I have recently acquired a lovely little Cavvie x Springer who I was told had suffered from a flea allergy (which was getting better).  However, 4 weeks after getting him, and having him checked by Vet, there are NO signs of fleas, but he is STILL as itchy as anything.  I have put him on Wainrights salmon and potato, as I thought it may be gluten, but after just over 1 week (I know that's not long) he is STILL coming out in red, itchy places and scratching himself bald.

When I got him I was feeding him (and 3 lurchers)  Pascoes country with a bit of Chappie (tinned) to give a bit of interest (OH doesn't like giving dry foods!)  That's when I changed to Wainrights, in case it was the wheat etc,  I'm now wondering if it could be the fish element (especially in the Chappie) and not gluten after all.

Does any-one have any suggestions?

Would he still be breaking out in places if it WAS the gluten in the previous diet?

Mary

Once an allergy reaction happens it can take a long while to settle down, especially when it involves skin problems.   Reason is once the skin is irritated the problem is worsened by scratching, dirt getting into the skin, etc.  

The only way to know for sure what he's allergic to is to have him tested by your vet.  If that's not possible, then try him on an elimination diet.   Personally I would forget about dry or canned dog food and feed him only one type of protein - either from the supermarket or one of the frozen, raw meat-only dog foods.  You can cook the meat lightly if you want.  It's also better to choose a protein that he's not likely to have eaten before - and usually fish is a good bet.  Otherwise, duck or venison or rabbit.  If he starts settling down after a couple of weeks than gradually introduce other types of foods.

I really would go for testing though, because he may not be allergic to any food at all. 

Thanks, Stacey.

We took him to the vet, but at £200 for a blood test, and more on top for scrapes etc, I thought I'd try the cheaper option of elimination first.  The vet recommended the salmon and potato diet, so I thought I'd give it a go. 

I don't know how long these things take to show signs of clearing.  He seeems less scratchy during the day, but drives me mad at night (I'm a light sleeper!)

Oh well - I'll give it a bit longer!!

I don't know how long these things take to show signs of clearing.  He seeems less scratchy during the day, but drives me mad at night (I'm a light sleeper!)

If the scratching is worse at night it may be that he is also allergic to whatever you wash his bedding in - just a thought :)

I would bet that there are other things in the Wainrights far more likely to cause a reaction than the fish. Have you got a list of ingredients?

You could try giving a food like Naturediet (it's a complete, wet food). The ingredients are very simple and most of the flavours only contain one protein source, carrots, ground bone, kelp, and rice (some contain potato too). You'd need to feed just that for up to 12 weeks though - giving only treats that were an ingredient included in the food (eg. if you chose to use the chicken flavour it would be ok to boil some plain chicken breasts to chop up for training or whatever).

Some vets will not do food allergy testing. My dog is under one of the best skin specialists we could find, connected to the Royal Veterinary college. He was tested for pollens, dustmites etc and is currently on immunotherapy injections every month containing about 20 different allergens, but she said that they did not recommend food allergy testing at this time because they don't really know what they're looking at and you're much better to either attempt an elimination diet yourself or use one of the hydrolysed prescription diets whereby the ingredients have been specially treated so that they will not cause a reaction in the dog even if there is an ingredient that that particular dog is actually allergic to. You feed that for 12 weeks and if the itching improves you know it was something in the original diet and then have the long haul of reintroducing ingredients back in one by one, two weeks at a time, to challenge the dog's immune system. Having said that there are some vets that will do allergy testing and people have had good results by excluding the foods that have come back as problematic to their dog.

Although, like Stacey has said, it may not be the food causing a problem. Have you ruled out carpet cleaners, air fresheners, washing powder, etc..? Was he already itchy when he arrived?

I looked at most of the "natural" gluten free foods and this one doesn't seem much different to Wafcol except a bit cheaper (exclusive to Pets at Home)  I am considering boiled Chicken and rice (home cooked) but Vet did recommend the fish and potato to start with so I'm giving it a go.

He is the sixth rescue I've had, and the only one to give me this headache!!

Yorktest do a very good food allergy test recommended by Allergy UK for humans.  It certainly identified the problem foods with my dog, once they were eliminated he had no further food related problems.

Quicker and cheaper in the long run than elimination diets.

The food allergy tests as I understand it look for antibodies to certain foods in the bloodstream. However food intolerances can occur without antibodies - the response is more complicated. I have been told that food allergy testing is only 50% specific (which means half the time it works and half it doesn't ;) ).

> I am considering boiled Chicken and rice (home cooked)

You know that a homecooked diet will  have to be more than just meat and rice? :) Calcium especially is very important to get right.I would get hold of some balanced recipe's before attempting a home cooked trial.

Thanks, yes I saw one on one of the sites last week - it had egg in it.  Is that ok?

Only if the shell is included for calcium.  

You can buy calcium supplement tablets in most pet food stores, btw.  My dog's diet is roughly 2/3 home cooked and 1/3 Arden Grange and few dog treats.   So just to be sure I give them a vitamin supplement every day and sometimes I will add extra calcium, usually only on those days when they get no Arden Grange.

Thank you every-one for your tips and advice - what a lovely lot of nice people.

I am keeping my fingers crossed, over the last 48 hours, he has not scratchd half as much as he was doing, so I am hoping we are getting somewhere.  I haven't changed anything yet, he's still just on Wainrights, but if he does continue being less itchy, I will start him on some gluten free treats etc. and see what happens.  Jollye's do a gluten free range of food now (Lifestege) - does anyone have any opinions?  They say it's the same as JWB.  ---  Hmmm!

Gluten free diet is only of use to dogs that are allergic to gluten (cereal protein) or the type of gluten of the cereal with which the food is made eg wheat, maize etc.

Choose a diet that has the fewest ingredients possible so that you can identify the offending one.

Salmon and potato would be good as capelin and tapioca etc.

Wet foods such as Natures Harvest are excellent or Burns or JWB should help

I have a dog who is allergic to white fish and most other things!!
I would miss out the rice as that could cause a reaction as well.
I found sticking to rabbit in the frozen pet mince range was best as she hadn't has that before, even though it does contain a fair bit of chicken. I then started introducing chicken wings RAW. Then you can gradually add other meats but keep red meats to a minimum. I can now feed her most meats with the ones that cause problems giving just a small amount occasionally. As long as i don't over do them she's fine. I stay clear of ALL grains, as these cause problems and dogs don't actually need them. Give mashed cooked veg or blitzed up raw veg in with the meat. I do a batch and freeze in small pots
I also can't feed dairy products so eggs are a no no. She gets a small bit of cheese but not often. Milk is definately out. Even goats.
she not only scratches, she gets the runs also.
If you stick to one meat for a few weeks and gradually go onto something else putting it in with that one meat that you've been feeding, you should start to see some results. I used to cook all of mine's meat till I realized she enjoys it just as much raw. Its only for our benifit that we cook it I suppose.
I have found though that going onto raw feeding and bones has sorted her out. Not always 100% but 99%.
You can always PM me if you have any queries, but I do sympathise. i know what you're going through.
Anndee.

Eggs actually aren't diary products.  A dairy product is anything produced from milk.  

Not saying that dogs cannot be allergic to eggs or eggs+dairy, of course.  Just that if a dog is allergic to dairy it does not mean they will also be allergic to eggs.

Thanks for that Cairnmania :)