Allergy | Causes, diagnosis, treatment

Dog allergies are more frequent that you’d think. Dogs can be allergic to anything, just like humans, they can develop allergic reactions to pampas grass, or to peanut butter, or to other ingredients in their food. I’m not sure whether canine allergies have the same mechanism as the human ones, but I’ve read somewhere that they don’t. So, it seems there’s no allergy store for dogs, and it is not advisable at all to give allergic dogs the anti-allergic medication which is used for humans. If histamine is not the dog allergies mediator, then giving antihistamines to dogs, can in the happiest case be harmless, but by no means it will be useful for the dog.

The most common symptoms in case of dog allergies are itching, either local or generalized, respiratory troubles such as sneezing, wheezing or coughing, or digestive disorders such as vomiting or diarrhea.

Dog Allergies Types

Like is the case of humans, dog can experience the following types of allergies:

• contact allergies: flea allergies, allergic reaction to collars or to the bedding material
• food allergies: mostly proteins in foods are the most incriminated allergens in dogs
• inhalant allergies: pollens of all types, birch pollen, weeds pollens, trees pollens, dust mites, mold spores, mildew
• bacterial allergies: most commonly to Staphylococcus bacteria

If you notice unusual symptoms in your dog, if its fur falls down in chunks, if you see significant eyes and nose discharges or persistent scratching, you’d better take your dog to a veterinary clinic for investigations. Do not attempt to treat dog allergies at home.

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