Allergies

hannah · Nov 17, 2015

Is there some sort of allergy test that can be done on dogs to figure out what they are allergic to?

Or is it all trial and error?

Tgirl · Nov 17, 2015

Yes, there are allergy test. Your vet can refer you to a dermatologist.

Alice Kable · Nov 17, 2015

I had food allergy tests done on my English Bulldogs. It is a blood test that gets sent to a lab. The results identify the foods they are allergic to and the degree of the allergy. These tests give you a place to start when picking what dog food to use.

MaplesMommy · Nov 18, 2015

There is also Dr. Jean Dodd's NutriScan,which you can order online. You then take a saliva sample and send it to their lab in California.

Cbrugs · Nov 18, 2015

In my area, the vets will only do intradermal skin tests for environmental allergies which is what I did for Jax. I was not able to find a vet that would do a blood test for food allergies as they say they are too unreliable. However, if your vet will do a blood test I think it would be a great place to start.

hannah · Nov 18, 2015

Thanks for your suggestions! Banksy has not been eating and has had bad eye boogers and sneezing lots.... so we figured it was allergies... however he started coughing and almost choking on his breath

We are assuming it's kennel cough but taking him into the vet today.

He was vaccinated for kennel cough but I guess vaccinations aren't always 100%.... we will see? Poor little baby

Im going to ask my vet about allergy testing too while were there, why not right

Safari · Nov 18, 2015

Hannah. My dog got kennel cough last spring and he was vaccinated. The vet said the vaccine is like a flu vaccine for people and doesn't cover every type of strand, so they can still get sick. Which is not very helpful in a vaccine, if you ask me.

Jakeyjake · Nov 18, 2015

Oh poor Banksy...hope he feels better soon.
I did blood tests on both of my dogs for environmental allergies and I also did the Nutriscan for food intolerances. Both of the tests for Stella came back virtually inconclusive, and her allergies are the worst.

hannah · Nov 18, 2015

Jakeyjake said:
Oh poor Banksy...hope he feels better soon.
I did blood tests on both of my dogs for environmental allergies and I also did the Nutriscan for food intolerances. Both of the tests for Stella came back virtually inconclusive, and her allergies are the worst.

good to know. and thanks! My boyfriend is with him at the vet now so we shall see if we are correct about him having kennel cough

Cbrugs · Nov 18, 2015

hannah said:
good to know. and thanks! My boyfriend is with him at the vet now so we shall see if we are correct about him having kennel cough

Jax was coughing about a week or so ago but it only lasted a few days.

hannah · Nov 19, 2015

So the vet didn't know exactly what is wrong with Banksy.. which is frustrating. He gave him an injection and antibiotic pills he has to take for a week, drops we have to put in his eyes and nose every 3 hours
And prescription canned food to help him to eat that's designed for your digestive system. I didn't want to get the food but just got it because he told us it would help him and I am glad we did because mixing it with his kibble he is actually eating now. (he wasn't for several days)

He said he wants us to call him every day to let us know how he is doing, if it gets worse we have to take him in for blood work and possibly xrays

Cbrugs · Nov 19, 2015

hannah said:
So the vet didn't know exactly what is wrong with Banksy.. which is frustrating. He gave him an injection and antibiotic pills he has to take for a week, drops we have to put in his eyes and nose every 3 hours
And prescription canned food to help him to eat that's designed for your digestive system. I didn't want to get the food but just got it because he told us it would help him and I am glad we did because mixing it with his kibble he is actually eating now. (he wasn't for several days)

He said he wants us to call him every day to let us know how he is doing, if it gets worse we have to take him in for blood work and possibly xrays

Just curious as to why the vet would prescribe antibiotics if there was no actual diagnosis? And since you say you didn't want to get the prescription food, I assume you know how it's probably not the best quality. If Bansky has an issue with eating, have you tried some sort of topper to put on his kibble or maybe trying a different protein? And a probiotic might help with digestive issues. If Bansky does have kennel cough, I believe that goes away on its own if there are no complications. I think I said in a previous post that Jax was coughing and hacking but it only lasted a week and now it's like it never was!

hannah · Nov 19, 2015

[MENTION=188]Cbrugs[/MENTION] I have no idea... ugh I am going to have to talk to my boyfriend about exactly what was said at the vet because I was not there. It seems odd to me as well if he didn't give a diagnosis. I will find out.

