Allergies in dogs and cats are common. Allergies can make a pet irritable, uncomfortable and can lead to infections due to scratching, excessive licking, and chewing at their skin.
Pet allergies are caused by an overactive or abnormal immune response to something the pet is exposed to. They can originate from food, environmental stimuli such as plant and tree pollens, dust, fungi, insects and chemicals. These stimuli can be ingested, come in contact with a pet’s skin, be absorbed through their paw pads or inhaled.
The symptoms of allergies in your pet include obsessive scratching at the face, ears, and chewing at their flanks, paws, abdomen or back. Ear infections, eye tearing, sneezing and over productive anal glands are all common symptoms.
Allergy screening tests which require only blood samples, can specifically diagnose environmental allergies allowing precise treatments to be individually generated to treat your pet. New safer allergy medications are now available that allow both short term and prolonged allergy control.
Food allergy testing is available however, most often require experimenting with various hypoallergenic diets to identify a diet that doesn’t cause allergy symptoms.