Your dogs allergies and how to manage them

Allergies in your dogs is probably the most common topic of conversation in our exam rooms. The Columbia River Gorge is home to lots of allergens and to dogs that lead active, outdoor lives. Allergies are complex, treatment is multifaceted, and every dog is different, so our approaches to each pet are unique.

We have written a client handout for allergies (also known as atopy) to give to clients, and I have included it below for you! Give it a read and contact us if you would like to set up an appointment to discuss your pets allergies!

Atopy and Atopic Dermatitis

Definition:

The word atopy breaks down to a- meaning not, and -topy meaning topical. So atopic dermatitis essentially means an infection or inflammation of the skin caused by an allergen that is not a contact allergen. In dogs and cats, the allergens causing this are either from their food or from their environment.

Essentially the allergen causes the animals’ body to stop producing natural antibacterial and antifungal oils. This creates an environment where the natural bacteria and yeasts that normally happily exist on your pet’s body can overgrow and cause an infection. This is most likely to occur in places that trap moisture and that are protected. In dogs and cats, the most likely places are in their ears, between their toes, under their tails and armpits and under their lower jaw. Sometimes these infections can be superficial (easier to treat) and sometimes they can be deep (more difficult to treat).

Allergens:

Food allergens are generally proteins that come from meat sources or from carbohydrate sources in an animal’s diet. It generally does not refer to the quality of the food or the price of the food, but to the ingredients. Fats and oils are generally not allergenic.

Environmental allergens include pollens, grasses, molds, dust and storage mites, trees, and weeds. Sometimes environmental allergens can cause dogs and cats to have seasonal allergies and sometimes they don’t. However, if your pet does have seasonal allergies, then an environmental allergen is more likely.

Diagnosis:

Diagnosis is usually straightforward. If your pet is getting infections in one or more of the above listed regions more than once or twice in their lives, it is likely because of atopy.

There are allergy tests out there, but they have a long way to go. There are dermal tests and blood IgE tests. The dermal tests are mostly exclusively done at a veterinary dermatology office. They inject small amounts of allergens into their skin and monitor for reactions. The blood IgE tests are more commonly done at a veterinary general practice office. Neither are very sensitive nor specific, meaning that we have to interpret the results with a grain of salt. Also, the IgE tests for food are not reliable at all, in fact, the manufacturers often recommend not running them. Lastly, they are expensive.

Treatment:

Treatment of atopic dermatitis requires us to address three issues.

1.    Treatment of the infection itself. For superficial infections, we can stick with topical medications including medicated shampoos, wipes, sprays, mousses ointments, etc. For deep infections we often must use oral antifungals or antibiotics or both.

2.    Management of the allergens. If food is the primary allergen, then figuring out a diet that doesn’t inflame them is key – more on this below. If something in their environment is the primary allergen, then this part of the treatment is usually futile.

3.    Allergy medications. Many dogs with allergies will need some sort of allergy medications either on a short or long-term basis. Currently there are two options made for dogs (not cats). The first option is Apoquel. This is a tablet that is given twice per day for the first 3 days, then decreased to once per day after that. The other is an injection called Cytopoint. This injection can last anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months depending on the dog and their allergies. In cats with allergies, prednisolone, a steroid, and Atopica, another immune modulator, are currently the only options for allergy medications.

Diet trials:

If you are interested in figuring out if your pet is allergic to something in their food, diet trials are the only reliable option for diagnosis.

Here are the rules of a diet trial:

1.    Each food requires 4-6 weeks before you can determine if it is helping/hurting.

2.    You must be strict. This means that everyone in the house must be on board. Often it also means that the other pets in the house also must be on board. If you have kids that drop food, a diet trial may not be worthwhile.

3.    Simplifying things as much as possible is the best way to set yourself up for success. This means that if you have your dog on a duck kibble with a chicken wet food and beef treats, you are going to have a much harder time interpreting any changes after 6 weeks than if you made all the meat sources the same.

4.    It’s best to start with a diet (looking at ingredients, not brands or formulations, etc.) that your pet has likely not eaten at all in their lives.

5. Start this when their skin is quiet, meaning there is not an active infection going on.

Types of foods you can use for a diet trial:

1.    Home cooked food. If you decide to do this, we recommend using www.balanceit.com for recipes. This is a website made by veterinary nutritionists. You will likely need to supplement with vitamins with this option, and those are available on the website.

a.    Pros: you have complete control over the ingredients they are eating

b.   Cons: expensive, time consuming, you have to give supplements usually with a treat which can complicate things

2.    Over-the-counter diet. If you do this, we recommend really looking at the ingredients list to determine what is in the food.

a.    Pros: affordable, convenient, variety of forms (i.e. kibble, canned, dehydrated, freeze-dried, etc.)

b.   Cons: there is way less oversight by governing bodies to make sure the ingredients listed are actually in the food.

3.    Hydrolyzed diet. These are prescription kibble and canned foods available through Hill’s, Purina and Royal Canin. These diets hydrolyze all the proteins meaning that the protein is broken into its amino acid building blocks, and animals are less allergic to the amino acids than they are to the intact protein. If you would like to try a prescription diet, let us know and we can facilitate having it ordered for delivery to your home.

a.    Pros: convenient, moderately expensive, because these are prescription diets, there is much more oversight on both the ingredient content and quality, Hill’s and Royal Canin also have treats available

b.   Cons: moderately expensive

Atopy is a lifelong management diagnosis, and there is no cure. Due to the individual nature of treatment, it often requires repeated vet visits and open communication to determine appropriate management plans.

Call or email us to set up an appointment to discuss your pets allergies today! (541) 436-4116 info@arrowleafveterinary.com