Research Note: Hair & Saliva Testing for Identification of Allergic Dogs

This study evaluated the ability of a commercial hair and saliva allergy test to correctly identify allergic and non-allergic dogs through comparison of test results with a veterinary dermatologist’s diagnosis. Fur and saliva samples were submitted from a known allergic dog and a known nonallergic dog; fake fur and saliva samples were also submitted. Replicate samples from the allergic and nonallergic dogs were also used to evaluate reproducibility of the test. The distribution of sample test results for allergic, nonallergic, and fake dogs was no different than what the distribution due to random chance would have been. Reproducibility was found to be poor to slight. In addition, particular allergens were overrepresented as “bad” and others as “good” across all samples, suggesting a systematic bias in allergen reporting. The authors concluded that hair and saliva testing is not a substitute for veterinary-directed allergy evaluation and diagnostics and should not be used for diagnosis of allergies in dogs.