We struggled with figuring out what was wrong with our dog for about 3 or 4 months, which now seems relatively short looking back on it, but seemed like an eternity then. She came to us with giardia (intestinal parasite) so had fluctuating diarrhea and thus we initially thought that was the cause for all her issues. Once that cleared up (after many vet visits and a lot of medication) we realized she suffered from what seemed like a chronically infected ear, we unknowingly assumed it was mites and treated her for that (since she came with one problem we thought the mites probably came from the crappy place where we adopted her too). Turns out it was actually an irritation from the her allergies, which we didn't know she had. After a lot of internet research, I started with an elimination diet. Beef went out first, and we noticed her ear got a lot better. She still kept slowly but steadily developing a bald patch on her back, so we started eliminating chicken as well. Little did I know (or actually think twice...) to stop feeding her eggs too (I know, stupid to keep feeding her eggs while she was off chicken, but I wanted her to eat something nutritious, and since we were cooking for her I thought it was an excellent source of "probably" a different protein). She kept gnawing at her paws and developing hotspots here and there, usually around the neck. Since she was a new puppy, we couldn't easily connect this to eggs, her health and behavior had been abnormal from the start, and I read about her symptoms as being related to environmental allergies a lot (and this was her first spring...). She would also sneeze and have reverse sneezing bouts once in a while, which was quite unnerving. One day, after feeding her a raw egg (first ever 'pure' egg fed to her) and seeing her immediate itching and sneezing reaction, I realized... and wanted to slap myself. She's been off all these things ever since, only eating a stew of sorts prepared with lamb, goat, salmon mixed with things like oats, sweet potato, rice, etc as well as olive oil and nutritional yeast. Strangely enough she's completely ok with dairy (if you have a dog allergic to eggs and want to feed them cheese here and there please double check it doesn't contain egg byproducts, same with every other snack). After a few months of steady progress (no itching, hair returning, no hotspots, no sneezing, shinier hair, almost no reverse sneezing, healthy ears, etc. and noticeably better energy) I gave her pork to test that as well: no good, ear issues immediately flared up. Months later we tested for turkey and she got itchy almost instantly. Later I heard from the vet that most likely all poultry will do this. However, she said that since it is the protein in food which causes an allergy, foods containing only poultry *fat* are actually ok (such as the one I feed her as an additional thing: Dutch-brand Hypoallergenic BioFood with lamb, which contains poultry fat -- very recommendable). Two years later, she's as healthy as a French Bulldog can be, without breathing or temperature-regulating issues, and an amazing coat. I don't know what she's gotten into recently but she's developed hotspots and a terrible itch again (daily scratching and paw gnawing), it's been going on for a week and a half, we did change her food but since we had been traveling with her we changed her food quite often over the past month, and since we know what she can eat we were actually doing a pretty good job, no allergies at all. It could be a coindicental overlap, but she started getting sneezing bouts after falling into what she thought was a shallow outdoor surface full of foxtails (the type that doesn't stick, but has a lot of fluffy hairs), it's been sort of getting better, but I wonder what happened. My question is: can an already very allergic dog develop a new allergy? Can the hypoallergenic food actually be causing trouble? When should I see the vet for a hotspot -- after a week or two since it's developed? I also wrote my issue as accurately as possible since I've profited so much from people doing so in the past, so thanks to the drs for answering and to the posters for posting! Best wishes, S