Dog Allergy Test

What is a Dog Allergy Test?

Allergies are a defense mechanism of your dog’s immune system against certain kinds of environmental factors we call allergens.  These can be in the air, water, food, etc.  They can be on the skin or inhaled or ingested.  For this reason there are several types of a dog allergy test.

dog allergy test

A dog allergy test can consist of a blood test, intradermal (inside the skin) testing, and elimination and overexposure trials.  Depending on which allergen is suspected to be the problem determines which dog allergy test will be used.  Your veterinarian would know the most appropriate option, but if you want to try the most inexpensive and easiest solution without the intervention of a professional, then try an elimination trial with hypoallergenic dog food.

Dog Allergy Test – Elimination Trials

The absolute easiest and cheapest solution is to test for allergens in your dog’s food.  It is easiest to eliminate all possible allergens in your dog’s food by switching the beast to a hypoallergenic dog food for about ten weeks and then see if the dog’s allergies clear up.  Dogs can be allergic to all kinds of ingredients in the normal dog food, so instead of trying to eliminate each one one at a time, you can just get rid of all of them at once by changing the diet to the hypoallergenic dog food.  You can significantly trim time off of the elimination trial this way.  Otherwise you have to do homecooked meals and try each ingredient at a time with a waiting period of weeks to see if the dog responds.

If these allergies persist after changing to a hypoallergenic dog food then you need to think of other places these allergens could exist in the environment.  You can dust and clean regularly, bathe the dog in a hypoallergenic dog shampoo regularly, and wash and change his or her bedding frequently.  Otherwise, you’ll want to look into blood tests and intradermal testing.

Dog Allergy Test – Blood and Intradermal Tests

dog allergy test It is possible to use a blood test to detect allergies in pups.  There are a couple of types of a dog allergy test that can be used on your dogs.  Without going into the details, they both test for the presence of antibodies in the blood showing that the dog’s immune system is reacting to the allergen.  There is a disadvantage to a blood dog allergy test.  It can’t be used to detect dog food allergies.  Thus you might as well go ahead and begin with the food elimination trials.  Try a hypoallergenic dog food first.

An intradermal dog allergy test can detect allergens that are inhaled by the mutt.  The test will be done upon a small piece of skin on the dog.  The area is exposed to a bunch of common allergens through

an injection.  If the dog is allergic to the allergens in the shot, the skin will react by becoming irritated through swelling and redness.  Expect this reaction within five hours of the intradermal dog allergy test.  If the blood and intradermal dog allergy test doesn’t solve your problem, then go back to where you should have begun.  Try your dog out on a hypoallergenic dog food.  This is the cheapest, least expensive and easiest option.