Poor Falcon. I hope you get him cleared up soon.

I was joking with friends the other night about new sources of raw food and jobs. We came up with an ostrich ranch. Have a drumstick, anyone?

"Falcon still has tattered ears, is still scratching - primarily his ears, and shoulder blades, nibbles on the fronts of his legs and occassionally nibbles at the base of his tail, but not often."

Any face itching (rubbing on carpets, etc.)? Belly? Foot chewing? Ear infections?

It's very hard to fit what you describe into the range of food allergy symptoms. Unless .... has he had recurring or persistent ear infections?

I'm not saying "can't be" .... not at all. But I'm wondering if the food trial is more of a checklist kind of thing than a real suspicion of food allergies.



Do you know that there are canned L.I. exotic-protein foods? (Canned, of course, means that the starches necessary for the kibbling -- extrusion -- process are not needed.) Also, that there are good canned all-meat exotic proteins (including rabbit and several others) that are not complete but do provide the difficult part (the meat) in accessible, simple form ....

I can't picture cuts of bison with enough digestible bone to suffice. In fact, I pretty much expect that you will find mainly boneless.

Yes, eggshells can be used for the calcium in this case. Because you don't know whether egg-white protein is a problem, you'd be pretty careful about washing them out.

What else besides the bison or duck were you planning to use?

Because of the length of a food trial, it's good to really think out those couple of ingredients first; you will have zero variety and zero way to add additional micronutrients. And it's good also to consider how to contrive training rewards from the ingredients you choose. (It can be done. )


PS


About the external parasites: I take it the skin scrapings were inconclusive?

Does he have bumps or any other rash, pustules, etc.?


"My heart of hearts tells me it isn't food related, but then, I really thought it was mites, so obviously my instincts aren't working too well right now."

My heart of hearts agrees with yours.

My heart of hearts said resistant mites.

But obviously, this is no obscure possibility that an allergy vet would not have thought of.

BTW, does he have more BMs than you would consider to be average? More than one (or so) a day?

 Quote: connie sutherland

"Falcon still has tattered ears, is still scratching - primarily his ears, and shoulder blades, nibbles on the fronts of his legs and occassionally nibbles at the base of his tail, but not often."

Any face itching (rubbing on carpets, etc.)? Belly? Foot chewing? Ear infections?

It's very hard to fit what you describe into the range of food allergy symptoms. Unless .... has he had recurring or persistent ear infections?

I'm not saying "can't be" .... not at all. But I'm wondering if the food trial is more of a checklist kind of thing than a real suspicion of food allergies.



Do you know that there are canned L.I. exotic-protein foods? (Canned, of course, means that the starches necessary for the kibbling -- extrusion -- process are not needed.) Also, that there are good canned all-meat exotic proteins (including rabbit and several others) that are not complete but do provide the difficult part (the meat) in accessible, simple form ....

I can't picture cuts of bison with enough digestible bone to suffice. In fact, I pretty much expect that you will find mainly boneless.

Yes, eggshells can be used for the calcium in this case. Because you don't know whether egg-white protein is a problem, you'd be pretty careful about washing them out.

What else besides the bison or duck were you planning to use?

Because of the length of a food trial, it's good to really think out those couple of ingredients first; you will have zero variety and zero way to add additional micronutrients. And it's good also to consider how to contrive training rewards from the ingredients you choose. (It can be done. )


PS


About the external parasites: I take it the skin scrapings were inconclusive?

Does he have bumps or any other rash, pustules, etc.?


"My heart of hearts tells me it isn't food related, but then, I really thought it was mites, so obviously my instincts aren't working too well right now."

My heart of hearts agrees with yours.

My heart of hearts said resistant mites. But obviously, this is no obscure possibility that an allergy vet would not have thought of.



BTW, does he have more BMs than you would consider to be average? More than one (or so) a day?

Barbara, does the Vet thinking this is food related or is it just the first place she wants to start?
I was thinking in line with what Connie was saying about that.

Any reason why she doesn't want to do intradermal testing right away?
What have the pollen counts been like recently where you live?

"Falcon still has tattered ears, is still scratching - primarily his ears, and shoulder blades, nibbles on the fronts of his legs and occassionally nibbles at the base of his tail, but not often."

