Nutriscan food allergy test - Page 1

Got results back from the Nutriscan food allergy test...I don't really think this test is reliable. My dog was having mild skin/ear issues over the summer that were very intermittent and in my opinion unlikely related to food. I won't get into too much detail but I just don't think it was food, I believe it was an issue from being wet from swimming all the time and tracking in swampy conditions several times a week. Blood test came back negative for environmental. Haven't changed anything in her diet at all and she hasn't had any issues since fall.
Results show strong reaction to Duck and salmon
medium reaction to corn, white fish, and barely
intermediate reaction to Oatmeal, Peanut, milk, turkey, and pork
Borderline Reaction to Quinoa, venison, and wheat
Daily diet includes, corn, white fish, turkey, venison, and wheat

TY Astrovan. Sadly it does seem as if there's nothing in it, just the usual jumble of results that they might have pulled out of the air.
A pity; I was trying to keep an open mind, in the hope that the technology might yet be found that gives dog owners a real plan of action with food allergies/sensitivities.

Update on this test...I'm thinking it's somewhat accurate now, at least about the two proteins it said my dog tested as strongly reactive to, duck and salmon. The raw diet she had been on included salmon and was also taking a daily probiotic containing duck. I cut out the probiotic and switched to a raw without salmon and no itching, been a few months now on the change.

The overall accuracy is questionable as each food tested for is broken down into two categories, those showing reactions within the last 6 months or within the last two years, Salmon and Duck were only shown as having a strong reaction within the last two years, not in the last 6 months, but this was in her daily diet up until after the test results came back. Also, out of the 24 foods tested it said my dog was at least somewhat sensitive to 15 of them, This is a dog who eats everything and only had very mild symptoms, that are now gone after removing the two that tested as strong reactivity

I have used it several years ago... I was skeptical at first, but found the results to be SPOT ON! Also Dr. Dodds was great. She answered all my questions..
I but a diet plan together for my dog I had done the test on... once he got off what he was allergic to and onto a food he could tolerate he did very well.

From SkeptVet:

"Coyner K, Schick A. Hair and saliva test fails to identify allergies in dogs. J Small Anim Pract. October 2018. doi:10.1111/jsap.12952

'Our study demonstrates that hair and saliva testing fails not only to identify allergic dermatitis in dogs, but fails to differentiate between animal and non-animal samples, providing essentially identical results, regardless of the origin of the sample.'

These authors submitted not only hair and saliva from dogs with known allergies and dogs without allergies, but also fake hair samples from stuffed animals and water (in place of saliva). All of the samples tested positive for some allergies, and there was essentially no difference between the results and random chance."

Dr. Jean Dodds is, to put it nicely, considered to be more on the "fringe" of her profession by the vast majority of her colleagues, much like Dr. Karen Becker, Dr. Marty, and the Mercola HealthyPets crew. Unfortunately, the appeal-to-nature fallacy, coupled with understandable emotions around pets and lack of scientific background, is strong enough in many owners (and breeders, etc) that she is able to market her medically unsupported theories and products successfully.

Your veterinarian is the best person to talk to about allergy concerns, they know what they're doing after 8 years of schooling and lots of cases, and they can refer you to a veterinary dermatologist (who has completed an additional several-year residency on the topic) if it's outside their realm of knowledge. If you don't trust your vet for any reason, find one you do, and ensure they're not pushing quackery (currently rare but increasing in frequency. Tend to have "holistic" or "natural" in the practice name. See "appeal to nature fallacy" link.) From what I'm reading, though, it just sounds like a muggy environment thing as you originally thought. Vet can help with solutions to that too. Food allergies are year-round (also actually very uncommon) and environmental allergies are seasonal or year-round, both tend to involve biting, licking, scratching at various specific areas of the body many times a day.