Food allergies question

[spanielboy]

I had placed this thread in the Health Care Forum where Renee had said I should copy my thread into this forum to get more responses to my inquiries.

^^^^^^^^^

Howdy,

I have a question if anyone either has a dog or had a dog that was allergic to a certain type of food? If so, what were the symptoms for the dog?

I have an eight year old cocker mix who has been the perfect angel when it comes to not be going to the bathroom in the house. However, for a few months, she was having bouts where she was suffering from either vomiting or pooping (diarrhea) with blood. The consistency of the vomit and runny stools were very similar - content, consistency, and that awful smell. The diarrhea was extremely bloody and it covered her fur on the backside of the legs when she suffered from the bouts.

I had taken her to my local vet after each of the episodes, five that I am aware of since she lost control in the house. I am also aware she has had two other bouts outside in the backyard. Regardless, she was taken in to be examined. At first, the vet was stumped other than red, red blood was being entered into the stool pretty close to where the poop exited. Tests, tests, and more tests. It may have been a parasite - but after a series of tests over the months showed no signs of foreign bodies causing the problems. I had her given the barium and x-ray test, but the results showed there was neither a tear nor foreign object in the intestenial tract causing the blood to enter the stools. The vet finally gave me a diagnosis saying my dog was overweight, the bouts would cease if she lost weight (at the time I had just recently gotten back from Iraq and my parents spoiled my dog with food). My initial response to the overweight comment was to be furious - especially when she had another bout about 0130 hours that morning and I spent all of the morning cleaning the bed sheets and the bed (and by the time the tests were done, I was short on sleep and patience).

I had noticed inadvertently that she was having bouts after she was given chicken for dinner. If I cooked chicken for my dinner, then I would give her a part of a breast meat for her dinner. The vet thinks I am crazy about this observation since other dogs do not suffer from chicken allergies; but since she has not been given chicken in the last four months and she has not had a bout during that time.

Question - Has anyone ever had or heard of similar symptoms (may be not chicken but some other type of food)?

Question - I see there are a number of other threads on the other forums about what food to give to a dog and what not to give - specifically IAMS and PURINA. I have my dog currently on Farmore meat rolls with non-cooked stir-fry vegetables (beans, peas, broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, etc) . Anyone have any opinions about Farmore?

 

[Mordy]

it is quite possible that your dog is allergic, or at the very least sensitive, to chicken. individual circumstances vary quite a bit, but with the observation that it only happens after you feed chicken, things do point in that direction.

another thing that comes to mind after reading the symptoms you listed is pancreatitis, which can be connected to being overweight and eating a diet too high in fat. you might want to do a google search on it and do some reading.

feeding a raw diet is one of the best things you can do if your dog doesn't have problems with it. the absence of large amounts of carbs is a good thing.

 

[moe]

I agree with Mordy, sounds like pancreatitis to me too.

Mo

 

[spanielboy]

Thank you for the responses. I have looked through the internet looking for articles associated with pancreatitis, and the symptoms are very similar to what Molly was suffering through. She also needs to lose some of that extra weight she is carrying around.

I am at a loss though why chicken seemed to be the common chord between the bouts though. It is not a high fat food. She has been on a non-chicken diet since December, and I am only aware of one instant where I had found blood in one of her "poodle bombs" in the backyard. That time her food was changed to eat up some dry food I had bought to limit the amount of raw food she was in-taking. Once the blood was spotted, I took her off the dry food and she had no more symptoms (that I am aware of).

I am also at a loss to why the symptoms did not continue when she was solely given a diet of Farmore beef and buffalo meals. Those items when I had cooked them had a small puddle of grease after the meat was placed into her dish.

Her yearly physical is nearly here in a few more weeks. When I take her in, I will inquire about pancreatitis. If she has the disease, I pray through diet and exercise it can be controlled.

Thanks for the info. I am glad I created an identity and asked the question.

 

[bogolove]

My neighbor's dog has an allergy to dog food with corn in it, and it was nothing like that. I am going to guess it may be the pancreatitis. My neighbor's dog had a bad rash and allergic reaction but it was not internal, it was more external. She was itchy and had a red rash all over her body and she was losing some hair. They switched her food and it fixed the problem. Maybe something in the chicken triggers it?