5Strands Pet Food & Environmental Sensitivity Test, 1250 Items Tested | At-home fur sample test for dogs & cats of all ages. Pinpoints food intolerances & environmental triggers. Results in 4 days

Nothing worked. This was our final hope. And as soon as we got the results, we realized that all of the different allergy pills we were giving her had products she was allergic to! Her dog food had ingredients she was allergic to! Her dog bed was made of material she was allergic to! We changed everything out and in just a couple of days, our dog finally stopped itching, breaking out into hot red spots, and licking her paws!!! And last night, she finally slept all the way through which she hasn’t done in ages!! And it hasn’t even been a week since we made these changes but it obviously is working. 5Strands is a definite must for all dog owners.

I spent a lot of time determining if I wanted to spend the money on this kit. I knew if it was accurate, the results would be well worth it. But I’ve also read the reviews that claimed they never got results, got incorrect results, or got bad customer service. After receiving the results, I couldn’t be happier that I got this comprehensive test! I’ve done a lot of researching about dog allergies. I’ve read that DNA tests aren’t accurate. My vet told me the only way to get real results was to go to the expensive specialist for expensive tests. Then I read that even blood tests weren’t always accurate. Diet testing takes a long time! I ended up ordering this test because I was so sick of not getting results with what we were doing. Here’s our story: Roo was licking her belly quite a bit, giving herself rashes. She’d occasionally lick her feet, and occasionally her armpits. We didn’t think much of it. Then it got to the point where she started licking her belly and armpits until she was completely red and raw. She increased her feet licking too. Then she also started scratching aggressively at her chin, opening her skin with her claws. It got to the point of lots of hotspots and skin infections. Googled it- sounds like allergies or intolerances. So we made changes to her diet, but not enough. We didn’t think it’d be from food she’s been eating for a long time, so we didn’t take away everything. So anyhow, we changed her kibble- gave her sensitive stomach and skin salmon. I had also been giving her a glucosamine chondroitin supplement since I had some left over from another pet, which I stopped at the same time we changed kibble. After a few weeks, we saw a lot of improvement, but she still showed symptoms. Maybe it wasn’t the dog food… We give our dogs dogurt (a frozen yogurt recipe). Maybe that’s it…. We stopped it and less than a week later, she got better, but still has some issues. Ok. Things are much better- but at this point we don’t know what to change. Only choices left were do nothing more and let her be slightly uncomfortable and deal with the occasional rashes and hotspots, send off an allergy test, or go to the expensive vet. All of these things may not have provided the desired results, so we picked the allergy test. I received it the next day and registered my kit. The whole process was so easy! I cleaned the dog brush so there wasn’t a hair on it from another pet and got a good size sample to put in the bag. Sealed it up, folded the box back up, put it in the mailing bag, and put the shipping label that was provided on the package. Kept the tracking number. I knew what day it was supposed to arrive, I couldn’t wait to get results. I tracked it the day it was supposed to arrive around noon, it said it had been picked up. By later that afternoon, I got a notification that the sample was received. It was a Friday, so I had assumed the weekend wouldn’t count in the 4 days. I was hoping for results by the following Thursday. Monday before noon I received an email that the results were in-after 3 days! And guess what was on there… Chicken, her original kibble had chicken in it. Chicken is also common in so many treats too. Glucosamine and chondroitin were also both on there. That would make sense for why we saw a sudden increase right before she got really bad symptoms. And why she had significant results by changing her food and stopping the glucosamine. Yogurt was on there… we saw improvement after stopping her yogurt. There were a lot of medium things she was allergic to that was in supplements we were giving, like brewers dried yeast and probiotics. Now that we’ve received results we can finally narrow down what food, supplements, and treats she can have. She’s so much healthier and there’s still more room for improvement! She looks happier and even 5 years younger! This test has been a game changer for us! Overall, I wasn’t a fan of how the results were listed. It’s grouped by severity of both food and environmental. For example, chicken meal was insignificant, chicken heart was mild, and chicken protein was severe. It made me have to search through the papers multiple times for multiple things. It would have been much easier if all chicken allergies were listed together, or if there was an option to filter alphabetically instead of by severity. Overall, this test was well worth it and my dog is doing so much better!

