Affordable Allergy Testing- For Pets

About a year ago we tested the dogs with 5strands affordable intolerance testing... and to be honest the results were life changing for two of our three dogs.

Before I dig deeper, I'll fill you in in on the test itself. These tests are MUCH cheaper than intolerance testing through your vet, they require no blood work. All you do is send in some fur. (I aggressively scratched the dogs backs and sprinkled the hair that came loose into a bag), and you get the results back CRAZY fast. (about 5-7 days after they receive the fur sample you send in via snail mail)

Secondly, it is important to know the difference between allergies and intolerances.

An intolerance doesn't take place in the bodies immune system and may appear hours or days after you come in contact with this intolerance. An intolerance isn't usually life threatening... but it can cause uncomfortable side effects like an upset stomach or a rash.

An Allergy is an immune system response. An allergy response is caused by the body thinking what you consumed or came in contact with is a harmful substance and attacks it.

Now to get to the good stuff. Our beagle mix named Pigpen was breaking out in hives almost weekly.. When I stumbled upon this test one day scrolling through instagram... I HAD to get it. I was tired of throwing away so much money "testing" different dog foods, buying shoes for him to keep him from chewing on his feet, salt soaks to help his skin... I had it! My dog was balding and had flakey skin... and it wasn't cute.

They were having a sale, so I decided I would just test all three dogs. In my mind.. Pigpen was the only dog that had an "issue". Boy was I wrong!

Side story about Chevy (shown above with the test kit) She used to throw up daily (usually water) and it would happen at strange times of the day. She could eat breakfast at 7am, and throw up water at 10am, then throw up her entire breakfast at 3pm and it seemed like she didn't digest it at all. We asked the vet multiple times... they always brushed it off so we just assumed that was just Chevy.

When we got the results back I think I spent a good two days just sitting there at a loss. The results were overwhelming (I probably shouldn't have done all three dogs at the same time) BUT a few days later I pulled out a highlighter and tackled the list.

These were Chevy's food intolerances. I decided to eliminate everything in red and yellow first. If something appears on the list twice in two colors, it should also be removed immediately. (Notice yeast is in the yellow and the green)

So I decided to highlight the items that were most likely going to be found in dog food. After hours of searching. Chevy can't have dog food. Almost every brand has sunflower oil. Or pumpkin. (poor thing, i was giving her pumpkin almost weekly because I thought she always had an upset stomach...) So I found a food that mostly eliminated this list. Zignature Pork is what we ended up with. It didn't 100% follow the list but it was the closest thing I could find and for some reason Zignature Pork doesn't have sunflower oil.

We went a few months on this food, it helped her a LOT but I noticed her fur was pretty dull, and while she wasn't throwing up anymore which was great... that saved us BOAT LOADS of money on paper towels.. she just wasn't right yet.

I took the plunge and decided to start cooking for her. This way I could 100% monitor what she is eating and eliminate everything from her list. I did lots of research, got all the ingredients we needed... and set off to cook food for Chevy. It took me about 5 hours to make a months worth of food. This wasn't ideal... but now that I have it down, Its down to two hours.

Fast forward a month or two, Chevy is doing GREAT! Makes me feel like those hours slaving over the stove for my dog is 100% worth it! (side note: I would go get myself a dollar bean and cheese burrito after spending 5 hours cooking healthy food for Chevy... really shows how much I love her) So I recently started adding Stella and Chewys Freeze dried patties. This is helping me a lot with cooking her food, and its easier for on the go if she can eat something that doesn't have to be refrigerated. (we camp a lot) Chevy is thriving and better than she's ever been. She's a bit on the skinny side, so Ive started adding lunch on active days... but her skin looks great, she's more alert, she only throws up now if someone feeds her a treat without asking me first and I couldn't be happier. I think its important to note if you have a dog who is living a similar "gets sick often" life like Chevy that eating healthier food is better... but It won't become a life changing difference if you don't know what their body can't handle.

Back to Pigpen. Pigpen had Salmon on his allergy list which happened to be the first ingredient in the food he was eating at the time of the test... BUT i knew that wasn't what was causing the skin issues because I kept switching his food to try to figure out what was causing issues. Turns out Pigpen's test was more environmental. He's intolerant to Laundry Detergent and Pine trees. Guess what tree is all over my neighborhood. Pine Trees. Then I realized the lawn that he plays fetch on every day after work has two giant pine trees shading the area. Which explains why he was allergic to my neighborhood grass but not my parents neighborhood grass 20 minutes away. Grass wasn't the problem at all! So now we happily play fetch in full sun on the lawn that isn't shaded by a Pine tree. (sounds really dumb... I should have figured this out on my own... but until I got the test... the pine tree issue never clicked in my head)

And with his laundry detergent issue... his crate bedding now gets washed in hot water only. His skin has cleared up.. and instead of breaking out in hives once a week or so... he's breaking out in hives maybe once every two or three months. I still carry Benadryl in my car and my purse at all times just in case he has a flair up... but I feel so SO much better that he isn't taking it weekly anymore... and we won't need to go to the vet for allergy shots.

If you can relate to either of these stories... I STRONGLY recomend testing your dog.

They have human tests as well which actually was pretty life changing for myself. I had no idea I was gluten intolerant. But this is a story for another blog post.

Click the "Click Here" Image shown above to head to the Affordable Pet Intolerance test page. You can enter code "Chevytheboston" at checkout to save some Money.

Let us know how it goes for you. We LOVE hearing your stories. If you have any questions... feel free to reach out to us any time on Chevys Instagram page, @Chevytheboston or you can email us at chevytheboston@aol.com.