Is your pet dog showing some sort of allergy symptoms, and you want to know about which type of allergy he has? Are you familiar with all allergy types and how veterinarian doctors diagnose it usually?
This article is going to tell you all allergy types, symptoms, and the procedures used to diagnose each particular form of allergy. Certain breeds are found to be at a higher risk of developing allergies in them. Here are the 3 types of allergies:
Food Allergy
Environmental Allergies
Skin Allergy/Allergic Dermatitis
Photo by Ryan Walton
Food Allergy
Food allergies have a direct relation with genes, which means dogs are allergic to some specific food types. When these particular food forms are eaten, dogs show food intolerance to them. This allergy type pets has following symptoms:
Gastrointestinal signs like vomiting, diarrhea, increased bowel movements per day.
And skin conditions where ears and paws are badly affected areas and in rare cases results in anaphylaxis.
Foods causing this allergy are:
Beef
Chicken
Eggs
Corn
Wheat
Soy
Or milk
Environmental Allergies
Allergens like dust, mold and pollens from trees, grass and weeds are the reason behind this allergy and thus results in atopic dermatitis or allergic reactions. These reactions are caused by either inhaling or through direct contact with allergens. Environmental allergy is seasonal or may be year round. Its symptoms are:
Red skin
Loss of fur
Recurrent skin or ear infections
Face rubbing, itchy skin, licking, and scratching
Skin Allergy/Allergic Dermatitis
Its reason includes flea bites, food allergies and environmental allergies. Two later ones are described above.
Flea bites cause flea dermatitis making dog’s skin red, inflamed and scabbed. It makes the entire skin of the dog itchy, especially at the base of the tail. All kinds of skin allergies increase the risk of secondary reactions like yeast and bacterial infections.
How Veterinarian Doctor Diagnose These Allergies
Food allergies can be diagnosed by the symptoms in the skin or in gastrointestinal tract, or by elimination diet trial.
Allergy tests in dogs are performed for only environmental allergies. Intradermal tests are performed to test it. In this test different allergens are injected into the dog’s shaved skin area to see to which allergen his skin reacts. This intradermal test is the most accurate type of test for diagnosing seasonal allergies.
Before performing any kind of allergy test, your pet’s doctor might first check for all the other possible causes of allergy.
Final Verdict
In a survey, in UK, 90 percent of owners of pet dogs stated that these pet dogs are really good at making someone happy. As these dogs do a lot for us, it is our greatest responsibility to take care of them in the way we would like to take care of ourselves.
Photo by Eric Ward
