Determining allergies - seasonal or food?

Hi!! I have a black English lab that will be two in November. Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed her skin has been itchier than normal. She’s constantly using her hind leg to scratch herself and nibbles on her legs to “scratch the itch.” As Labs do in the summer, I noticed she had a bit of an ear infection and I’ve been giving her a solution for it and been noticing positive results - cleaner ears, less shaking of the head. Regarding her itchy skin - I’ve been giving her probiotics with meals and recently incorporated an allergy specific chew focused on aiding seasonal allergies and supporting her immune system. I just started giving her these so I’m not necessarily expecting an overnight result but I fear wrongly assessing her condition and making her suffer if it’s a food related allergy. Her physical symptoms are most notably the margin of her ear has a rash and is bumpy - not sure if it’s a result of the itching with her claws or a rash, and within the last day or so I just noticed her belt skin and armpits are lightly red and splotchy. We feed her Fromm Gold Large Breed Adult Formula Dry Dog Food and the main protein being chicken. I’ve read that chicken is a common allergy in dog food, but I don’t want to start changing her diet in addition to trying to support her gut and 1. Adding/eliminating too many factors and thus unable to narrow anything down 2. Upset her gut biome even more by changing her food up. With all this information and accompanying pictures, I’m hoping you can help me determine if it’s seasonal, diet related or if I just need to take her to our vet. Thank you all in advance for your help! Pictures are of my sweet girl, the slight redness under her armpits and the margins of her ear. Thanks, Sam

Hello - and oooh! My goodness, there is so much to unpick here.   First, you seem convinced that your dog has allergies - and indeed, allergies can pop up regularly in labs of this age - but there are many differentials (possible alternative diagnoses) that would still need to be ruled out, before starting treatment for allergies.  My biggest worry would be vasculitis, which can be an emergency - you may want to consider getting this ruled out as soon as possible.  There could also be mites or fungal disease on those ear-margins, or underlying endocrinopathies (hormonal disease).  Or just fleas.  None of these things would respond to any sort of allergy diet.  For this reason, it may be worth asking your vet to triage this case.

The second thing is about the ears; many people do think of it like this, but ears are covered in skin, all the way down both canals.  In cases where the correct diagnosis IS an allergy,  It is relately common for the problem to present in the ear canals first.  This should be thought of as a manifestation of the same disease, except that ear canals are difficult to reach and produce wax, particularly when they are inflamed and unhappy.

Allergies are reactions to certain proteins, which can be in food or in the air. ADDING more, unfamiliar proteins is unlikely to help the situation even if the chew has the word 'anti allergy' in the title; it simply doesn't work like that.  It doesn't matter how many anti allergy chews I eat, if I have an allergy to chicken and there is chicken extract in my food, then my skin is going to itch.   Furthermore, where food allergies have been identified and treated by diet, experts reccommend six weeks or more of that diet and nothing else; chopping and changing as much as you describe, simply wouldn't allow time.  This can be expensive an feel like a fool's errand; a good idea to ask your vet first.

I hear that you are putting a lot of effort into making your dog comfortable and I applaud it; however, in this situation, I do feel that you can gain a lot from taking the immediate advice of your vet.