Iv been waiting to leave this review to see how things played out and Im so very thankful of this product. My 8 year old Chihuahua has suffered from allergies the entire time I have had him (rescue puppy). Hot spots, dry flakey skin, pimple spots, loss of hair, dark skin, always biting and licking his feet, scratching, occasional yeast, I fixed his feet by putting him in booties every time we went outside so no contact with ground but that didnt solve the issues with the overall body. He has been on every drug/spray/shampoo you can think of prescribed by his dermatologist. He recently got moved from Apoquel to Zenrelia but after this last drug switch I was over it and felt bad for my little guy. 3 friends had mentioned using this allergy test previously. I have always been sceptical because of the mixed reviews and knowing a hair sample test is not exact/100% but i said the heck with it, it was on sale and i was spending all this other money why not? The test was easy, got results back in the expected time, and the app was easy to use. Breaks it down by food and environment. - Shocker, he is allergic to the grass and two types of trees in my apartment complex. - He is allergic to the chemical in the fabric softner sheets I used. - He is allergic to something in the greenies teeth treats I would give him - the skin lotion i used to help with dryness has mineral oil, allergic to that. - The WORST part of it all was on the “high” allergic scale, he is allergic to cranberries and brussel sprouts, two ingredients in the homemade venison dog food i made him for the last 6 years. So upset at myself for not doing this sooner… Changed fabric sheets, no more greenies, continued to wear booties on feet when we go outside, and changed the food which he is now eating JustFoodforDogs Turkey recipe. I also switched his blanket for a cooling blanket to help cool him down which he loves. He is still on zenrelia, however, the last 6 months have been the best the entire time we have dealt with these issues. All his hair is back on his feet and legs, his hair is growing back on his belly and neck, and his scratching has dropped by 80%. The biggest issue we have now is lite dryness and dandruff but im hoping with a shampoo change that will be the last aspect to deal with. Don't hesitate, don't question. Just do it. Even if its not 100% accurate, if your dog cant deal with a normal allergy test like my dog cant, this is the next best thing. I wouldnt incorporate any new foods, but you can At least eliminate anything that shows up on the report. My dog will never be allergy free completely unless he lives in a bubble but the quality of life is much better now.

UPDATE: Turkey came back as no reaction, green coded and totally safe. So we switched her food to Turkey. Turns out she's allergic. These tests feel very randomly generated, and flat out risky and unsafe for pet well being. ---Original Review--- We ordered this test after our doctor confirmed a severe chicken allergy in our dog and switched her to a lamb-based diet, which quite literally saved her life. Without knowing it, feeding chicken-based foods led to an 18-month allergy flare that left my 2-year-old dog with permanent skin lesions and was threatening to make her go deaf from constant ear infections. She literally smelled like she was dying, and we were talking palliative care with our vet, who suggested an elimination diet as a last ditch attempt to figure out our dog's allergy. When we did the elimination diet and moved her to a lamb based diet, EVERY SINGLE physical symptom cleared up in about 72 hours of being off chicken. We ordered this test because we wanted to scan for a suspected salmon intolerance and anything else we might have missed during her elimination diet. So we went in aware of a severe chicken allergy/intolerance, and knowing that lamb was safe. So imagine our surprise to get our results where lamb flags as a worst of the worst intolerance - even more than the chicken that was killing her. If we were to put faith in these test results and didn't have the advanced knowledge going into the testing, we well may have taken her off the lamb food that has saved her life and moved her back to the chicken-based food that was killing her. Our test results are also unlikely to be true based on statistical probabilities. Our kit returned 58 level 3 intolerances 64 level 2 intolerances 67 level one intolerances That leaves 191 things that she didn't respond to. That means she had some form of intolerance to almost exactly 50% of things they tested for. This split would not be realistic as a natural occurrence. We should expect to see significantly more non-issue and level one intolerance than level 2 and 3 intolerances. This adds to the distrust of the results. Upon closer review of the flagged allergies and their severities on our report, we noticed that anything actually in her diet flagged as intolerant on some level. The ONLY things on this test that didn't flag were food items that just don't exist in her diet at all. I suspect that this test only tests for food IN THE DOG'S SYSTEM as opposed to foods that will actually harm them. This makes sense, since Lamb would be the #1 thing in her diet, and it flagged as a level 3 "discontinue immediately" intolerance...when in reality it's a safe food for her. Chicken flagged as a level 2 intolerance, which makes sense since she's now been without it for nearly 8 weeks, with the exception of small amounts of chicken fat and by-product meal in her treats, but does have a SEVERE issue with chicken. So SOMETHING was in there, just not much, and it flagged as a lower intolerance than it should have. I understand that the test doesn't bill itself as 100% accurate, but this test could have actually led to harm to our pet and that is scary. Buy this for fun if you like, but please don't use this as a substitute for the spendy vet testing. Please don't make feeding and medication decisions based on this test. We feel like we wasted $150 on this test that could have been better allocated towards more advanced testing that is scientific and would have offered us true insight to our dog's unique needs. This test feels generic in nature and like it probably doesn't have anything to do with our dog at all. The pros are that it is simple to do, fast, and causes the dog no discomfort.

