After 10 weeks on an elimination diet I began to reintroduce food; I was not anticipating finding anything since during the first week of the diet it was determined Thor's itching and lesion issues had another source but I kept him on the diet anyway just in case.

I added chicken followed by goat then lamb and this week pork. I fed for about 2 weeks before introducing anything else. Lo and behold I fed the pork on Saturday and within hours he was scratching, some itching on Sunday less yesterday and today he's fine. Do I have to put him back on an elimination diet or can I continue to feed the meats he was fine with and in two weeks introduce something else? I rarely feed pork so its not a problem to not feed it again but I was doing some reading today and it sounds like I should go back to a novel protein.

Advice?

 Quote: sheila buckley

After 10 weeks on an elimination diet I began to reintroduce food; I was not anticipating finding anything since during the first week of the diet it was determined Thor's itching and lesion issues had another source but I kept him on the diet anyway just in case.

I added chicken followed by goat then lamb and this week pork. I fed for about 2 weeks before introducing anything else. Lo and behold I fed the pork on Saturday and within hours he was scratching, some itching on Sunday less yesterday and today he's fine. Do I have to put him back on an elimination diet or can I continue to feed the meats he was fine with and in two weeks introduce something else? I rarely feed pork so its not a problem to not feed it again but I was doing some reading today and it sounds like I should go back to a novel protein.

Advice?

Depends. You say that the elimination diet didn't pan out -- that "it was determined Thor's itching and lesion issues had another source. "

So I'm not clear on how the reaction to the pork was so clear. Was he not already (still) itching, since the food trial had not stopped the itching?

What I'm getting at is that if the food trial proved no relief with novel foods, how can he be allergic to pork? Or was the food trial just inconclusive?

I would certainly stop the pork, but what else I would do depends on the answers to these questions ... mainly to the one about how the trial affected him.

Am I clear or is this as convoluted to read as it was to type?

What were the food items in the elimination diet?

Was the pork cured or smoked or injected (looking for a sensitivity here)?

A little background would probably be helpful

He began itching in May was treated with Prednisone since it seemed like an environmental allergy and skin scrapings came back negative. Came off the pred itching resumed. Back on for one more try and then ran into serious health issues. Lesions, weight loss, dehydration, finally discovered a tumor which was cancerous. It was removed and many of his issues started to subside; it is believed the tumor was throwing histamines. In the mean time I had started the elimination diet and just continued it. In case the original itching had nothing to do with what followed over the following 2 months. So a lot of things happened that could have cleared everything up or maybe it was the diet.

Anyway, it was more as a precaution and I was very surprised he had a reaction to the pork. I very rarely feed it maybe a couple times a month so not feeding it is no big deal. I'm just wondering if I should go back to a novel diet or feed him as usual and just avoid pork.

The pork was from a butcher's it was raw not cured or smoked and was rib meat minus the bone. I'm not sure if it was injected.

A mast cell tumor? On the skin?

How old is he?

Unfortunately, mast cell tumors aren't clearly defined as only a trigger to the allergic-type histamine reactions in the dog; the inverse may also be true, with allergies (and some other inflammatory ailments) possibly triggering the MCT.

If it was a MCT, what grade and stage was it?


PS
I'm not a medical professional. All JMO.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Was it a mast cell tumor?

No. It was a hermangiosarcoma but did not behave like one. When aspirated the blood came back as blood no atypical cells or signs of cancer. His other bloodwork was always normal. However Thor continued to decline and lose weight so my vet took it out and sent it to an oncologist, immunologist, and dermatologist. The tumor itself was cancerous but completely encapsulated and had grown into his chest wall but the border and surrounding tissue was clear of any cancer.

The lesions which had erupted all over his body began to clear with the removal of the tumor which is why the possiblility of it acting like a mast cell tumor was hypothesized. At the same time biopsies of the lesions showed no sign of infection or yeast or anything abnormal; however he was placed on cephalaxen which may have cleared them up or it could have been the removal of the tumor. Between my vet and 3 specialists no one had seen a case like it and rather than continue testing to diagnose I treated the symptoms in hope of him regaining some quality of life. Which luckily he is doing WONDERFUL!! Except I think pork makes him itchy

By the way the novel protein for the elimination diet was duck.

So (just my curiosity) it was on the skin and was removed with margins? By " the possiblility of it acting like a mast cell tumor was hypothesized" I guess you mean that it was thought that maybe the tumor was doing the same histamine stuff that a MCT does?

Very very interesting.

Well .... I'd definitely stop the pork, but I don't know about re-starting the trial. I think that'd depend on whether or not the trial helped. Had the tumor removal eliminated all the allergy symptoms? He was symptom-free after the tumor-removal until he ate pork? That would probably mean that I would simply never feed pork. If he was not symptom-free at the end of the trial, then I'd be thinking that the trial had indicated that there was no food allergy.

I'm really happy that he's doing so great!