Food Allergy: No blood tests available

From Dr. Kathy – THERE ARE NO, I REPEAT NO BLOOD TESTS FOR SPECIFIC FOOD ALLERGIES, although they are widely advertised. However, routine blood and urine tests may provide hints as to contributing factors. The only way to diagnose food allergies is to perform a food trial with a veterinary hypoallergenic or hydrolyzed diet, or by feeding a veterinary nutritionist (a specially trained dvm specialist, NOT just someone calling themself a “nutritionist”) formulated homemade diet for a minimum of 8-12 weeks. Suring the test period a pet cannot eat ANYTHING but the prescribed diet – no flavored medication like heartworm medication, no flavored treats, no chews….nothing but the prescription diet and water. Consider this, if you are allergic to penicillin and receive just a “little” penicillin, you can be just a little dead. Remember that manufacturers of otc diets usually have multiple diets being made in a single facility where product ingredients can often contamidate ingredients with non-hypoallergenic product dust etc, which intermingles with all diets made in that facility. So, your “chicken-free” otc diet may not have chicken as an ingredient, but chicken “contamination” (or, soy, or beef, or egg, or milk, or corn, etc product can be present).***

If you and your veterinarian are unable to determine a cause for the symptoms of skin disease, consultation with a veterinary dermatologist can be considered.

***Look at some of the ingredients that a study found in over the counter diets that are supposedly helpful in pets with food allergies:

Over-the-counter (OTC) limited ingredient canine diets could be reliable alternatives to veterinary therapeutic formulations for the diagnosis and management of Adverse Food Reaction (AFR). HOWEVER….

The possibility of undeclared [or unreported] ingredients jeopardizes the efficacious use of OTC options for medical purposes. The objective was to determine the presence of undeclared ingredients in OTC canine dry diets marketed as limited or single protein source diets. Twenty-one OTC adult canine diets marketed as limited or single protein source diets were purchased. Multiplex PCR was used to screen for DNA of 10 mammalian species with species-specific primers that anneal to regions of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The presence of DNA from one or more species not declared on the label was identified in all 21 diets: cow (Bos taurus), pig (Sus scrofa), sheep (Ovis sp.), goat (Capra hircus) and bison (Bison bison). Twenty diets were positive for the declared protein source and one diet was negative for the declared species. Cat (Felis catus), dog (Canis sp.), horse (Equus sp.), mouse (Mus musculus) and rat (Rattus norvegicus) DNA was not identified in any samples. The presence of undeclared mammal species in OTC canine dry diets marketed as having limited or single protein source ingredients may complicate food allergy diagnosis and treatment. 

Best information was taken from the following article:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/vms3.125?fbclid=

**The Vet Corner groups encourage members to establish a relationship with their local veterinarian, don’t wait until an emergency.**