My German Shepherd has had lifelong allergies and received many CADI/Cytopoint injections for them. We have rotated food types and formats for many years. This product did provide some good insight, as we suspected she was allergic/sensitive to all meats. We discovered she is allergic to most meats, but did find one that may be suitable to feed her. We also learned that she had many environmental and other food intolerances we hadn't considered before. Taking the hair sample was easy enough and the result came back in exactly five days, perhaps because we live very close to the testing facility! Overall, it's hard to determine exactly how accurate this test is, but now that she is on an elimination diet, I will update my review in the future with how she is doing on the foods labeled okay for her. This is definitely a good tool to use as a starting point in managing canine dietary issues. I do wish the test provided an explanation for some items, like what they consider to be included in a chicken meal vs chicken. For example, my dog was shown as reactive to nearly all meat meals, but some of the meats themselves were deemed okay. I would love to know if the meat meals they tested with just included meat and bone or if they included any organ meat, hair, feather, etc. Another example would be specifying what they included in peanut butter. My dog showed no reaction to peanuts, but a high reaction to peanut butter. Did their test peanut butter include other oils, sugar, additives, etc.? I would also love for this product to test for more fruits and vegetables. Only two fruits were tested - blueberries and cranberries. Some basic foods like apples, bananas, and oranges were not included in the test. They also tested for a few things that are generally not advised to feed to dogs, like pistachios, almonds, and cashews, and I would much rather have had more testing for things dogs are okay to eat. Overall, the test provides a good starting point. If they have a more in-depth test, I might recommend going for that if you're trying to create an elimination diet for your pup.

Totally recommend if you tried everything. I was told my dog has dermatitis and given sprays and all kinds of ointments and steroids. Cytopoint and prednisone worked for a while but she lost most of her hair with cytopoint. But her skin was still crusty, flaky you name it. It looked horrible. Her inflammation decreased but the dryness was still bad. I tried aloe Vera but only raw aloe made her skin soft but nothing cured her. I read that she may have an allergy and found this test kit. So she had a lot of sensitivities. So I tried "taste of the wild", no grain / salmon and that made a difference vs the beef. She has mild sensitivity to beef and the grain barley which is basically in most food treats and food. Even the bacon treats she loves had barley smh. So just removing that alone, a month later I saw a big difference. The inflammation in her legs have dropped accept her front legs because she licks them a lot but she stopped biting to the point she used to bleed. Now we are using baking soda 5 minute baths and her skin feels super soft after. So the barley and grains was the biggest issue with her. Hoping in a few months her hair can grow back. But this is the longest she's gone without steroids. Btw Lauren from this company explained her results to me. Great customer service. They truly care and gave me some extra care advice. As for myself I did my own test and was shocked to see shrimps and cola. I always knew of both but didn't think it would show up. Cola is only if I drink too much because it's the caffeine that affects me in the amount that I drink. I get itchy eyes or sneezing and or itchy throat. And the same with shrimps. My siblings develop rashes, but I get a different reaction than they which is the same reaction like with cola. And it's the amount I eat as well. I can eat a few and I'm fine. Açaí came up on my result and was shocked, but I have noticed my stomach hurts but that's the only sensitivity I get. So now I know if I ever get severe sensitivities in the future I can re-check this list to see what I'm eating. I haven't noticed sensitivities with mangoes but I have a feeling if I eat it daily it can develop like in the case with caffeine/cola. In my case it's all about the amount I eat at one setting and the number of days back to back. Same with teas I have red listed on my results and most of the teas I drink have caffeine. So I know what i need to eliminate or what to drink in moderation. Hopefully this will help perimenopause as well since caffeine affects hormones. Good luck everyone. Hope this info helps those who are trying to understand how this works. Lauren actually explained it to me when asking her how this test works without doing a blood test. "To help clarify: our testing doesn’t measure nutrient levels in your blood like traditional lab work does. Instead, it assesses energetic imbalances that suggests your body is not utilizing or absorbing certain nutrients efficiently - even if those nutrients are present in the body. So when your report shows reactivity to B vitamins like B1, B2, B6, and B12, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re deficient or overloaded in terms of quantity — it means your body may not be processing or benefiting from them as effectively as it should. This can sometimes happen due to poor absorption, digestive issues, or even interactions with other foods or supplements."

