Allergies in Dogs

If your dog has allergies, she can make the lives of everyone around her miserable. Although allergies can be treated, they can not be cured. The treatment depends on how severe the allergies are and to what the dog is allergic to. There are four common types of allergies:

• Flea

• Food

• Contact

• Inhalant

What exactly are allergies?

Allergies are the body’s response to what it considers foreign. When an allergic dog is exposed to an allergen, for example a flea bite, the dog’s immune system overreacts to the foreign substance, i.e. flea saliva. Some common allergens are:

• Dust

• Dust mites

• Molds

• Trees

• Grass

• Weeds

• Pollen

• Wool

• Food

• Food additives

• Dairy products

• Flea saliva

Once exposed to the allergen the dog will then react to the allergen in a variety of ways, again depending on what the allergy is. Common allergy symptoms are:

• Constant scratching

• Chewing at self/feet

• Coughing

• Sneezing

• Eye/ear discharge

• Recurrent ear infections

• Anal licking

• Rubbing face on floor/furniture

• Vomiting

• Diarrhea

Common treatments for allergies:

• Flea allergies: Flea allergies are very common in dogs. In dogs that are not allergic, they may have a very minimal irritation if any itching from the flea bite. However, an allergic dog will have a severe reaction to the flea bite. Only one flea bite can create such a severe reaction that the dog can be itchy for months, relentlessly chewing and licking at herself. The dog can lick so much that she will lose hair and a secondary bacterial infection can develop.
  
  The ultimate treatment for a flea allergic dog is to keep the dog away from fleas ,although this can be incredibly difficult to accomplish. Fleas are everywhere and it only takes one flea bite to start a vicious cycle. Flea allergic dogs are often put on steroids to lower the dog’s immune reaction to the bite. Steroids can help tremendously with allergies; however, steroid usage is not without risks.
  
  A flea allergic dog should be on a flea preventative, like Frontline or Revolution. Also, if you have an active flea infestation at your home, you may want to consider bombing your house, treating your yard, and putting your dog on Capstar. Capstar will kill a flea that bites your dog within a half hour, thereby stopping the flea lifecycle.

• Food allergies: Dogs are typically not born with food allergies, they develop them from food that they have been eating. Dogs can be allergic to any portion of the food: protein, grains, preservatives or additives.
  
  Common food allergies are:

  • Beef

  • Chicken

  • Wheat

  • Dairy Products

  • Corn

  • BHA

  • BHT

  • Ethoxyquin

  The typical symptoms of food allergies are:

  • Itchy skin

  • Chronic ear infections

  • Hair loss

  The only way to determine what food allergy the dog has, a strict elimination diet must be followed. The dog will be placed on a special hypo-allergic food, comprised of food that the dog probably has never been exposed to. For a period of approximately eight to 12 weeks, this will be the only food that the dog can eat, with the exception of approved snacks. The dog can not eat anything else. After the eight weeks, if the dog is doing better, slowly the ingredients that were avoided will one by one be added back into the diet to see which one/s create an allergic response. Although lab tests are available to detect food allergies, they often are unreliable and inconsistent. A food trial is the best way to determine food allergies. Food trials are difficult to do because absolutely nothing else can be fed to the dog.

• Contact allergies: Contact allergies are the least common of the allergies. Basically the dog will show a local allergic reaction when exposed to the allergen. For example, a flea collar, the dog will lose fur from the area that the collar is touching.
  
  It is often hard to determine what the dog is allergic to when a contact allergen is suspected. Once the allergen is determined, the dog is simply kept away from that allergen

• Inhalant allergies: Inhalant allergies are the most common dog allergy. Inhalant allergies a lot of times begin as seasonal allergies to the outside environment, for example, trees and pollens.
  
  Although it can get expensive there are tests available to diagnose inhalant allergies definitively. The tests are blood and intradermal.
  
  Intradermal skin testing is the best test to determine certain allergies. Basically, the dog is sedated and then an area on the side of the dog is shaved. Then in a known pattern allergens are injected into the skin by injection. Approximately 70 different allergens will be injected into the dog. After a period of a few hours, the injection sites of all the injected allergens will be examined to see it there was a reaction by the body. If a dog is allergic to a particular allergen, there will be a small, raised, red bump. If the dog is not allergic to a specific allergen, there will be no response. This test is best performed by a dermatologist. Below are three pictures of a dog having an intradermal test done.

Dog receiving allergen shots

Dog with strong allergic reactions to exposed allergens

Once the allergens are determined the dog can then start allergy shots. Allergy shots are given once every 10-14 days at home. The allergy serum that is injected is a specially made serum just for your dog with the allergies that she is allergic to mixed in. The shots are used to desensitize the dogs immune system to the allergies. Allergy shots are typically successful in approximately 75% of dogs after one year on the shot.

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