So 2 years ago Rufus got an allergy panel which showed very high environmental allergies to all evironmental dust mites. The vet never informed me of any food issues and never gave me the results.
Today she gave me the results and I am surprised to find that there is some slight elevations for food and I know that the allergien level in the test is not always accurate to a dog's allergy reaction when it comes to food. This is what the test showed in EA units to food. The test was done by HESKA labs.
Cooked Beef 0
Cooked chicken 5
Cooked Pork 14
Cooked Fish Mix (Cod, Haiab.,Tuna) 22
Whole Egg 0
Milk 0
Cooked Rice 3
Wheat Grain 10
Cooked Corn 29
Soybean 23
Potato 13
Cooked Lamb 7
Brewer's Yeast 7
Barley 0
Whey 0
Rabbit 0
Turkey 0
Venison 10
Should I avoid anything with less than a 0 due to the fact that he is so allergic to the mites? Does the fish also apply to fish oils? I am currently using fish oil and E. I also switched Rufus back to Raw b/c the yeast and peeling nose and bad ear infections have been impossible no matter which dry food I try.
The nose stopped peeling in 5 Days! I am using Honest Kitchen Preverence to make it easier for me and have been adding chicken leg quarters, some beef, rabbit,and some yogurt as well.
BTW the mites were
D. Farinae 2183
T. putrescentiae 1395
D. pteronyasinus 247
Some grasses such as Fescue came up as high as 71 and Yellow Dock at 78 (although I am aware that a score of 150 or more is considered significant).

1. The RAST and ELISA (blood) tests cannot accurately identify food allergies. Period.

QUOTE: Despite the fact that these tests are routinely performed and used as a diagnostic aid, there is no evidence that blood tests are accurate for the diagnosis of food allergies. Veterinary dermatologists insist that there is no merit in these tests whatsoever in the diagnosis of food allergies. The only way to accurately diagnose food allergies is with a food trial as detailed above. END from http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1664&articleid=143

This is not just one authoritative source saying this; it's every vet med manual published after 1980 and it's every vet med web site that's written by DVMs.

Food allergies are to proteins in the food (even if you don't think of it as a "protein food"). Fish oil would not trigger a true food allergy.

So as far as the food results of the blood test go, I would not use them for any decisions at all. I would also question the vet who administered a RAST or ELISA test for food allergies. I don't know whether it was just ignorance of allergy diagnosis or a desire to charge you for a blood panel, but I wouldn't be thrilled with either one. (Ignorance, though, can be fixed. )

Also, the blood tests are nowhere near as accurate as the skin tests for the allergens that they can identify (not food).

2. How is the yeast condition now? Good move on the Preference, which is grain- and gluten-free. But did you ever do an elimination diet, or are you guessing that there is a food allergy component?

3. Fescue is an extremely common canine allergen.

4. Have you done trials with Chlorpheniramine and Hydroxyzine?

5. Did you post last year, maybe, and you said that you already are doing the rinsing off of allergens, etc.? (Sorry; I don't remember all the names of allergic dogs' owners, but "Rufus" rings a bell.)

Yep same Rufus . I thought I remembered the food allergy tests were not accurate. I was on raw and Rufus was doing fairly well but life has had some pretty nasty turns as of late. So we when back on a quality dry and the peeling cracked nose, itchy eyes, infected chronic ears and very yeasty skin came back.
On Sunday I switched back to raw after being off for 3 months resulting in one miserable dog. I scheduled an appointment to the vet a week ago for today to check thyroid (he's got hypothyroidism) and skin and the peeling nose is gone eyes are better and the yeast and ears are slightly better.
He's got mainly yeast and cocci on the smear test he had done so she wants him to take ketoconizole for 3 weeks and he's taking hydroxyzine again along with topicals and rinsing and monthly allergen injections. I've been wiping his paws off daily and coat along with weekly bathing. I ran out of Ketochlor but we'll be using that again.
I think Rufus has additional problems with grains and ALL dry foods (I have tried too many to count, grain-free, limited protein etc.) and nothing has worked except the raw diet in improving his overall condition with other supportive meds.
BTW my vet is a nice lady but annoys me very much with her Science Diet perscription diet push...she has no idea I do raw B/C I'm sure I'd here all about it.

Oh and because he's done well on a lot of chicken on raw in the past and other raw meats I don't suspect protein meats as the culprit. The peeling nose and very chronic ear infections disappear on raw no matter what the meat...I just am suspecting additional allergies.
I started with the I/D science diet crap years ago for an elimination diet and got nowhere except that my dog can't take predisone at all.

Oh, no, I absolutely did not mean SD for the elimination diet!

Just a limited ingredient novel (to the individual dog) protein source diet. If the allergies clear up on foods he has never eaten, then you know he has food allergies. (Allergies develop after repeated exposure, which is why you use new foods on the elimination diet.)

Then after all the symptoms are gone, you one by one challenge the system with each food he was eating before until you identify the problem(s). Voila. You know what was causing the problems.

And an elimination diet is all we have at this point. There is NO other accurate way to ID food allergies.

Protein grains are often the culprits. And since your dog has yeast overgrowth, you absolutely want to steer away from all grains, including in treats.

I'm 100% for fresh raw food for the allergic dog and the yeasty dog (and all dogs). That's what I fashion elimination diets around -- not SD junk.

Your vet does not sound ideal for a dog with chronic yeast/allergy problems, nice or not.

I'm glad you're on top of the thyroid issue: easily remedied, and a trigger for all kinds of problems, including many that your dog exhibits.

Keep an eye on the ears! It's so much easier to nip an inflammation in the bud than treat a full-blown infection (which is also painful).

I'm glad this dog has you. Too many have nothing but a moron vet giving them daily high-dose steroids forever and a commercial lamb and rice diet.

Oh sorry Connie I knew you meant not the SD diet! I was just venting on how I've ended up doing so much research on my own with crappy vet advice and getting almost nowhere. Except I can't remember all the details like you do, my brain doesn't like to hold all that information! and have to re-read constantly.
And yeah I've been rethinking my vet but I don't really know of who to go to in the Fresno area, she's my 4th vet. Especially after a poor fellow asked the vet tech in the waiting room what they thought of raw meat for his very nice King Charles Cav. puppy...she gave all the basic vet answers, bacteria in raw meat, not balanced nutrition and advised the guy to feed Eukanuba and Science Diet.
BTW with Preverence, I noticed it contains some Vitamin E, and I think Vitamin C. Not a problem to continue with Vitamin E caps, right?
Plus I've got a 5 yr old female boxer mix with Spodylosis and a significant heart murmur around Grade III. She's got an appointment with the vet in 2 weeks as stiffness and limping has gotten more noticable lately...not so sure I want some of those arthritis meds though, they look pretty hard on the dog's body.

I just relized I didn't put the meds down for Rufus's ears. Let's see washing with Oxy-something and darn it! see I can't remember I'll have to go look but it's a newer one for ears not Mal-Otic...I'll have to look.
I was checkng his thyroid again b/c I also wasn't certain his dosage needed to change or not. Peeling nose is sign of thyroid problems right?