Hi everyone
just thought i would share this with any one having the same problems. My dog has a skin complaint, she has malassezia which the vet decided must be caused by an underlying condition, namely food allergy. Tests were carried out and came back positive on most things a dog could possibly eat. Special diet time. Having tried several exclusion diets without success the one that was settled on was Hills zd ultra allergenic (£50 for 10 kilos) and without the addition of steroids, baths and antibiotics now and again even this did not seem to be doing any good.  My theory was the only thing that was controlling her skin condition was the steroids as each time we tried to reduce them back came the itchy skin. I was not convinced with the allergy test results and started to research on the web, lo and behold masses of information saying they were unreliable and produced false positives. So against the wishes of my vet i decided to try my dog on a rice based diet (even though rice was a positive) with a novel protien, and guess what, no reaction! I have now reduced her steroids as I want her off them completely, her temperament was getting out of hand on them, and everything is going along great. I'm not saying she is cured because i don't think she ever will be and will always have flare ups, but what i will say to anyone in this situation is don't trust food allergy testing, trust your own instincts.

Hi Irene Anne

I've known several people allergy tested who have been able to eat a number of things which by test results should have been excluded and, as I understand it, the test for humans is considerably more reliable than that for dogs.

Glasgow University Vet Hospital doesn't rate the canine food allergy tests at all - I reckon they're a pretty good judge ;)

I hope your girl continues to improve on your current regime and that ongoing steroid treatment is unnecessary.
Good luck to you both.

regards, Teri :)

I can't help wondering if Tea Tree would work here.  It's an excellent anti-fungal - I've seen persistent (doctor had been treating it for several years :rolleyes: ) athlete's foot completely cured by it.

Johnsons make a Tea tree cream for dogs and cats and you can also get shampoos ;)

Don't know if this helps but you never know...