# Pro Plan & Allergies



## Daren Galloway (Jun 28, 2012)

15 Month old dog with allergies, shows up on his belly in bright red and develops sores. Started him on Apoquel Monday, wondering if food could be a source. Was on Pro Plan 30/20 until about 3 weeks ago and I switched to the Salmon and Rice based off of a review on chewy by a well known person of our sport. Looking at ingredients, the Sensitive Skin and Stomach has no corn, soy, or wheat and would be what most consider "grain free" however it is 26/16. Anyone have experience with these formulas of Pro Plan as they relate to allergies? 

Yes I realize it will take some time to see an effect from the food change just wanting to see what people have to say.


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## ErinsEdge (Feb 14, 2003)

I always look at going to a no corn diet first when allergies show up and go from there. Yes you may have to go several months with no meds to see if it worked. The next ingredient to take out would be chicken and you have gone to salmon. I use the Turkey and Barley Natural which is 27/17. The is a 30/20 Salmon but that has corn. https://www.proplan.com/dogs/products/sport-all-life-stages-performance-3020-salmon-rice-formula/


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## Gold Strike Labradors (Jan 8, 2014)

I tried my yellow boy on PPP 30/20 (main ingredient is chicken and chicken by products, corn) and also gave him a beef femur knuckle to gnaw on to clean his teeth. Wow! What a mess! Yeast and skin infection from all of the scratching and licking. According to Vet dermatologist, he's allergic to the proteins, chicken and beef. Vet derm. said most allergies are due to environment, grasses. After ruling out these allergy sources, the main source for food allergy are beef and chicken which are high on the list followed by grains. He was prescribed Iam's Kangaroo and Oat diet, (Amazon $$$, Chewy $$) and antibiotics and anti yeast medications. 3 months later he cleared up and I put him back on TOW Salmon. No more scratching or itching issues.


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## yukonriverriley (Aug 15, 2007)

Our all-age field trial dogs do great on the sensitive skin and stomach haven't noticed any issues switching to the lower fat/protein. Haven't had an ear infection since switching and they've been on it for 5 years or more now. I've got one that is a severe allergy dog and she is on atopica and ketaconazole to manage hers (but did clear up her chronic ear infections with the food switch - the severe allergies are environmental and didn't show up until she was 5 or 6) but the younger one hasn't ever had any allergy issues and has been on the sensitive skin and stomach since switching off puppy food.


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## JBlack (Sep 17, 2003)

I feed the sensitive skin and stomach and have great results as well.


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## Marvin S (Nov 29, 2006)

Daren Galloway said:


> 15 Month old dog with allergies, shows up on his belly in bright red and develops sores. Started him on Apoquel Monday, wondering if food could be a source. Was on Pro Plan 30/20 until about 3 weeks ago and I switched to the Salmon and Rice based off of a review on chewy by a well known person of our sport. Looking at ingredients, the Sensitive Skin and Stomach has no corn, soy, or wheat and would be what most consider "grain free" however it is 26/16. Anyone have experience with these formulas of Pro Plan as they relate to allergies?
> 
> Yes I realize it will take some time to see an effect from the food change just wanting to see what people have to say.


Costco had, at one time, a food free of everything considered allergic, also inexpensive.


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## Renee P. (Dec 5, 2010)

The usual way to do food trials for allergies is to remove all suspected allergens from the diet. Eat nothing but that diet for several weeks (I forget how many but 6 weeks is my guesstimate) and evaluate the symptoms. Then add in one new food at a time, per week, and see if the symptoms flare up.

Your best bet is to find a limited ingredient diet with novel ingredients, i.e. food ingredients that your pup has not eaten. If the dog has not been exposed to a particular food, it has not had the opportunity to develop an allergic response to it and therefore should not display allergic symptoms when initially fed. I would try and find a food that has none of the ingredients found in the Pro Plan and see how it goes. For example, take a look at Nature's Variety Instinct limited ingredient line. Their Limited Ingredient Rabbit Meal Formula is rabbit meal, peas and tapioca---I don't think PP has these so a possible choice. Although it does not have the ideal fat and protein content for a working dog, it is an all life stages food so will have the other critical things your pup needs. Since you are trying to determine a food allergen, you just need to be detective---you do not have to commit to feeding the food long term.