Any face itching (rubbing on carpets, etc.)? Belly? Foot chewing? Ear infections? Occassional face rubbing but absolutely no ear infections ever.

It's very hard to fit what you describe into the range of food allergy symptoms. Unless .... has he had recurring or persistent ear infections? Not one.

I'm not saying "can't be" .... not at all. But I'm wondering if the food trial is more of a checklist kind of thing than a real suspicion of food allergies. My impression is that this is definitely "the next thing to do" rather than a suspicion of a food allergy.

Do you know that there are canned L.I. exotic-protein foods? (Canned, of course, means that the starches necessary for the kibbling -- extrusion -- process are not needed.) Also, that there are good canned all-meat exotic proteins (including rabbit and several others) that are not complete but do provide the difficult part (the meat) in accessible, simple form ....

I can't picture cuts of bison with enough digestible bone to suffice. In fact, I pretty much expect that you will find mainly boneless.

Yes, eggshells can be used for the calcium in this case. Because you don't know whether egg-white protein is a problem, you'd be pretty careful about washing them out.

What else besides the bison or duck were you planning to use? Rabbit, venison... anything appropriate.

Because of the length of a food trial, it's good to really think out those couple of ingredients first; you will have zero variety and zero way to add additional micronutrients. And it's good also to consider how to contrive training rewards from the ingredients you choose. (It can be done. )


PS


About the external parasites: I take it the skin scrapings were inconclusive? Yes, as were the numerous tapings of between toes, etc...

Does he have bumps or any other rash, pustules, etc.?
He had a bacterial skin infection on the stomach/groin area when we first went to the allergist, but this has cleared with antibiotics and baths.

"My heart of hearts tells me it isn't food related, but then, I really thought it was mites, so obviously my instincts aren't working too well right now."

My heart of hearts agrees with yours.

My heart of hearts jumped to resistant mites. But obviously, this is no obscure possibility that an allergy vet would not have thought of. We did discuss this, which is why we went to the sulphur dips after not seeing improvement with the Revolution.

BTW, does he have more BMs than you would consider to be average? More than one (or so) a day? He is a dependable once, maybe twice a day guy. No more.

Would you suggest having the discussion of perhaps going straight to the environmental allergy testing?

---

What else besides the bison or duck were you planning to use?

"Rabbit, venison... anything appropriate."

I meant, what else in the diet? Venison and .....

Awwwww, crap. I'm sorry to hear that Barbara. That stinks.

I know you've been to a specialist, but in my experience (vet tech) mites can be REALLY hard to nail down... ?... I wish I had better ideas for you, but Connie, Joyce, Michael, and Aaron are already here. I'll shut up now.

 Quote: connie sutherland

What else besides the bison or duck were you planning to use?

"Rabbit, venison... anything appropriate."

I meant, what else in the diet? Venison and .....

Ooops, sorry.

We would stay on the Vit. e & Fish oil and she suggested carrots/green beans as well. That is all which was discussed.

I would personally stay away from bison. Most "bison" in the food supply are actually just beefalo. The industry is pretty dodgey about correctly identifying hybrid animals.

 Quote: Kelly Byrd

Awwwww, crap. I'm sorry to hear that Barbara. That stinks.

I know you've been to a specialist, but in my experience (vet tech) mites can be REALLY hard to nail down... ?... I wish I had better ideas for you, but Connie, Joyce, Michael, and Aaron are already here. I'll shut up now.

Kelly, I honestly thought (after initial denial) that we were dealing with mites, based on the tattered ears and face rubbing. We've done two courses of Revolution and the sulphur dips - does anything else come to mind from your experience??

 Quote: melissa thom

I would personally stay away from bison. Most "bison" in the food supply are actually just beefalo. The industry is pretty dodgey about correctly identifying hybrid animals.

Michael also commented on this, so if we DO end up going this route, I'll buy directly from the source if possible, not from a store. We have a farm with bison not far from us, and I have a friend whose business purchases organic meats straight from the farmers around our state. It is pricy, but I'm pretty sure I can avoid the beef issue. Thanks Melissa!