What typically causes allergies in dogs?
Dogs generally have allergies to one or more of several things: environmental allergies, food allergies, or topical allergies, specifically talking about parasites, mostly fleas.
What are the common symptoms of allergies in dogs?
The most common symptom or clinical sign of allergies in dogs would be itchiness. In veterinary medicine, our patients manifest their allergic reactions principally through the skin. What that looks like is dogs who are very itchy, scratching, licking their paws, rubbing their body, or rolling their body on the floor or along furniture. That's the number one sign of allergies. This can also translate to ears as well. Often, we'll see dogs who come in and their owners complain that the dogs are doing nothing but shaking their head or scratching at their ears. While that is often an indication of ear infection, sometimes there's actually no infection there at all, and the dogs are just itchy. There is a smaller subset of dogs who will manifest their allergies through the gastrointestinal tract, either through vomiting and/or abnormal stool quality. But principally, allergies in dogs are manifested through the skin.
How do you diagnose allergies in dogs?
I think the most important first step in diagnosing allergies in dogs is to get a really good, accurate, or thorough history from the owner. When I think about allergies, and specifically environmental allergies, you need to determine whether this is a seasonal problem or a year-round problem. Many of my patients' owners complain about skin problems in their dogs for much of the year, but if it's not truly 12 months long, then it is a seasonal problem. That's the first question that has to be answered. The second part of that thorough history taking would be to focus on where the dog is having problems. Is it specifically related to the ears, or is the dog having problems across their skin as a whole? The third big question I would want answers to is how has that patient responded to treatment in the past? What treatments have been used or not utilized, and how did the patient respond to those therapies with regard to controlling itch and/or infection?
What are the treatment options for dog allergies?
Treatment options for allergy relief are really focused on the type of allergy we're trying to manage. For instance, seasonal allergies are most commonly managed through oral and/or topical therapies or a combination of the two. Whereas year-round allergies, whether it be food or to the environment, require a deeper dive as far as treatment is concerned, often requiring a specific food that needs to be fed to the exclusion of all other foods. It could mean that the animal needs to receive allergy injections to help desensitize their immune system to the allergies they are suffering from. And then, of course, you never want to forget about the lesser allergies, but also very important, and that would be fleas in particular. Flea allergy can be a really big problem in dogs. It seems somewhat simple and intuitive, but keeping that animal on a really good prescription strength medication to control fleas and ticks on a year-round basis is a phenomenal way to manage that problem.
Can pet owners diagnose their dog's allergies at home?
It's not likely that an owner will be able to accurately diagnose their dog's allergies at home. However, at home, you can provide the veterinarian with a very good history of what the dog is doing. This includes information such as how often the dog is itching or licking, how many months out of the year the dog has the problem, and what has been the dog's response to treatment in the past. That type of information is really helpful to a veterinarian to help pinpoint where the allergy is coming from. Oftentimes, patients who are primed to have allergies will be allergic to more than one thing; their immune system is essentially compromised, which is what's setting them up to have the allergic response to things in their environment or things they are eating. So, we often see patients who have more than one allergy—they may be environmental and food or flea allergy and environmental allergy. Solving the puzzle of what your dog is allergic to can require a lot of thought and generally a significant amount of expertise and training, which is why my answer would be that in most cases, an owner is not going to be able to find what their dog is allergic to without the help of their family veterinarian.
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