Canine Atopy:
Skin Allergies, Hotspots, Atopic Dermatitis
Information and Overview:
Dogs are not unlike humans in that they do have environmental allergies. The pollens, molds, grasses, dust mites and various other allergens that make you or I stuffy or sneeze, can make our dogs very itchy. Usually starting in the spring months, as the allergens in the environment escalate, your pet may show signs of allergies such as scratching or nibbling at themselves, licking their feet, shaking their heads, or may have red watery eyes. This can continue until the first freeze, and the severity of allergies depends greatly on the individual dog. If allowed to proceed with itching, a dog can scratch until the skin is broken allowing a hotspot, or irritated and infected "spot" of skin anywhere on the animal. These areas must be clipped free of hair and medicated to initiate healing. Antibiotics are often times needed to treat hotspots as well as superficial skin infections that appear as red and bumpy areas on the belly, back, feet, legs or head. Treatment for skin allergies typically begins with conservative treatment using antihistamines and Fatty Acid supplementation. If a reasonable amount of relief is reached with this regimen, no further treatment is necessary. A lot of dogs may become refractory to conservative treatment and may need treatment with glucocorticoids, or "steroids", such as prednisone or dexamethasone. Long term therapy with steroids should be avoided, but often times allergies will only respond to steroid treatments. Hyposensitization is gaining popularity in veterinary medicine, and is what is known as allergy shots in human medicine. A test must be run to determine what it is in the environment that the animal is allergic to. The allergens(proteins in substances that cause an allergic reaction) found on tests to be positive are actually injected back into the animal to get the immune system to respond less severely to the allergens, ideally making the dog less itchy. This is initially a more expensive process, but if the pet responds, will save money in the long run. Treatment with allergy shots must be allowed up to 6 months to a year to see improvement in some cases. Treatment with medicated baths can be very effective if the owner is comfortable bathing the pet twice weekly. Oatmeal based shampoos will collect allergens from the skin, and moisturize, leaving the skin less itchy. Some shampoos will have antibiotic properties and are used in cases of scaly skin or those with skin infections due to the allergies.
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