The grasses around here are irritating, maybe they are there, too. My dog gets an itchy belly from the grass but usually a little Sulfodene 3-way ointment knocks it down, and it or Neosporin is worth trying to keep the itchy red bumps from getting out of control.

I hope you figure something out. If you come across a miracle food, let the rest of us know.

(Edit: Just to clarify, Nature's Variety Instinct makes several feeds with similar names. There is a regular rabbit meal feed version and a limited ingredient version.)


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## Daren Galloway (Jun 28, 2012)

Whats the cost benefit of having him tested for allergies instead of playing detective?


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## ErinsEdge (Feb 14, 2003)

Environmental allergies testing and desensitization will work somewhat but food allergies work best with an elimination diet. There are certain allergies that are more common in dogs, chicken, beef, corn, wheat soy. Very often the shot gun approach works but in really, really bad allergies, you may have to go to the odd protein and slowly add other ingredients. It's similar in humans. You may test allergic to some substances but in vivo are not allergic.


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## Renee P. (Dec 5, 2010)

My experience is with humans. The skin allergy tests give you the list of suspected allergens, but there are a lot of false positives, so you follow up with the food elimination trials like I tried to describe. There are some blood tests that identify specific antibodies to specific protein that are allegedly more clear, but I don't have experience with them. I have a cat that was very near death a few years ago, she is alive and well now eating the cat version of the food I mentioned above. My vet had suggested the same strategy that we used for my son on the cat. It was a lot of trial and error.

If you get anywhere with allergy testing on your dog, I would love to know what you find out.

Meanwhile you will have trouble learning anything with the Pro Plan because it has mystery ingredients like "poultry by product," "fish meal," "animal digest" etc. so you don't know for sure what exactly they are eating that could be causing the allergy. Also keep in mind that manufacturers use the same equipment to process different feeds, so one of the selling points of the hypo allergenic feeds sold by vets is that they have a lower risk of cross contamination from multiple protein sources. Or so they say.


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## dr_dog_guy (May 25, 2003)

mitty said:


> My experience is with humans. The skin allergy tests give you the list of suspected allergens, but there are a lot of false positives, so you follow up with the food elimination trials like I tried to describe. There are some blood tests that identify specific antibodies to specific protein that are allegedly more clear, but I don't have experience with them.


My experience is also with humans, most notably (to myself) me. I've found the skin tests to be extremely inaccurate at best. Several things I know without doubt that I'm highly allergic to did not show, and some things I've never had a problem with did. 

Personally, the elimination and trial method has worked for me and my family human and canine, and the skin tests have not. The blood test I lack experience with.


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## John Lash (Sep 19, 2006)

Problem with food elimination as a way of testing for allergies is that many allergies are seasonal. You think you've found the culprit when in reality the offending allergen is just not around that time of year.

A good dermatologist told me that very few foods are the cause of allergies. 

I had a dog on Atopica that was a miracle cure. Even then it took two months for the dog to start looking better. Often times his coat wouldn't look right until it grew back in the spring or fall when he would have normally shed.

We tried the skin testing at a time when he was flaring up. Lot of money, inconclusive results. Tried the blood test, inconclusive or allergic to pretty much everything.


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## MomofTess (Jul 20, 2010)

You might want to look at the web site NutriScan.org. They offer testing for food allergens. It is expensive but I was at the point where I didn't know what else to do for my dog. Just got the results for my dog and am looking at which food will be the best for him.

Good luck.


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## ErinsEdge (Feb 14, 2003)

With allergies there can also be problems with a certain food at a certain time or even a 3 allergen affect. For some reason corn may not be a true allergy but symptom's may be less if it is eliminated.


