[Ellie May]

Originally Posted by dwerten

Amazon.com: The Allergy Solution for Dogs: Natural and Conventional Therapies to Ease Discomfort and Enhance Your Dog's Quality of Life (The Natural Vet) (0086874526723): Shawn Messonnier: Books

in this book written by dvm it states if a dog still itches while on steroids then food is the culprit as I agree the steroids will reduce the inflamation but it will not stop the allergent from food and why blood cannot determine food allergy same reason. This is how they determine many times it is food not environmental as they give the dog steroids and if they stop itching it is environmental if the dog does not stop itching it is food related.

both cyclosporine and steroids are immune suppressant drugs as they are using atopica in ibd dogs off label. The difference in the drugs is steroids affects the adrenals and atopica does not.

It may be fine to simply change food for twelve weeks and see what happens, but in some cases, dogs are so itchy that it would be wrong to not give steroids concurrently. They can provide relief for a lot of dogs. No relief at all or just a little bit could mean food allergies, but major relief does not rule them out.