Just think -if you are given info for what your pet, (dog in my case) is sensitive -&/or intolerant to than you can save on lots of potential-future pain+for your furbaby trying out different foods+, not to mention vet bills, etc. I’m Soo Glad I got this test!! I recently got a dog (rescue)-and THIS TEST validated he was sensitive/intolerant to his original food & treats, etc. (chicken, wheat, corn, etc) -Not seasonal allergies like vets sometime ‘go to’. There was also a few things we changed in our house -due to the environment results. My dog is healthier & happier, enjoying his food and home a lot more now!! This test can help you decide what is best to feed your pet & see if anything is bothering him or her in their home. I have the app on my phone & refer to it very often. Like I said, this is worth triple+ the $$! I also got results a lot faster than I expected. Lastly, I called to ask about other tests and customer service (Stacey) was great. She explained even more about this tests and others they offer too. I really think these tests are a benefit to learn what can help keep our pets healthier and again, just get this Now!

This test gave me helpful information that I couldn't figure out on my own. It was easy to collect the sample, the results arrived quickly, and I felt much more confident choosing foods and avoiding things that seemed to bother my pet.

These are great done it for 2 different dogs and has really helped me cut out things that make them itchy. It’s really easy to use and send of and good price for the amount of things they test for has really helped with itching and diet changes

Our 3 year old mixed breed dog was struggling with both environmental and food allergies. Sent the DNA My Dog saliva test back via regular mail - no expedited shipping - and didn't get the results for over a month. I did receive an email stating they received the sample and asked me to pay for expedited processing - which I did not. The DNA My Dog test gave me only 3 page report that listed 1 protein she was allergic to and 2 proteins with low allergen to. Then a list of 123 allergens our dog did not react to. The 5Strands brand had a test for both environmental and food, which we purchased. Used shedded hair collected by petting her for the sample and received it back in 4 days with no expedited options. We recevied back a 12 page report that graded her allergies by none, level 1, 2 or 3. It had 3 pages of environmental allergens (eg. ash trees, cat dander, hawthorn, etc..) and 6 pages of food allergies ( sorted by fats, grains, proteins, seafood, spices, additives and veggies.) We found the 5Strand test much more comprehensive and actionable. It is more expensive, but found it well worth it. There is so much information, it does take some time to digest, but printed out the results and took them to our pet food store and walked through options -starting with the proteins our dog could have, then sorting through the rest of the ingredients.

Easy to use and very quick results

I’m outraged by the negative reviews on this product... especially the person who said they got sent results without sending in their sample (they email you results so how would they have gotten your email) Collecting the hair was simple..I live in Canada and paid $30 for express tracked shipping..they email you when your sample arrives and in 5 business days I had the results. They are extremely thorough and a little difficult to understand but I think you need to use your brain to interpret the results. My dog has been shedding excessively, licking her paws and lady bits, scooting her butt and she’s had 3 ear infections in the last 2 years. she’s on a raw diet and we already tried cutting out chicken and pork to no avail. It was difficult for us to figure out what the problem was..and we went with this test kit because it’s more thorough on what it tests (example..my dog is allergic to pork fat..but not pork meal or bone or organs) so for the raw diet I felt it was better to have the thorough breakdown instead of just “pork”. Anyways the biggest cause we learned is beef (she’s reacting to all forms of beef) so I will be reworking her diet to elimite beef and fish and we will evaluate from there. I feel like this is a small price to pay to figure out what’s wrong instead of having to figure it out blindly. Anyways I recommend this product and I think people who haven’t purchased and tried it shouldn’t be leaving reviews (my vet was extremely negative on this test as well..told me it’s not possible to test allergies using hair or saliva) I’m glad I didn’t listen and gave it a shot. To be clear..it doesn’t test the allergies that are instant reactions (like mouth/ throat swelling..you wouldn’t need the kit if the dog reacts RIGHT AWAY to an allergen..this is for intolerances. Thank you.

In order to activate the test kit, upon copying the QR code I was required to enter my Mastercard number and would then be billed $19.95 monthly. No way was I doing this so am out the $145.00. This was not mentioned anywhere when I ordered the kit. Rip off.