating hormonal patches in bitches and avoiding phantoms.

Antihistamines are NOT supplements, they are OTC drugs given to suppress allergy symptoms. 

Vitamin C is a natural antihistamine.

Hi , thanks again for explaining, things, i have started Molly on the vit e, along with the fishoils,  she has been on three piriton a day for the past ten days, and if anything the itching is getting worse,  if the piriton was going to help would it have kicked in by now ? do you think the vit c would be better, if so how much would I give, her weight is 20kilos, still waiting on my vet to get the info from yorktest, her fax machine has broken down, she seems reluctant to do food testing, she seems to think that elimination diet is the best way to go. Obviously, she does not have two itchy dogs: can you pls give me some info on why you think yorktest is the best, as my vet is also looking into some other company k9 ( something), is their other labs that do the same testing as yorktest ?  in the past when I spoke about food allergy testing, would I be right in thinking , that their was some sort of test that they did on your dogs skin, to see how it reacted ?    sorry for being a pest. regards eleanor.

Blood testing is used to discover what foods your dog is allergic to.

Eleanor - am I right in thinking that Atopica is cyclosporin? Sorry not used it  yet but vet has mentioned it. I was under the impression that it was hugely expensive - is it?

My dogs are insured but hubby is currently out of work and we have to pay the vet before claiming back on the insurance.

Ailsa

Hi Ailsa,  yes you are correct, cylosporin, is the human drug, and atopica came out this year I believe for dogs. My Tibetan Terrier, for the past two years day and night scratched, his skin turned black, lost his hair in different places, spots, chewed his feet, his quality of life was awful, I tried various herbal homeopathic remedies, the list is so long, nothing helped, we only did, one course of steroids, i did not want to go down that route, the atopica has been fantastic,  he is a different dog, their is side affects, but he has not suffered from any of them, for his weight, 10kilos it costs for 20x50mg  £55.60 it is a course of one a day for eight weeks, then you start to ween them off two days on one day off, that is the stage we are at, he is slightly more itchy, since reducing them, but no break out of spots.  hopefully, you can ween them right down that they only need maybe one a week in the winter then you can up them in the spring summer again, if pollen is the problem.It depends on the weight of the dog. If you do a google search on Atopica by novaris, it will give you lots of info. my vet is really good, she claims directly from the insurance company, I also have another friend who's dog was on it, she could not afford to pay out before hand, the vet claimed it back directly from the insurance company. hope this helps eleanor

Eleanor - thanks for the info. on the costs etc of the Atopica. We will be going to see a skin specialist vet soon so will bear that in mind.

Just been back and read your original post where you speak about your Beardie. Not sure if this is any help or not but I use to post on a yahoo group called Britbarf where there is a lady called Denise who breeds Beardies and who may well be able to suggest something that may help. Don't know what type of food you feed but the group I mention feed bones and raw food (BARF).

I have westies myself so don't know anything about beardies.

Ailsa

Hi Ailsa, thanks for the info, good luck at the vets.
eleanor