What to expect in allergy testing?
Submitted by artieandgumbo1 on August 31, 2011 - 9:12amWe've finally got the ear infection taken care of with the food trial and the medication, now they want to do an allergy test to figure out what the allergy is. They suggested a sedation test or a blood test (which they described as less accurate). I'm not feeling to good about sedating him, but if that's the best test then I guess it's worth the risk.
Has anyone done either of these tests? Experiences?
why did you have to sedate.....
i have been a little out of vet field for a while but why would you sedate your dog for an allergy test...what is their reasoning? and if you did a food trail and the ears cleared up....the vet does not feel its a food allergy?
i would be asking alot of questions before going forward...... with sedation....
have you tried a holistic vet....have you added a cod liver oil tab to the diet....i have rescues i had one with no hair when he came...everyone was like we tried everything...2 months on a raw diet and one cod liver tab with once a day...with 1.2 cup fresh salmon his coat is wonderful.....
Very good questions.
I don't think they think it's a food allergy, or are not sure, because the ear cleared up after taking all the medication. We are doing two more weeks of medication and then off it for two weeks before doing the allergy test.
We go back in two weeks to discuss the next course of action. I'll make sure to ask these questions. If nothing else, I'll see about getting a second opinion. We really don't want to sedate unless absolutely necessary.
Apparently the 'safe' option is to do the blood test.
Allergy Test
We did an allergy test for our male. They kept him for a few hours, due to the amount of blood needed for the test. But he was never sedated for it. Our guy came back pretty much allergic to everything. We were able to controll the food issues, but the outside still is a struggle. So we know when the outside allergies hit him and start him on benadryl or prednisone is really bad. We tried Clartine, but it didn't seem to help. Good luck!
Sarah
I recently had Sally allergy tested
We did the blood test. Only took a few minutes to draw the blood, but took 3 weeks for the results. Came back that she is allergic to some trees, plants, duck, eggs, milk, etc, but not "off the charts" allergic. Sally's issues are itchy eyes and ears, and super congested, in the mornings it is worse. We had allergy shots made for her specific allergies, which we administer every 2 days, eventually tapering down to once a month. Unfortunately, the allergy shots don't seem to be making a difference with her congestion, which leads me to think the congestion is caused by something else?
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