A Novel Source of Dietary Allergen
Big doggy smile during acupuncture!
Food Allergy Elimination Diets Can be Tricky
As anyone who has suspected their dog has a food allergy can attest, we wish there were accurate saliva or blood tests to make the food allergy diagnosis easy. However, the interpretation of these tests is unreliable. Saliva or blood tests for food allergies may not be as helpful as we would like.
The gold standard for dog food allergy testing is an allergy elimination diet. You can learn a step-by-step allergy elimination protocol here.
5 Common reasons a “perfect” dog food allergy elimination diet trial fails
The usual reasons a food allergy elimination trial fails:
- lack of committment from everyone in the family
- food falling from the table, especially with little kids in the house
- dog steals cat food. or kitty “snax” out of the litter pan or the garden
- medication or supplements with unsuspected allergens, like “real beef flavor”
- neighbors/friends giving biscuits you do not know about
An unusual reason a dog food allergy elimination diet had to be restarted from the beginning
My friend Benji
Let me introduce Benji. Benji is a much beloved mixed breed long-haired blonde. He has every attention and care that a devoted human can provide. Three weeks into his eight week dog food allergy elimination trial diet, Dr Truli received a text unlike any other.
“Omg Benji ate a piece of styrofoam”
“He ate a whole one of these pieces”
Omg my dog ate a foam packing peanut
Doc Truli advised Benji’s mom to apply water to the foam packing peanut and see if it melted. It did!
The Good News and the Bad News
Good news: not a foreign body obstruction.
Bad news: possible break in Benji’s dog food allergy elimination diet.
Turns out, these packing peanuts are made of planet-friendly starch. They melt in water and do not add to landfills or waste disposal problems.
However, the starch comes usually from sorghum or from corn. We suspected Benji is allergic to corn! This little “snack” of packing material was a violation of Benji’s dog food allergy elimination diet protocol. We had to restart his 8-12 week “clean” diet in case the packing material was made of a starch that triggered his allergies.
Doc Truli Learned Yet Another Way a Dog Food Allergy Elimination Diet Can be Messed-Up
Turns out, environmentally-friendly packing peanuts can ruin a dog food allergy elimination trial! Let’s keep those packing “peanuts” away from your allergic dog.
Acknowledgement: Special thanks to Benji and his person Liz for the learning experience, beautiful pictures and permission to share this story. -Doc Truli September 1, 2021, Palm Harbor, Florida, USA. To schedule an appointment email DrTruli@VetVMD.com.
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