My dog has food allergies. Can I use medicine instead of new food?

Poor Alfie! make sure you are conducting a proper food trial. If the diet does not stop the itching after 12 weeks (assuming you are doing a proper diet trial), it's not likely a food allergy and you should look into thyroid disease or environmental allergies. Call your veterinarian and ask about a medication called Apoquel or another one called Cytopoint which may help with the itching. Best of luck.

Allergies are common in dogs. Sometimes controlling one allergy, such as food, can make the other is more manageable. This means by putting a dog that's allergic to both food and environmental allergens on a special diet to control the food allergy can make them less reactive to environmental allergies. You could discuss with your veterinarian doing a food trial for your dog or medications to control allergies such as Apoquel, Atopica, or even steroids. I am not sure which of those medications are approved for use in your country.

The only way to successfully treat a food allergy is to switch to a different diet that does not contain the ingredient(s) that Stachie is allergic to. It would help to have more information about what is going on with him, including why you believe that he has a food allergy and what is current diet is. Feel free to post another question with more details, and we would be happy to try and help :)

Even though you are concerned about Barni having a food allergy you can still put the pills in little bit of peanut butter or even try a marshmallow. The most typical type of allergies are to proteins like beef or chicken. You could most likely get Barni to take the pills with these. I hope that helps

There is a dog food made by science diet called derm defense which has an anti-histamine in it and works well for environmental allergies. If you are worried about a food allergy, I would consider trying a hypoallergenic diet like science diet z/d. I hope this helps!

For food allergies, the best test is a food trial in which your dog doesn't eat any of a particular food for 3 months, and then if the allergy symptoms go away, you feed the old food again, and if the symptoms come back with the old food, it means she was indeed allergic to the food you were testing. As far as environmental allergies, there isn't a clear conscience on what the best test is. It can either be a blood test or a skin test. I think most dermatologist still recommend the skin test as best, but it does require going to a dermatologist and having her off steroids for some number of days (the amount depends on the particular dermatologist). I would also recommend checking with a dermatologist to make sure it's ok for her to be on steroids when you do the blood testing if you go that way. The results of either type of test for environmental allergies are used to make shots to help the body learn to react less to the allergens. This takes several months to a year. Wishing you the best of luck!!

Hi, sorry to hear Luna is having this problem. If she has allergies that are not responding to allergy medication, she may need some tests to determine what is the cause of her allergy. IF can be environmental, or it can be food. If it is food, you can get a prescription hypoallergenic diet from your vet. Labradors are prone to allergies and it may be more than one thing setting her off. Since allergy medication is supposed to work soon and not last long, i would call your vet and ask for a different recommendation for allergy tablets. I see the main ingredients in the food you are feeding is lamb. It may be your dog is allergic to lamb, and you can try another meat based food like duck or venison. But if she has been fine on the food for 3 months, the food is not likely the cause. Can she possibly have gotten some other kind of food? Did anyone give her a tablet scrap or treat? That could have set off an allergic reaction. In this case, you just have to wait until it leaves her system and use an antihistamine. I would try a different antihistamine with a different main ingredient. Your vet can guide you to a product available in your area. Good luck with Luna! I hope this helps!