One of the more difficult, time consuming and potentially expensive medical problems your pet can face are allergies. The reason is there is no one stop shop for allergy diagnosis and treatment. The best approach, the one that will result in the best results for you and your pet, is a multi faceted approach.
Many pet owners and Veterinarians deal with allergies with corticosteroid injections. These have to be given every year and may need to be repeated at frequent intervals to control symptoms.
On the plus side, corticosteroids will control the symptoms temporarily. On the negative side, there are
consequences to repeated corticosteroid use that may result in serious health problems.
Most veterinary dermatologists agree that the best way to manage allergy is to determine the source of the problem and provide treatment that is specific to that particular allergen or allergens. In most cases that requires some form of testing and there are three main ways to test for allergies.
Skin testing involves shaving off a patch of hair and injecting potentially allergy causing material directly into the intra dermal layer of the skin. The advantage of skin testing is that is highly accurate at diagnosing certain forms of allergy especially flea bite allergy and allergies to inhaled substances like pollen and mold. The drawbacks to skin tests are that you need a skilled interpreter to perform and read the tests. In most cases skin testing is done by Veterinary Dermatology specialists.
Blood tests or Serum Allergy Testing is fairly common these days. Many primary care Veterinarians perform these tests. Your pets' blood will be drawn and sent off to a lab where they test for the presence of elevated levels of specific antibodies. These antibodies are formed in response to the offending allergen.
Serum allergy testing works best for inhaled allergens to pollen, dust and mold. The results for contact and
food allergies are less reliable but serum allergy testing does have some advantages. You don't have to take the pet off medications that are controlling the problem temporarily with serum allergy testing. With skin testing you have to be off medication for several weeks prior to testing. If your veterinarian recommends serum allergy testing make sure he or she uses an
ELISA test as opposed to a RAST test.
The down side of serum allergy testing is the potential for false positive results. You may end up treating your dog for allergies they don't actually have. This can be a problem with food allergy in particular.
Despite claims made by companies promoting serum allergy testing as a one stop shop, most dermatologists don't think this form of testing is accurate for food allergies.
Instead,
Food Elimination Trials are the preferred method of testing for food allergy. Elimination testing involves feeding a dog a
hypoallergenic diet for up to three months. If the symptoms improve a presumptive diagnosis of food allergy can be made. To determine the causative ingredient, dogs a gradually exposed to specific ingredients until symptoms return. Once the causative ingredient is identified it is eliminated from the diet.
Once a diagnosis is made with skin testing and or serum testing good therapeutic results can be attained through immunotherapy of allergy shots. Also called hyposensitization, immunotherapy is the process by which small concentrations of allergens are injected sub cutaneously over a period of time. This allows the dogs immune system to gradually build up a defense against this allergen or allergens so the dog does not react anymore. On a personal note immunotherapy has worked really well for me. This time last year I was miserable due to Juniper pollen among other things. I started immunotherapy a year ago and this year I feel great. No allergy drugs. No runny nose or itchy eyes. I'm sold on it.
Managing allergies the right way can seem to be a daunting task. In the long run though, identifying the specific allergens responsible for the symptoms and tailoring therapy against those specific allergens is the best plan for you and your pet. Take it from me, allergies are a pain. Treating allergies with steroids and antihistamines is hit or miss and not without side effects.
And, of course we cover the allergy testing and treatment for pets covered by
PurinaCare policies. The symptoms can't be pre-existing though and we don't cover therapeutic diets for elimination trials either. Another good reason to insure early in your pets life, before allergies are developed.