Allergies , exclusion diet & allergy testing

[Ernies mum]

Poor Ernie has been struggling off & on now for couple of years with general itchiness , flare ups of swollen eyes , pyoderma , dry flaky skin , anal gland problems ( he has to regularly get them emptied ) , he's been scratching at his ears & shaking his head more & now loosing fur around his nose !! I took him back to vet on Monday & was told yet again that his ears were clean , He'd been treated for ear mites just in case , checked for fleas & mites but nothing showing & up to date with treatments anyway . Vet finally looked through Ernies notes & said that he felt all problems were related & probably due to allergies ..... finally !!!! So we're now starting on an exclusion diet , on advice of vet I ordered some hills z/d allergen free diet . Got to feed this to Ernie & nothing else for 6 weeks & then start adding different meats to see if he has a reaction . If this doesn't prove successful then it may be an environmental allergy rather than food related & vet said we could try medication - apoocle ( not sure how that's spelt ) .
However I've been doing some research & now wondering why vet didn't advise on doing allergy testing , as surely this would show food / environmental allergies straight away . I'm just conscious of fact that Ernie is uncomfortable & like him to feel better sooner rather than later .
Vet did give Ernie steroid injection on Monday but he's back to itching again !
Can anyone who has had a similar experiences please offer some advise before I phone vets & ask about testing  .
Ps Ernie does suffer with sensitive tummy too so has previously been fed millieswolfheeart which is grain free .

[rubybella]

My lab had allergy testing. Came back as having strong reaction to most meats, also all grains, and dust mites, storage and house mites.

I was given option of the hills diet but decided against as very expensive and so highly processed. Instead once I had results of tests I could search for a food which only had the things she could eat. She is on Milieswolfheart Utility which is just fish and veg.

I can't do much about the mites, other than hoover regularly and wash bedding regularly.

[Ernies mum]

My lab had allergy testing. Came back as having strong reaction to most meats, also all grains, and dust mites, storage and house mites.

I was given option of the hills diet but decided against as very expensive and so highly processed. Instead once I had results of tests I could search for a food which only had the things she could eat. She is on Milieswolfheart Utility which is just fish and veg.

I can't do much about the mites, other than hoover regularly and wash bedding regularly.

Thank you , rubybella , how did vets test for allergies - was it blood tests & how long did it take for results to come back ? . I definitely don't want Ernie on prescription diet long term unless there are no other options 

[Archie bean]

I've had the same problem with Archie for a few years. General itchiness and nasty sore, infected wounds caused by constant scratching and licking. He was on endless steroids and anti-biotics which worked temporarily but the problem always came back. We were already on an exclusion diet (salmon and potato) for colitis, which was totally sorted by it. Allergies seemed the obvious issue as spring and summer were definitely the worst time of year.
Just after Christmas the vet agreed to allergy tests. Several foods came back positive as well as lots of different types of plants. Summer is going to be tough! However, the main thing that I was able to do something about was peas and soya. I was giving him Forthglade salmon once or twice a week because it contained veggies which I thought was good for him but it contains peas. I also gave him a small salmon treat a couple of times a week and that contained soya. Cutting both those out made a massive difference and he has been itch free ever since. Until this week!!!
A regular flare-up spot is his tail gland (not anal gland, the gland on the top of his tail) He has just started nibbling it again. I've been washing it with hibiscrub and using an anti-itch spray and so far, it is looking OK and isn't causing too much of a problem. Having the allergy test means I'm not stabbing in the dark trying to work out what might or might not be causing it. I know there are going to be issues over the summer months and the vet has suggested we might try appoquel if things get bad again. I'm hoping I can avoid that.

[siam]

Alfie, now 7 yrs has had skin allergy issues since he was a puppy. After some prolonged spells of steroids I decided to try immunotherapy. We were pretty sure it was pollen related as he’s OK over the winter months but we needed to know exactly which ones he was allergic too. They also did the food allergy tests at the same time as he’d had some tummy problems too.  I can’t remember the name of the tests but he had blood taking to be sent away and the cost about £350. The results came back in about a week. We were totally dumbfounded ( including the vets) when all the tests came back negative, especially grass as we thought it would be at the top of the list. I was really disappointed as I’d wanted to give immunotherapy a try rather than prolonged use of steroids. As it happened Apoquel was new on the scene and Alfie’s vet thought he’d be a very good candidate for it. He’s now been on it 6 months of each year for the last 4 years and it has been his saviour. He no longer has the terrible itching, scratching, lumps & bumps on his tummy, skin infections and bald bits that he’s had previously. 

I do hope you get to the bottom of Ernie’s itchiness problems but I can’t rate Apoquel high enough. Alfie has one tablet daily and there have been no side effects whatsoever.
 

[Ernies mum]

Thank you sooo much everyone for your replies , it's been very useful to hear from others with similar problems . Sounds like as I thought the allergy testing is the way forward followed by apoquel if we have no joy excluding anything testing may show up . I'll continue with the hypo allergenic food til the testing can be done & results are back .
Sending you all a huge thank you once again 

[phoenix]

Its good you are working through this with your vet.   There are test kits for "sensitivities" , conning people that it's the same as an allergy, available online that are  a complete waste of money, using saliva or hair.  Proper blood tests or skin patches are the reliable way for true allergies. I hope you get results you can work with easily.  However it would be nice and cheap if th exclusion diet worked first.