Why is Scruffy scratching?

“Most environmental allergies show up in dogs between 1 to 3 or 5 years of age,” Boyanowski says. “Most food allergies show up at less than 1 year of age in puppies or when they’re geriatric dogs.”

Specific environmental allergies can be pinpointed with an intradermal allergy test. This involves injecting small amounts of potentially allergy-causing substances (trees, grasses, weeds, molds, housemites) into the skin. The reactions are interpreted by a veterinary dermatologist. And certain blood tests can document relative levels of allergy-related antibodies in the blood.

“Regardless of the test, interpretation is critical,” Ackerman says. “It is not as simple as just sending a blood sample to a laboratory and getting a diagnostic result back.”

Easing the itching and scratching
Treatment depends on the severity of the allergies. Pets with mild cases may benefit from routine antihistamines and essential fatty acid supplements to keep flare-ups under control.

“The highest success rate is with high eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) therapy, which is an anti-inflammatory fatty acid found in fish oils,” Ackerman says. “This is effective in perhaps 15 to 20 percent of cases, but relatively high levels — often much higher than on product labels — need to be given to achieve this effect.”

Boyanowski agrees, saying, “You usually can’t cause significant harm by giving too many fatty acids, where you may not get any effect if you don’t give enough.”

Allergy shots can sometimes help pets with moderate allergy problems. “They tend to do very well on allergy shots to desensitize them to those things that they’re reactive to,” Boyanowski says. With a little training from a veterinary technician or veterinarian, it’s easy to give allergy shots at home.

Pets with severe allergies need more aggressive treatment, such as steroids given every other day. “Some of the newer therapies, one in particular called Atopica, can be helpful to bring down the symptoms of those allergies or be combined with allergy shots if the shots are not enough,” Boyanowski says.

In any case, she adds, frequent bathing with appropriate shampoos and conditioners can help soothe itchy skin, and some patients respond to homeopathic therapies such as Rescue Remedy.

Doc’s owner has changed his diet, adds salmon oil to his food, and gives him super-conditioning baths followed by a leave-in conditioner, all to no avail. She’s hoping a change in climate will help.

“We are going to spend two months in Texas for winter field-training,” Bauer says, “and I will see if there is a change while we’re down there.”

Kim Campbell Thornton is an award-winning author who has written many articles and more than a dozen books about dogs and cats. She belongs to the Dog Writers Association of America and is past president of the Cat Writers Association. She shares her home in California with three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and one African ringneck parakeet.

Creature Comforts appears the third Monday of every month.

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