*ImmuneIQ provided me with an allergy kit. All opinions are my own.
When I first brought my pugs home, I thought they had fleas. They were constantly scratching themselves with their paws or rubbing up against furniture to scratch the areas they couldn’t reach with their feet. They also spent a lot of time licking and biting at their front paws, I thought this was because they itched. I researched online about treating for fleas and began giving them monthly flea medication. I knew about the 3 month life cycle so I expected it to take 3 months to fully take effect. After 4+ months, they were still scratching like crazy – Frank even had created open sores on some parts of his body from rubbing up against furniture so often and licking the same part of his paws until the fur was gone and the skin was raw. I felt awful for him. So, I turned to the internet again. This time, I started looking to see not just how to treat fleas but how to tell if dogs had fleas. I learned that excessive paw licking and biting are often signs that a dog is suffering from an allergy to something. I hadn’t seen fleas on my dogs in months so I began to suspect that they weren’t suffering from fleas but instead from allergies.
I read that dogs are often allergic to ingredients in cheap dog food so we started trying new brands. We saw some relief but still had more itching/scratching than I liked. I didn’t know how to determine what they were allergic to other than just guessing which wasn’t getting me very far. I couldn’t afford to pay the vet to do an extensive allergy test because it would cost several hundred dollars. I thought I had no choice but to keep trying new foods until I heard about ImmuneIQ.
ImmuneIQ is a kit that you can purchase so that you can test your dog for common allergies at home. The kit is extremely simple, it’s basically a note card with two tiny zip-close bags. One bag is empty and the other has half of a cotton swab. You fill the empty bag with fur (by brushing your dog with a brush and then cleaning the hair out of the brush). You take the half of a cotton swab and swipe it inside of your dog’s mouth to get it wet and put it back in the bag. Then you simply mail the kit back to the company who will email you your dogs test results in about 2 weeks. The kit costs $87 and then you have to pay to mail the kit back to the company – my shipping fee was about $5 but yours may vary depending on the shipping options you choose and how far you are from the ImmuneIQ location.
I was able to test both of my dogs and to be honest I was shocked at the results. Both of my dogs have a LOT of allergies. The results are quite long so I wasn’t able to create a single image that showed them all. There are three columns of results – the left-most column is ok/assistive (meaning your dog is not at all allergic to the items in that column and they may be beneficial for your pet). The middle column is neutral/yield to and the right most column is Not ok/overwhelming meaning your dog is significantly allergic to those item(s) and you should try to avoid them. There are seven categories for results – proteins, carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, fatty acids, nutritional supplements and environmental. Both of my dogs were allergic to several proteins, carbs and fatty acids and were allergic to almost no fruits or veggies.
In total, Beans had 31 “Not ok/overwhelming” allergies and Frank had 30 but several of their allergies are different. I thought it was funny that through my “random guessing” at trying dog foods I had discovered that they both did best on a lamb based food and both of my dogs had lamb in their OK/assertive category.
I hadn’t really considered environmental allergies, but after learning that Beans was allergic to grass I realized she spends a lot of time licking her paws soon after coming inside which makes sense given that allergy. While it’s not reasonable for me to not let her outside, I can at least wipe her paws off when we come in from outside.
If you suspect that your dog has allergies and are looking for help discovering what their allergies are, I highly recommend the ImmuneIQ test kits. They are much more affordable than vet based kits and I found it really easy to use. My mother in laws dog has required allergy shots in the past because she’s had such strong reactions, so for dogs like that an ImmuneIQ test could pay for itself if it saves you from paying for even a single allergy shot. If you have an itchy dog, an ImmuneIQ kit makes for a really practical christmas gift idea as well.
Do your dogs show signs of allergies? How do you avoid their allergens?
If you suspect that a person in your house may be allergic to your dogs, check out this post on managing childhood pet allergies.
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Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 21 responses.
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Brian
I think it’s a scam.
First, the company never explains how the test is done. Not any detail, not anything general, not what the core technology is, not what equipment is used, nothing. Nothing.
Second, the available literature says that there’s no way to determine a pet’s allergic reaction based on saliva and especially hair samples. Again, perhaps they have found some way that no one else has found… but they should explain how.
Third, the sample collection kit is pretty hokey.
Fourth, what little is known about the company says that the founder is not a scientist, rather an “entrepreneur” from Las Vegas, not exactly a biotechnology hub.
Think about it, if this works, this is a BIG deal – groundbreaking science and technology. And yet all we know is that they won’t say how it works, the method has not been tested or peer reviewed by anyone, was founded by some businessman who will only say they spent 5 years working on it. Lots of things are worked on for 5 years.
Here’s a test that would cost a few hundred dollars… and would at least show whether it’s a scam or not. Get 3 pets from 3 different households. For each one send in 3 ImmuneIQ tests (from a pooled sample so that you know that they are identical). Send them from different addresses so they cannot know that they are identical samples. Do the results from the same animals match? Are the results from the different animals different?
