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Dog who has an allergy to pollen PetPlanet Vets PPAdmin pettalk@petplanet.co.uk |
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Dear Janet, I am sorry to hear about Barney's skin problem - so many dogs seem to suffer from grass/pollen allergies. Certainly the diet he is on should not be causing any problems and the fact that the skin flare up is seasonal and affects his underbelly does point to a grass/pollen problem. You are correct to worry about the long-term side effects of steroids. They are a very strong drug and certainly work very well to calm down the bodies immune system when it is over-reacting to something harmless such as pollen. As vets we try not to use steroids long term, but sometimes it is the lesser of two evils if everything else has been tried and the animal is going mad at their skin. There are other things you can try. Adding Essential Fatty Acids { EFA's } to his food i.e. Evening Primrose oil, Efavet Capsules, etc. helps the general quality of skin and coat. It takes at least 6 weeks before it begins to work. Antihistamines can help to lower the general itchiness level of the dog and may be just enough to keep things under control over the summer - you vet could discuss this with you. They work well in some dogs, not in others. It is possible to have blood tests done now to try to identify exactly what your dog is allergic to - certain labs in the UK are doing this. They can then make up what is called an autogenous vaccine which is to try to desensitise your dog to the things it is allergic to. This has to be injected on a regular basis { i.e. weekly for a month, then every month or something like that } - which owners are normally taught to do. This seems to come in and out of fashion as a method of control. It is expensive and requires dedication on the owners part. I have had some good success and others where it did not make much difference. I recently had a little dog tested who turned out to be allergic to clover, bird dander and would you believe it - cats !! Unfortunately, after initially doing well, he is not responding very well to the injections anymore. Homeopathy is not something I know very much about, but there are vets specialising in it now and some people like to try that.It certainly does no harm. Go back and speak to your vet about the various options available and see what you can work out for Barney. Good luck, Maeve Moorcroft MVB MRCVS { PetPlanet Vet }
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