 Barked: Wed Mar 6, '13 3:15pm PST |
 | |  | | Yes, I've been on an elimination diet with my dogs before. It's a tedious process but is the only way to determine if your dog's allergy is food related. Yes, you can get a blood test but they're prone to false positives and false negatives when it comes to food.
I home-made my own dog food.
Basically, this is the process of doing this:
1.) Feed your dog one protein source. If you can get something he has not had before (like rabbit) so much the better. You can do the PMR method where you just feed that prey item, or you can do the BARF method where you mix it with one carb item (like cooked rice or cooked potato). But, stick with one animal source and one carb source. When I did this, I started with turkey and rice and cottage cheese (you can find recipes off google) and a vitamin and mineral powder from the vet.
Do this for at least 8 weeks. If the allergy is still present, then try another protein source and carb source for another 8 weeks.
If the allergy is still present, then it might not be the food. If the allergy is gone, then go on to step 2.
2.) Verify that it is REALLY the food by giving him his old food for 3-5 days. If the allergy is back, then you are assured it is the food. Go on to step 3.
3.) Feed the elimination recipe for another week and start introducing another animal source after a week to figure out which one triggers an allergy. Give the new animal source for 3-5 days and see if the allergy gets triggered. If it doesn't, then add that food to the non-allergen list. If it triggers the allergy, put it on the allergen list and find another meat. Do the same thing for the carbs.
After this, you should have a good idea of which things your dog is allergic to.
It's a looooonnnggg, tedious process. |  |  | |  |
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