Nutriscan – Food Sensitivity and Intolerance Testing by Jean Dodds
So many people come to fresh feeding as their dog suffers recurring skin and gut upset. They even run an exclusion diet and still their dog itches. If you’re one of these you might consider a Nutriscan by Jean Dodds.
The Usual Advice for Dogs Suffering Recurring Skin and Gut Upset…
For dogs presenting with recurring skin or gut issues the advice, certainly from me, is always the same:
- Get them off all dry food and all pet store treats. Studies of even the veterinary prescribed single protein and hydrolysed dry foods repeatedly show that they are contaminated with proteins not listed on the label.
- Remove all unnecessary chemicals (flea and worm treatments, boosters). Give their system a day off
- Feed them a fresh, biologically appropriate diet. Not just any old fresh diet though, as most can. More often than not your itchy dog is likely reacting to something in their food. To find out what this is we run an exclusion diet. That is 2-4 weeks on a turkey diet and keep notes. Then 2-4 weeks on a pork diet. Then a duck diet. Then a fish diet. On and on. This helps us to say what is working and, more importantly, what is not, and very often does the trick.
However, for some dogs sadly the problem persists. One of the reasons for this failure is that food intolerance can be so deceptively slow to kick in (up to 5 weeks it is thought) which completely fudges the results. For some, a more definite analysis is needed. Enter Jean Dodd’s (who we love) Nutriscan.
Nutriscan for Dogs…
Nutriscan is the only clinically predictable diagnostic test for dogs, cats and horses to identify the commonly seen food intolerances and sensitivities using SALIVA. For just €280 (often covered by your insurance, give them a call) you could pin down those elusive proteins causing the problems, and get some recommendations as to how to proceed from that point.
So far it seems to be highly effective. In a veterinary trial of 26 documented food reactive dogs and 32 healthy control dogs from France their test performed a perfect 100% specificity upon re-challenge of the offending antigen.
How Does Nutriscan Work?
Nutriscan is a home kit. It works by testing their saliva. The kit comes with a little cotton rope. Ideally, you encourage him to chew the rope. If you need some saliva generation present your dog with a treat just out of reach. More on how to use Nutriscan at home here. For any more info I suggest you contact Nutriscan personally re your dog’s condition.