Also about the vet food, I know its not the best. he picked it up because it was recommended to get him eating again and that was what we needed. We normally do add toppers to his food but he wasn't touching anything. I am just happy he is eating again because he wasn't for several days. We aren't switching to the vet food or anything, just got a few cans to add in as recommended.

also It wasn't just coughing. He has also been sneezing thick snot, tons of eye boogers, not eating at all, and lethargic, and really nasally breathing sounds almost like his throat is full of flem. if it was just coughing and he didn't completely lose his appetite we would have saved the trip to the vet for sure

hannah · Nov 19, 2015

[MENTION=188]Cbrugs[/MENTION] My boyfriend said he could not give a specific diagnosis without blood work.

So he gave general antibiotics that fight multiple bacterial infections before going into harsher procedures. if they don't work we will have to go in for blood work and x rays to determine what the issue is.

Cbrugs · Nov 19, 2015

hannah said:
[MENTION=188]Cbrugs[/MENTION] I have no idea... ugh I am going to have to talk to my boyfriend about exactly what was said at the vet because I was not there. It seems odd to me as well if he didn't give a diagnosis. I will find out.

Also about the vet food, I know its not the best. he picked it up because it was recommended to get him eating again and that was what we needed. We normally do add toppers to his food but he wasn't touching anything. I am just happy he is eating again because he wasn't for several days. We aren't switching to the vet food or anything, just got a few cans to add in as recommended.

also It wasn't just coughing. He has also been sneezing thick snot, tons of eye boogers, not eating at all, and lethargic, and really nasally breathing sounds almost like his throat is full of flem. if it was just coughing and he didn't completely lose his appetite we would have saved the trip to the vet for sure

I've sent my boyfriend to the vet alone with Jax once, maybe twice, and I swear to never do it again because I never get the full download and he never asks all the questions I tell him to....lol.

Hopefully Bansky will start to feel better soon! Keep us posted.

hannah · Nov 19, 2015

Cbrugs said:
I've sent my boyfriend to the vet alone with Jax once, maybe twice, and I swear to never do it again because I never get the full download and he never asks all the questions I tell him to....lol.

Hopefully Bansky will start to feel better soon! Keep us posted.

LOL that's funny. I like going together just so everyone is involved.

My boyfriend is a smart guy though he's in university for organic chemistry/biology degree so I trust that he would ask the right things... I just didn't fully ask him everything when I got home late last night and realized after posting the news to this forum and with your questions that I truly didn't understand what went down yesterday at the vet lol. it was mainly me having to ask my boyfriend what had happened and what exactly was prescribed and why

I hope so too, thanks! I will

Jakeyjake · Nov 20, 2015

hannah said:
[MENTION=188]Cbrugs[/MENTION] I have no idea... ugh I am going to have to talk to my boyfriend about exactly what was said at the vet because I was not there. It seems odd to me as well if he didn't give a diagnosis. I will find out.

Also about the vet food, I know its not the best. he picked it up because it was recommended to get him eating again and that was what we needed. We normally do add toppers to his food but he wasn't touching anything. I am just happy he is eating again because he wasn't for several days. We aren't switching to the vet food or anything, just got a few cans to add in as recommended.

also It wasn't just coughing. He has also been sneezing thick snot, tons of eye boogers, not eating at all, and lethargic, and really nasally breathing sounds almost like his throat is full of flem. if it was just coughing and he didn't completely lose his appetite we would have saved the trip to the vet for sure

Hope Banksy feels better soon. Maybe he has a sinus infection that the antibiotics will treat??? I agree to feed him whatever he will eat too until he gets better then you can switch back. Poor baby

hannah · Nov 20, 2015

Jakeyjake said:
Hope Banksy feels better soon. Maybe he has a sinus infection that the antibiotics will treat??? I agree to feed him whatever he will eat too until he gets better then you can switch back. Poor baby

Maybe! Since he has been on them his eye boogers are gone, he is still sneezing thick snot though. Day by day its getting better. And he is back to eating 3 meals a day. Its the vet prescribed canned food its chicken and stew digestive health stuff. We have just been mixing it in his kibble and he has never been so excited to eat. Which has been SO nice to see after him starving himself for days. We only bought a few cans, so he will slowly get less and less until he is back to normal health!