Dairy allergy in dog--runny eyes

[Sswor]

My not quite 2yo JRTx seems to have developed a dairy allergy and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

I have fed him cottage cheese with his kibble daily since he was a puppy. Started with the 4% full fat version. No problems.

About 6 months ago he had a very sudden and disturbing event of what seemed to be HGE–without the hemorrhagic part. It was an emergency vet call and he recovered fairly quickly.

After that/since then he’s been a little “sensitive” in the GI department. I have fed probiotic yogurt since he was back on regular food and more or less since.

He seemed to have some GI trouble since and I switched him to the low fat 2% version of cottage cheese and that seemed to help.

But more or less always since, his eyes have been runny. He never gets the crusty eye booger, it’s always watery, salty, tear stain-type discharge.

When it first started, I had the vet check him out. Vet said eh, maybe he has a little conjunctivitis, and treat with antibiotic eye drops. No change at all.

I tried rinsing his eyes. No change. No scratches or infection, and one eye tears more then the other. The eye that tears more has a white sclera, the less tearing eye has dark sclera. If that makes any difference.

I have done deep searches for any info online to little avail until I stumbled upon something that mentioned that dairy allergy in dogs mimics cold symptoms or hay fever symptoms in humans–watery eyes, sneezing, head shaking. There may be some GI trouble along with it, perhaps some skin itchies.

So I thought, what the heck, remove the dairy and see what happens. And come to think of it, he does sneeze a little from time to time, head shaking. Usually during a play bout, no distress.

I started just withholding the cottage cheese but kept feeding the yogurt. Definite improvement almost overnight, eyes much less watery/runny. So I decided to go full out, no dairy at all and see what happened.

18hrs into no dairy diet and the brown sclera eye totally dried up. 36hrs in the white sclera eye is drying up and starting to develop a hint of a normal crusty eye booger–something I haven’t seen in months on this dog.

Amazing. Anyway–anyone else have any experience with this?

Also wondering if I have to withhold cheese–which is the perfect training treat. So that would be very unfortunate if he can no longer eat cheese.

[Marshfield]

Not in my own, but a friend has a dog who definitely has a dairy sensitivity

[Sswor]

[QUOTE=Marshfield;9015312]
Not in my own, but a friend has a dog who definitely has a dairy sensitivity[/QUOTE]

Thanks, any more info?

[pezk]

Ive read about dogs being allergic to dairy products. Very individual. Sounds like your experiment of withholding the dairy proved it was the dairy causing the problem.
As far as training treats, what about organic hot dogs? Doesnt usually have nitrites etc in it.

[vxf111]

I freakin’ LOVE these as training treats and so does every dog/cat I have ever met…

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Freshpet-Select-Tender-Chicken-with-Crisp-Carrots-Leafy-Spinach-Dog-Food-Recipe-Dogs/17370854?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2038&adid=22222222237260396436&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=108838442550&wl4=aud-261800281660:pla-122978650352&wl5=9061286&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=17370854&wl13=2038&veh=sem

Perfect little nuggets that you can hold in your hand/pocket and rip pieces off of or use whole.

[pony_baloney]

Like people, dogs with dairy allergies can eat raw goats milk. Loaded with probiotics and enzymes, so even better than yogurt. My tiny elderly adopted dog had intermittent stomach issues that have mostly disappeared after adding this to her raw food.

Freeze dried chicken livers are a healthy, dairy-free treat.

[Sswor]

[QUOTE=pezk;9015671]
Ive read about dogs being allergic to dairy products. Very individual. Sounds like your experiment of withholding the dairy proved it was the dairy causing the problem.
As far as training treats, what about organic hot dogs? Doesnt usually have nitrites etc in it.[/QUOTE]

Good tip, thanks. I didn’t know they came in organic version now. I thought about hotdogs but I’m a freak about processed treats so I wasn’t sure. Organic is definitely a plus.

[Sswor]

[QUOTE=vxf111;9015678]
I freakin’ LOVE these as training treats and so does every dog/cat I have ever met…

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Freshpet-Select-Tender-Chicken-with-Crisp-Carrots-Leafy-Spinach-Dog-Food-Recipe-Dogs/17370854?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2038&adid=22222222237260396436&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=108838442550&wl4=aud-261800281660:pla-122978650352&wl5=9061286&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=17370854&wl13=2038&veh=sem

Perfect little nuggets that you can hold in your hand/pocket and rip pieces off of or use whole.[/QUOTE]

That’s a really good idea, wow. Thanks!

[Sswor]

@pony baloney;9016022

Like people, dogs with dairy allergies can eat raw goats milk. Loaded with probiotics and enzymes, so even better than yogurt. My tiny elderly adopted dog had intermittent stomach issues that have mostly disappeared after adding this to her raw food.

