42 BONDED CLIENT / Allergic Reactions
Conducting a Food Trial The trick to a successful food trial is to eliminate all the foods that the dog has already eaten and keep it on a novel protein and carbohy- drate. This can be a challenge because owners can purchase just about any food in a pet store. So, there is a good chance that the dog has already eaten most protein sources. Dermatologists Paul Bloom, DVM, DACVD, DABVP (canine and
feline), and Rosanna Marsella, DVM, DACVD, recall when veterinar- ians would use lamb and rice in food trials because dog diets didn’t contain lamb or rice. Because people thought lamb and rice were hypoallergenic, food companies started making dog foods with lamb and rice. Just about every food line has a lamb and rice formula, and dogs have devel- oped an allergy to lamb and rice. It wasn’t that the food was hypoal- lergenic, it was that the animal had not had a previous exposure to develop the allergy. Today, duck and sweet potato—two ingredients that were used
in food trials—are readily available in snacks and foods, so they can no longer be used in a food-elimination trial. “Finding a protein source can be difficult because often the
owner has already done his own little food trial and changed diets. So, the animal has already been exposed to venison or rabbit. We used to use a lot of lamb because it was expensive, so few dogs had lamb in their diet. Now, lamb is a common ingredient in dog foods, so it is no longer useful for a food trial,” said Marsella. What are you supposed to use? “We managed to still stay a couple of steps ahead of them [food companies],” said Bloom, owner of Allergy, Skin and Ear Clinic for Pets in Livonia, Mich. “We use meats like goat, ostrich, emu, kanga- roo, alligator, bear and moose. I usually use goat because it is easier to get in my area. The carbohydrate can be a bit challenging, too, because dogs usually have already eaten potatoes, sweet pota- toes and oats, so I use rutabaga. Amazingly, dogs love rutabaga.”
Before starting the food trial, make sure you manage any concur-
rent conditions. If the dog has fleas, get rid of the fleas. If the dog has ear infections, treat the ear infections. If the dog has an infection, resolve the infection. A short course (14 to 21 days) of oral corticoste- roids might be needed while waiting to see if the food elimination trial will succeed, which can take up to two months. Then start the food trial. Most owners will have to make a home-
cooked meal for weeks to months, so make sure you have owner buy-in for the food trial. Also make sure the owners don’t unwittingly sabotage the trial. Don’t use cheese or some other protein to give pills. Your technician might have to show the owner how to force a pill down the animal’s throat.
Don’t prescribe flavored medications, because usually that flavor is beef.
Don’t use flavored supplements or vitamins. Don’t give prepared snacks. Recommend carrots, green beans and other veggies as snacks or give a little of the home-cooked diet as snacks.
Make sure all family members agree to the trial diet. If one person cheats, that will nullify the trial.
Even if the food trial appears to be working, you still might not
have a food allergy. The only way to know for sure is to rechallenge the dog. Put it back on its original food and see if it has a flare-up. If it does, it goes back on the elimination diet. If the problem goes away, it is a true food allergy. Now, you have to determine what foods trigger the allergy by
adding them back into the diet one at a time. “Often, I will put the dog on a commercial diet that is as close
to the home-cooked diet as I can make it. If the dog tolerates the commercial diet, then we start adding other proteins into the mix,” Bloom said. Sometimes owners don’t want to take that final step of adding
foods back into the diet, because they don’t want to deal with the dog’s signs if one of them is the actual trigger, so they will just use the commercial diet. That’s fine, as long as the dog can get the commercial diet. “What
happens if the commercial diet isn’t available? This has happened two or three times in the last five years. Then what do you do? If you don’t know what the dog is allergic to, you won’t know what to give the dog. If you know the allergic triggers, you have more flexibility in feeding the dog,” Bloom said.
Trends magazine, May 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60