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diana
Well I will be interested to see what the next 2 tests show. 1 is for my new dog and the other from a friend’s non allergic cat. So far then, I will have tested 3 dogs and my friend will have tested 2 cats from different households. As it is.. the tests have been “too alike” for my tastes.
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I also have results coming in. I ordered it, but the more I read up on it the more skeptical I’ve become. We’ll see, and I’ll compare results from results others have posted online.
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Linda
Hi Diana:
Just was wondering, being that you have tested three dogs and two cats, do you think this test is worth buying?-
Not sure but was interesting. 2 do my dogs tested no go for Fish etc but the 3rd came back OK for fish. I have followed it to a good degree. None of them have gas which is always a bonus. My friends cat’s came back similar to each other. She has a cat with major digestive issues and she’s been following to good list and the cat has done better but also on mess. I still take the tests with a grain of salt though.
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Ty Miller
Hi Diana, have you avoided any of the allergens on the test and has it seemed to have helped any?
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I did avoid many of the items specified on the list esp fish meal and salmon. At present , one of my dogs has become extremely finicky about food and wants… The cheap stuff. Turns his nose up at the good stuff which follows the testing- such as no fish, no grains..
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Brenda Brooks
I am almost certain their tests are not accurate. I bought the kit on a groupon as well and received the test in the mail like they said I would. I have not used the kit yet, its sitting on the kitchen table. Yesterday I got an email with my test results for my dog, it amazing that they can tell me what he’s allergic to when I haven’t even done the test and sent it to them.
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Deb E
I’m glad I read all these views and opinions since these are still pretty new and questionable. Vet bills can get so expensive so I can see how people would want to do their own testing.
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Sarah R.
I just got the results of my dog’s test today. Some of the things on the red and yellow list are what I suspected; he seems to itch when he has chicken and his nose gets runny on days when pollen is high. Both items showed up on the yellow or red lists. What’s missing is information on how sensitive the animal is to each item. I assume they can’t make that determination with saliva and hair. Tank’s list says to avoid plastic and latex, but I don’t know if that means his skin is a little sensitive or if that means his throat will close up if someone touches him with a latex glove. I suppose it might be worth following up with my vet.
One thing that is kind of weird is how fast I got my results. I mailed the samples on Saturday afternoon and got the results Thursday afternoon. I’m not sure how they got my results and ran a test within a couple days, but maybe they’re just efficient.
I’m looking at this as a place to start with Tank’s diet. It won’t hurt him to eliminate the stuff on the red list and see how he does, although he’s allergic to ME (human dander) and himself (pet dander).
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Susan Speak
This is a scam that veterinarians are currently trying to get taken off the market. 10 Veterinarians across the country submitted healthy dog samples, as well as water and faux fur to the company to see what the results would be. All samples came back as allergic to some environmental allergen- even the water. Also, the vet they have listed as helping develop the product, Dr. NancyBrandt, said in a statement to VIN that she simply consulted with them. Please don’t let this company take your money!
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BBunsen
I suspect it’s a scam. This article has some interesting information about it.
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VM Skinner
I purchased the Groupon half price kit for my dog and now I simply cannot figure out how to redeem it. Since reading the many reviews suspecting that it is a scam, I guess I will save the $7.50 shipping fee and write off the $46 I spent already. Too bad that companies continue to get away with such rip offs but I guess the old expression, “Buyer Beware” holds very true when buying online.
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ALEWIS
I can’t find the website for ImmuneIQ. does anyone know what happened? Do they have a new website? Did they go out of business? What”s happening? I need to get my dog tested because She has a lot of diarrhea. Allergy testing is very expensive.
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I see Groupon’s for the testing all the time but I’ve read more reviews plus someone who did test on a dog and also sent in Fake Fur and water and got results for both… So take results with a Large grain of salt.
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Vita Szczesny
how do I purchase this kit?
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Nasser Furniture
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about immuneiq dog allergy testing
at home kit review. Regards -
ANN mARIE rEED
I had this testing done on two of my dogs March 26,2014 and was very happy with results. Unfortunately for me I had a fire in my house two years ago. I found one of my dogs test results but not the other. The one I cannot find has recently suffered a hot spot and now an ear infection. Would love to know about testing her again so these things might not happen. Any help or advice for getting another test would be so very much appreciated
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Have you tried logging into the immuneIQ website to see if your results show up on there? Or checking the email address that you did the order through to see if you still have the email with the results?
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I also sent off for the testing kits for both my dogs on a Groupon deal. My results look very similar to yours on the “Negative list”. Both tests on my 2 dogs are also almost identical. A friend had her cat tested and her results looked very close to mine. Which leads me to question validity of testing.