Last month we touched briefly on Inhalant Dermatitis, or Atopy your pet may encounter as an allergic reaction. This month, we’ll discuss treatment for Atopy and talk about another common reaction many pet owners overlook—food!

Dogs, and cats too, can become allergic to proteins in their diet. This usually makes them have a generalized type itch all over their body and very often causes chronic ear infections as well. Almost all dog foods contain beef, chicken or lamb protein, or soy type proteins, which are all common causes of food allergy. A common fallacy, often promoted by dog food companies is that lamb is hypo-allergenic. This is definitely not true and in fact may actually be more likely to cause an allergy than beef or chicken. Newer prescription type diets with proteins who's molecular size has been greatly reduced seem to be the best answer to dietary allergies. Due to the costs of production, there are no commercially available foods that are considered truly hypoallergenic.

In order to treat a dog with allergies, a veterinarian must do the following: a)confirm that an allergy exists, b) determine if it is food allergy or Atopy, or possibly both, c) make sure to treat any complicating factors such as fleas, bacterial or yeast infections, mites, and be sure there are no hormonal problems such as hypothyroidism causing additional problems. The most important part of treating allergies is making sure the owners are very well educated about their pets allergic condition and about the products used to treat them. Since allergies cannot be "cured", they usually require long-term management by the owner. Allergies are commonly managed with things such as antihistamines, nutritional supplements such as Omega Fatty Acids, topical medications such as prescription shampoos and cream rinses, and prescription diets for food allergic dogs. Only in severe cases do drugs such as steroids need to be used routinely, and antibiotics are usually only needed to treat skin infections during the early stages before the allergies can be gotten under control. In some cases of Atopy, dogs can be given hyposensitization shots to try to reduce the degree of allergy to certain substances, just like certain people take their "allergy shots".

If any of the things discussed in this column seem to be problems for your pet, see your vet soon to help get them under control, and your pet will be much happier!