Originally Posted by Vinniedoggy  The first thing you have to do is ascertain the CAUSE of the allergies. I recently adopted a little guy who has pretty bad allergies. He underwent allergy testing and it was determined that his allergies are all environmental (grass, mold, pollen, etc). His allergies are not food related. But treatment for food allergies is quite different from environmental allergies.
Environmental allergies can be helped by diet, but will probably not be solved by diet alone. A good, balanced RAW diet can really help mild environmental allergies. My older dog, Vinnie, has been eating Nature's Variety raw medallions for 6+ years and his allergies significantly improved with the raw diet (he also gets some homemade raw food, which I will explain shortly). This has helped keep his allergies under control.
For Alex, my new guy with loads of allergy issues, we are doing a homemade raw diet for now. He gets a combination of raw meats (beef, chicken, salmon) that includes a variety of organ meats (beef hearts, chicken livers, lamb kidneys). He also gets plain yogurt and pumpkin, along with a variety of supplements (salmon oil, bone meal, acidophillus, and a couple of whole food supplements). He has also been started on allergy shots to build up his immunity to the things he's allergic to. And he takes a Zyrtec at night. So far, this approach has worked wonders for him. He is well on his way to being allergy free!
Food allergies can be trickier to deal with. The FIRST thing you must do is an elimination diet. You will need to talk to your vet about this. I did it with Vinnie years ago and it was hard, but not impossible. However, it is the only way to know if your dog has a food allergy and, if so, what he/she is allergic to. |