Thank you FayRose. We were gutted when Snowie was diagnosed with epilepsy, but now that he is on treatment, he's fine. I used to be terrified that he'd have a seizure, but I suppose one gets used to anything, and thankfully it looks like they are under control. He's being treated with Potassium Bromide, extremely low dose because it seems to stay in his blood longer than normal -- vet was flummoxed, assumed we were overdosing because it reached a toxic level (first signs were temporary hind-quarter paralysis), but it might've been that the studies have been done on animals with a high salt diet (kibble), and since Snowie is on raw food (very low salt, no brine), the KBr levels remain high -- salt plays a role in reducing KBr uptake. But now all is fine thank goodness. I must confess that, at his worst, I thought the best was to put Snowie to sleep -- I could not imagine he'd be normal. But he is now so it appears. I hope you get to the bottom of Molly's allergies. Same with Snowie, all his littermates don't appear to have allergies. Although after we'd had Snowie a while, the breeder told me his mom was itchy but that the vet said it was not a genetic concern so she could breed with her. And since no other littermates are allergic, perhaps he was right??? Of course there are so many factors affecting allergy -- I've just this weekend learned of a severe allergic reaction in humans to mammalian meat caused by tick bites!! I'll post it as a separate thread, I think it could be very interesting to other readers. With a lot of science behind it. I look forward to hearing what happens on Monday. Best of luck!
I'll ask my vet next time I see her, perhaps I misheard. There are usually albumins in vaccines and that might be the reason, although I am pretty sure she said it was connected to actually eating chicken. All science starts with a question, and it might well be that it is a discussion she's been having with vet colleagues rather than published research -- she did say "we now think that...".
I read a couple of articles on it, one was pertaining to the culture the vaccine was grown on, which is often chicken. I didn't really understand it, to be honest - it was something like, if the dog ate the same protein as the vaccine was created on, the dog would become allergic to that protein when it was consumed in the future. But the only information I found about it was on websites that clearly had some sort of anti-vax agenda, so certainly not what you'd call trustworthy sources of information. One almost looked legitimate, with a list of citations, but they were all to opinion pieces themselves.
I agree! I am wary of websites with their own agendas. Which is not to say there is no truth behind their articles, but if they are muddied with their own agendas, then I find it hard to trust everything I read on those sites. I do like skeptvet, but he is so entrenched in only believing information that has been through strenuous studies. Sometimes the studies have not yet been done to confirm what many already know.
It is hard, definitely. And, as you say, just because something hasn't been proven in a study, doesn't mean it's not true. And there's not always the inclination and funding to study the things that we would like to have evidence on. Finding educated, unbiased opinion isn't easy!
