Pet Dogs Information

There are various kinds of allergies that a dog may suffer from. These allergies are difficult to be determined since dogs are prone to be allergic to only one ingredient and not to the whole diet. So, its quite puzzling to narrow down to that particular allergic stuff and to isolate it.

Its an old tradition to say that a diet that a dog has never eaten before, should be given to him as they will not cause the allergic reaction. The dogs were fed with lamb and rice at first but since they are now part of most of the other dog foods, one can try with rich-protein diet such as ostrich meat, alligator meat, duck, venison and rabbit along with rich-carbohydrate diet such as potato, peas and rice.

Then, gradually, food ingredients such as beef, chicken, milk and wheat can be introduced back into the diet one at a time so as to see the reaction of the dog. If food allergies reoccur, then, the ingredient added last is considered to be the culprit.

To avoid these allergies, one can try the following :

• Hyposensitization - This method involves injecting minute amounts of allergen to the dog so that a tolerance level to the substance develops. As the young dogs respond better to it, they should be tried first.

• The ears of the pooch needs to be rinsed with white vinegar mixed 1:1 with water, once or twice a week in order to reduce infections.

• In case of inflammation in ear, Synotic (Rx) can be used or another corticosteroidotic preparation to control secondary infections. Oral corticosteroids have more systemic side effects.

• Antihistamines play a good role in reducing ear infections too.

The ultimate allergy test is intradermal skin testing, which is done by a veterinary dermatologist or an experienced general practitioner too. It has a good accuracy rate of about 70 to 80%. Another testing method that can be used for inhalant allergies is blood testing, which has an accuracy rate of about 60 to 70%.

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