I did not know that. I will most definitely look into raw goats milk. I fed it years ago but stopped when I moved and couldn’t find a supplier. Thank you, very much.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=pony baloney;9016022]
Like people, dogs with dairy allergies can eat raw goats milk. Loaded with probiotics and enzymes, so even better than yogurt. My tiny elderly adopted dog had intermittent stomach issues that have mostly disappeared after adding this to her raw food.

Freeze dried chicken livers are a healthy, dairy-free treat.[/QUOTE]

I think we’ve discussed this before, but how is raw goats milk loaded with probiotics…how did these bacterial cultures get into the milk?? Fermented/cultured goats milk does have probiotics, of course, but I am confused as to how raw (unfermented) goats milk does.

Every website I see about “raw goats milk for dogs with probiotics” fails to mention which probiotics they are. This one: https://dogbonemarket.com/new-product-benefits-raw-goat-milk/ adds the probiotics into the milk. So it’s not necessarily the goat milk that is the benefit, in my opinion.

FWIW, if I had a dog with a dairy allergy, I would skip the cheese. You can make your own fresh liver treats very easily and cheaply - in fact, if you prefer organic, you can probably get organic liver from a local source. The demand for liver isn’t that incredible in the U.S. that you might get a good price.

[Mosey_2003]

I’ve never heard of feeding cottage cheese with kibble, is that a thing?

[vxf111]

I don’t think it’s all that wise to feed dogs a lot of dairy. Especially not full fat. Especially not in an altered dog that’s going to do agility. It’s way to easy to make a dog fat that way. I too liked to use cheese sticks for training (until I found the chicken nugget manna from heaven) but I don’t think it’s a great idea to be feeding it at every meal. If you want to add something to kibble, add some shredded meat or even better veggies like green beans or peas.

[Sswor]

[QUOTE=Mosey_2003;9016916]
I’ve never heard of feeding cottage cheese with kibble, is that a thing?[/QUOTE]

Maybe? It’s an easily digestible source of protein, fat, and calcium. I’m certainly no nutritionist but I’ve fed it to dogs for years with seemingly no issues so who knows.

It started when a breeder advised it for a Manchester puppy I got as a teen that I was going to show conformation with. She said it was a good source of calcium for growing puppy so we followed her instructions.

[Sswor]

[QUOTE=vxf111;9017342]
I don’t think it’s all that wise to feed dogs a lot of dairy. Especially not full fat. Especially not in an altered dog that’s going to do agility. It’s way to easy to make a dog fat that way. I too liked to use cheese sticks for training (until I found the chicken nugget manna from heaven) but I don’t think it’s a great idea to be feeding it at every meal. If you want to add something to kibble, add some shredded meat or even better veggies like green beans or peas.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, you could sure fatten up a dog with it. Particular dog is lean with the metabolism of a TB. I personally cannot stand a fat dog.

He is missing the yogurt but still gets baked sweet potato pm and raw baby carrots am. I should add green beans/peas somewhere in there, thanks for the reminder.

[Nezzy]

Why do you need to feed dairy to a dog? This is not normal.In the wild, Dogs/Foxes/coyotes- do not consume dairy products.

Allergies develop over time. Just stop giving dairy.

[GoodTimes]

[QUOTE=Nezzy;9017735]
Why do you need to feed dairy to a dog? This is not normal.In the wild, Dogs/Foxes/coyotes- do not consume dairy products.

Allergies develop over time. Just stop giving dairy.[/QUOTE]

This was in a sense my first reaction to reading the OPs post. While there are lots of things that dogs (and almost every domestic animal) eat that they wouldn’t find “in the wild”, dairy is its own category.
Humans are the only ones who continue consuming dairy past infancy. The enzyme lactase is needed to break down lactose. Most animals and lots of people (lactose intolerant, dairy sensitivities) stop producing lactase as they get older.
Most dogs aren’t going to get diarrhea, etc. from a piece of cheese, but I wouldn’t be giving them dairy as part of every meal.

[Sswor]

[QUOTE=Nezzy;9017735]
Why do you need to feed dairy to a dog? This is not normal.In the wild, Dogs/Foxes/coyotes- do not consume dairy products.

Allergies develop over time. Just stop giving dairy.[/QUOTE]

Well yeah, of course. I just found it interesting because I’m a nerd that way.

[Miss-O]

Diary allergies do weird things to people too. It’s not just diarrhea (not a true allergy) or hives/anaphylaxis. I have a diary allergy that does weird things. It’s delayed in that it takes 24-48 hours to show symptoms. Then it’s swollen joints, swollen cornea(that I lost some vision from once), kidney stones develop over a period of time, ear infections and itching. Chances are good that your dog is suffering more from just watery eyes.

[Sswor]

I’m very glad I looked into it further and didn’t just chalk it up to tear stains.