Pet Allergies - Woodland Springs Vet Hospital

Pet

Allergies

Treating pet allergies

If you suffer from allergies, you know how uncomfortable and miserable they can make you feel. Now imagine how unhappy you would feel if you didn’t have the proper medications to alleviate the symptoms or a means to tell someone you had allergies. For this reason, it is important to know that, just like humans, animals can suffer at the hands of allergies that are triggered by an array of environmental factors and allergens. Pet allergies are inherited traits passed from parent to offspring. If one parent is allergic to a specific allergen, then it is highly likely the offspring will be allergic to the same allergen. Just like it is with humans, pets may be allergic to:

Pollen from trees, grass, and weeds
Mold
Dust mites
Insect bites
Wool and carpet fibers
Certain foods
Medications
Other animals

Pets may experience the onset of allergies between the ages of six months and three years, and certain breeds are more prone to allergies than others. It is a known fact that Boxers, Retrievers, Shih-Tzus, Terriers and other common breeds frequently suffer from allergies.

Helping our furry friends

This is an easy and simple blood test that identifies which allergens your dog or cat is allergic to. Your vet will take a small blood sample from your pet and send it to the Nextmune laboratory for analysis. Nextmune will look for antibodies against different allergens if the level of antibodies to a certain allergen is above a certain value, that means that your pet is overreacting (sensitive) to it.

When your pet is diagnosed with allergies, your veterinarian will put it on immunotherapy, which will stop the allergy from progressing by making the immune system less sensitive or insensitive to the allergens that trigger the allergic reaction.

We offer Nextmune allergy testing

Symptoms

Since your pets cannot tell you they are allergic to a certain trigger or allergen, there are some common symptoms you need to be aware of in order to help your pet.

Skin disease – Skin disease is the most common symptom an allergic pet can exhibit. When affected by a certain allergen, pets’ skin can become red, itchy, and scaly. This skin irritation can be widespread or confined to concentrated areas like the face, belly, feet, groin, and hindquarters.

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