I wanted to share what happened at the vet who took care of Kasey's dental stuff yesterday. He is a regular vet too, and apparently has a lot of clients with allergy dogs. So when they were asking me for Kasey's history before the surgery, it of course came out that Kasey is a major allergy dog.

I told them we went to the derma vet and he was very interested to know all of what we do with Kasey because he looks so great - if you look at him and even his skin, you wouldn't know he is allergic to 43 different things (you have to see all the scratching and rolling around!)

Anyway, I'm always reluctant to discuss the raw feeding topic, but did, and he was very impressed to see how it seems to really make a difference. He was also really interested in the protocol we use for yeast - we give Kasey Fluconazole (anti yeast Rx) only on the weekends, and it has kept him yeast free for several years now. He hasn't had to go on an antibiotic for quite some time which also helps.

I told him about the fish oil, vitamin E and probiotics too, and also the frequent baths. We do give allergy shots also, which are not a huge part of the help for him since he's allergic to so many things, but it's part of the solution. It's amazing how vets (and I was really impressed with this one) just don't know a lot about allergy dogs.

I'm writing this to reinforce how important it is to get to a dermatology vet when you suspect your dogs have allergies. It is only less than 10% of dogs that have allergies to food!! Fleas are a big cause of itching/allergy problems, and then in a close second are environmental allergies - and those are the ones that regular vets are often clueless about and will just put you on all kinds of hypoallergenic foods and drugs, that won't help in the long run, and often make it worse.

This vet was very open to learning something from a layperson but many aren't!

Thank you for making this great post!

I know sometimes we (who have been there, done that, and not just once) sometimes feel that we're banging our heads against a wall when we point out that "It is only less than 10% of dogs that have allergies to food!! Fleas are a big cause of itching/allergy problems, and then in a close second are environmental allergies - and those are the ones that regular vets are often clueless about and will just put you on all kinds of hypoallergenic foods and drugs, that won't help in the long run, and often make it worse."