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## Marissa E. (May 13, 2009)

Im feeding PP 30/20 sport to a lab and a beagle, the other lab and beagle get sensitive skin and stomach.
My young pup (blm 10 months old) just has a terrible stomach. I've had him into the vet many times and everything is tested and looked into and where it should be, he has urine and stool sampled, he has nothing out of place or eaten that shouldn't have been. He just has very loose stools but on the Sensitive Skin and stomach he is finally looking better and starting to shine after the first bag.
The beagle that is on it just gets fat off everything but this food has her slimming down and lookin a little more lean.


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## dr tim (Feb 11, 2013)

I have to say I have seen quite a few dogs over the years that are allergic to one or more of the proteins in the food the owners were currently feeding and once we eliminated those things got much,much better. The incidence of allergies to specific proteins are fairly similar with not one being the major culprit across the board. Some studies list that at about 4% incidence for each type of protein(corn, rabbit, beef, pork, etc.) but no one protein is, say, 50% of all causes of itch as pertains to a food protein.

Dogs are allergic to specific proteins, not a brand, so eliminating the offending protein is the ticket. The food allergic dog can present at any age, even under a year of age with either skin itching or skin inflammation signs or about 20% or the dogs that are food allergic will show gastrointestinal signs as well. The big difference with a food allergy and a pollen allergy as you mentioned is the seasonality of the skin signs. Here I get winter and snow to cover up the pollen so it lends a big helping hand as to separating the two main causes for skin itching. Other areas don't have winter but the offending pollen may have a time of year when it is more prevalent.

As to differentiating the actual protein culprits the elimination diet idea tends to be very helpful in addition to some tests that are available to aid in this cause.

Here is a link to an article that may help out a lot- http://drtims.com/the-itchy-pet-how-to-figure-it-out/

Seasonality, age of the dog, location of the lesions, response to medicines(food allergies often do not respond well to steroids or the effect of improving the itch is very short lived versus a pollen allergic dog, for instance), concurrent skin infection(what came first the flaky skin or the itch-did one lead to the other), skin scrapings ad infinitum are all important in figuring this out. And some cases are plain and simple tough to crack but those are fewer than you think.


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## Daren Galloway (Jun 28, 2012)

Thanks everyone this helps a lot. I'm going to start with letting his Apoquel run out, he will have been on the Salmon and rice for nearly 2 months by then, and see if the rash returns.


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## frontier (Nov 3, 2003)

Might be worth looking into Dr. Jean Dodds Nutriscan testing. Lot's of good information on her site as well.
http://www.nutriscan.org/order.html


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## Smooth Boar (Aug 5, 2014)

Sounds very similar to what we were experiencing with our 15 month old who was getting Pro Plan Sport. We switched to Taste of the Wild. He also gets a fish oil pill mixed in with his food every evening. And his mornings start out with a generic form of Claritan in a spoonful of peanut butter. His coat is shiny and full. Sores are gone. So far so good.


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## wojo (Jun 29, 2008)

Have fed ProPlan for years and like the product. I did move my 10+ year old male lab to Fromm grain free 2 months ago. Result have been terrific . Hardly any scratching and no ear gunk. Check out Fromm , they have been in business for years and have a terrific track record. www.frommfamily.com.


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## freezeland (Nov 1, 2012)

Marvin S said:


> Costco had, at one time, a food free of everything considered allergic, also inexpensive.


Yes, and its still carried at least around here. It is called Kirkland Natures Domain Salmon and Sweet Potato Grain Free All Life Stage. It's $33.00 for a 35 lb bag. Only draw back is it's made by Diamond for Costco's kirkland branded items.


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## Daren Galloway (Jun 28, 2012)

Ok been on Apoquel for a month, rash has not returned at all, down to half pill a day for 3 weeks, however coat is still not outstanding, its ok, but not great. Still feeding the salmon and rice.


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