In previous posts I referred to Eddie, a mini poodle who\u2019s been vomiting.\u00a0 After lots of vet tests and some trial and error, we\u2019ve eliminated possible causes of poodle vomiting such as intestinal obstruction, bloat, parvo and similar diseases and illnesses.<\/p>\n
In Eddie\u2019s case, his main problem seemed to be a food intolerance (chicken)\u2026 although now it seems he may have developed a secondary ulcer, since he can\u2019t eat dry kibble without vomiting. I\u2019ll talk about that more in another post. But first, let\u2019s talk about poodle food allergies and food intolerance\u2026<\/p>\n
NOTE: If your poodle is vomiting or has other signs of illness, call your vet!\u00a0 The call is free, and they\u2019ll let you know whether you should come in.\u00a0 They may even be able to offer you advice over the phone.<\/p>\n
For example, maybe your poodle just has a touch of gastritis (stomach upset) because of dietary indiscretion (\u201cgarbage gut\u201d).\u00a0 In that case, your vet may suggest you withhold food for 4-24 hours and then start on a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice.<\/p>\n
But again — talk to your vet, because toy poodles in particular dehydrate quickly and can get dangerously low blood sugar levels if they\u2019re vomiting and\/or if you\u2019re withholding food \u2013 so you do NOT want to do this unless you\u2019re under your vet\u2019s supervision.<\/p>\n
Now assuming you\u2019ve already talked to your vet, here\u2019s a bit more info about poodle food allergies\/intolerance\u2026<\/p>\n
A food intolerance typically manifests as digestive upsets, such as vomiting, abdominal discomfort, loose stools, or even diarrhea.\u00a0 It\u2019s as if the poodle just can\u2019t quite process a particular food properly, so the body \u201crejects\u201d it.<\/p>\n
Typically, you\u2019ll see poodle food allergies manifest as \u201cskin\u201d symptoms. That means they\u2019ll get itchy skin, particularly around the ears and feet.\u00a0 If your poodle dog is scratching a lot, chewing his feet or otherwise uncomfortable, you may be dealing with an allergy.<\/p>\n
Does your poodle have an intolerance or an allergy?\u00a0 Let\u2019s leave that up to your vet to decide.\u00a0 We\u2019re not so worried about semantics as we are about giving your poodle some relief.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, you can\u2019t just look at a dog and determine if allergy or intolerance symptoms are caused by food allergies or environmental allergies (which can be similar to what humans get).\u00a0 Instead, you need to do one of two things:<\/p>\n
1. An allergy screening with your vet.\u00a0 They can do a simple blood test, although some people say these aren\u2019t very accurate.\u00a0 They can also do a skin test (like they do in human), which would help you track down more of the environmental allergies.<\/p>\n
2. A food trial.\u00a0 If you suspect your poodle has food allergies, then one of the best ways to diagnose it is by using a food trial.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at this point in more detail\u2026<\/p>\n
Diagnosing and Treating Poodle Food Allergies with a Food Trial<\/strong><\/p>\n There are two ways to do a simple food trial at home.<\/p>\n One way is to use the food your vet prescribes, such as the Science Diet Z\/D diet, which comes in either a \u201clow allergen\u201d or ultra allergen free formula.\u00a0 These types of foods tend to include ingredients \u2013 like chicken \u2013 that may be at the root of your poodle\u2019s allergies.\u00a0 But the proteins have been broken down in such a way that your dog\u2019s body likely won\u2019t recognize it as an allergen, and thus won\u2019t react.<\/p>\n The downside of using these prescribed diets as that they are expensive and they aren\u2019t very good quality food (IMO).\u00a0 But you may give your poodle some relief by feeding this food temporarily while you and your vet figure out the next step.<\/p>\n The second way to help diagnose a food allergy is by using a home cooked meal.\u00a0 In this case, you want to use a novel protein and a novel carbohydrate (e.g., something your poodle hasn\u2019t eaten before).\u00a0 You might use combinations like turkey and potatoes, fish and sweet potatoes, beef and rice\u2026 etc.\u00a0 Talk to your vet or someone who specializes in animal nutrition to decide which combination is right for you.<\/p>\n Regardless of which method you choose, here\u2019s how it works\u2026<\/p>\n Generally, you can figure if your poodle\u2019s symptoms clear up on the diet then a food allergy or intolerance is to blame.\u00a0 However, the diet needs to be very strict.\u00a0 That means no bones, chews, treats or even flavored meds (like a heartworm tablet).\u00a0 The dog needs to ONLY eat his special diet \u2013 nothing else \u2013 for at least two or three months.<\/p>\n I know, I know \u2013 kind of a pain in the butt.\u00a0 But if your poodle dog has a food allergy, it may take that long just to clear the allergen out of her system.\u00a0 And so you need to really be strict and make sure your poodle isn\u2019t eating anything else except the anti-allergen food or the limited ingredient meals you\u2019re giving her.<\/p>\n That means making sure your other household members or neighbors aren\u2019t slipping anything to her.\u00a0 You also need to watch that she doesn\u2019t pick up crumbs off the floor or lick food off your face or hands.<\/p>\n Also, if you have other pets in the house, be sure to keep their food far away.\u00a0 Even though I always feed my cats up high, one of them has a habit of playing with her food. She loves flicking her kibbles off the dresser and onto the floor, right to my mini poodle. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Finally, watch your poodle outside like a hawk to make sure she\u2019s not picking up anything out there.<\/p>\n If your poodle is dealing with a food allergy or intolerance, you\u2019ll usually see that your poodle is getting relief long before the 12 weeks is up.\u00a0 In the case of Eddie the mini poodle, once I removed chicken from his diet I could see his vomiting decrease almost instantly \u2013 from four times a day to just once per day in a matter of 24 hours or so.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve passed the 12 week point (and your poodle didn\u2019t pick up any stray crumbs or foods in those 12 weeks), then your next step is to start slowly introducing other proteins and carbs. For example, if you\u2019re feeding rice and chicken, then you can try adding in lamb.\u00a0 Feed that for a couple weeks and see if you notice any symptoms.\u00a0 If not, you can add something else \u2013 just one thing \u2013 and again observe for several weeks and note any changes.<\/p>\n Yep, it\u2019s a long process that will drive you nuts because you have to be so careful. But it\u2019s worth it just to give your poodle some relief.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n That’s all for this time.\u00a0 Next time I’ll talk a bit more about how your poodle may have developed his food allergy or intolerance. And then in future posts we’ll talk about other possible reasons a poodle may vomit, such as Addison’s Disease or pancreatitis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In previous posts I referred to Eddie, a mini poodle who\u2019s been vomiting.\u00a0 After lots of vet tests and some trial and error, we\u2019ve eliminated possible causes of poodle vomiting such as intestinal obstruction, bloat, parvo and similar diseases and illnesses. In Eddie\u2019s case, his main problem seemed to be a food intolerance (chicken)\u2026 although […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[31,29,30,32],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poodle_health","category-poodle_nutrition","tag-food-trial","tag-poodle-food-allergy","tag-poodle-food-intolerance","tag-zd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/clubpoodle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}