Spaniel with cough - food allergy?

Friends fella has a working spaniel who has 'always' had a cough. It varies in severity and at the moment it is really quite bad (so my friend tells me).

It has been backwards and forwarsd to the vet over this, had bloods done, chest listened to, checked for heartworm etc and no conclusion.

Friend asked whether I thought it could be a food allergy?

She has generally always been fed Marsdens working dog food and had a breif stay at her parents where she was fed Dr Johns she is now back on Marsdens (slight % diff on a few things and it has 'molluscs and crustaceans' in it)

I have said she should go back to the vets but friend said she has 'had the works' and the vet couldnt find/suggest anything.

Any ideas welcome!

Could be a food allergy or environmental allergy.

Hmm their present food has cereals, animal derivatives, chicken, molluscs/crustaceans in it, all or one of these could cause allergies - a reasonably good food + good value that many dogs can be transferred onto is Chappie, have they tried it?

One of ours is allergic to chicken + carrots

Off the top of my head they could try James Wellbeloved. It can be hard to find a food that suits but worth the effort.

Helen

Food allergies aren't near as common an many think. I would have him checked by a different vet before messing with different food.

Was he any better on the other food?

Labman, hate to disagree but food allergies are quite common, perhaps more so in some breeds. Perhaps your own breed dont have issues in this area. Certainly any Labs we ever had didnt have food or other allergies but thats going back a fair few years. There are numerous medical problems this dog could have, however the poster has said the owner wont take the dog back to the vet.
Helen

I strongly suggested going back to the vets but its her fellas dog and the line is 'shes been backwards and forwards and had all sorts done and they found nothing'

she stayed at her mums for a while while they were sorting out the new house (previous to this she lived at his parents in kennels) and thats when she was on Dr Johns and wasnt as bad (she was also kept in a stable and had an indoor run instead of a box and outdoor run)

she then came to their new house with new kennels (box with lots of blankets and outdoor run) and back onto the other food and is apparently quite bad (this also coincided with the really bad weather). The weather seems to make it worse although she will still cough in the good weather.

My friend is now keeping her in the house overnight and she will spend the day in the kennel (she has always been a kennel dog)

I suggested she stop all treats etc and give her bland diet free from cereals and see if that has any effect but i think she is going to put her back on Dr Johns for now and see if this makes a difference.

It just doesnt seem right that shes been like it forever with no explanation?

Sounds like it could be something inside the house, dust mites or something.

Has any of the vet work included allergy testing? If so, and it didn't show anything, changing food likely won't help.

Sorry didnt make that clear. Her cough is really bad hence my friend has now brought her into the house to see if it makes a difference. She has lived in kennels all her life and has always had the cough.

i would doubt they went as far as allergies, only bloods and chest listening, shes a working dog and not molly coddled until my friend came along to worry herself about her.

That a hard one, from what I have previously read I would say it sounds like a food allergy.

I would be asking the vet to now refer me to a specialist, A specialist will notice things your own vet may not think about.
If you want to try changing food then I would first try a wet food for a few weeks (e.g) Naturediet or wainwrights as it may be the storage mites in the dried food causing an allergy (this is very common).
If that doesn't work then I would try a completely different protein source and a food with no cereals etc something like either Wafcol or Wainwrights Salmon and Potatoe.
Whether the food changing is tried or not I would still be asking the vet to refer me.