Does your dog or cat have allergies? Common symptoms and what you can do to help

About five years ago, Gail Friedman noticed her Parson Russell Terrier was constantly licking his paws and seemed extremely uncomfortable. “The poor dog. I would put baby socks on his feet so that he wouldn’t lick them or bite at them,” said Friedman, who lives in Oak Brook, in the US state of Illinois. “I was constantly changing the socks, washing his feet a lot. Nothing worked.” It turned out her canine companion, Mr Friedman, had allergies. Allergies are a common and tricky problem in pets. They are caused by various things such as pollen, dust, mould, chemicals and food. But veterinarians say there are several ways to ease animals’ suffering. What sorts of allergies do dogs and cats get? Allergies happen when the immune system overreacts to a foreign substance. Cats and dogs react to many of the same things that people do, as well as pests like fleas. There are no definitive recent statistics on how many pets have allergies, but research suggests the problem is growing. “I probably see allergic dogs and cats every single day, probably multiple times a day,” said Dr Karen Woodard, medical director at Thrive Pet Healthcare – Elmhurst in Illinois. About 90 per cent of allergic pets react to environmental triggers, said Woodard, who is also on the Chicago Veterinary Medical Association’s board of directors. The rest have food allergies only. Dog breeds that are especially vulnerable include various types of terriers, boxers and bulldogs. For cats, it is Persians, Siamese and Himalayans. Pets can even be allergic to other animals – cats to dogs, dogs to cats, and either to another species. “It’s possible for them to be allergic to us, just like we are to them,” said Dr Anthea Schick, also of Thrive and the immediate past president of the American College of Veterinary Dermatology. How can you tell if your pet has allergies? Allergic cats and dogs are not as likely as humans to sneeze and cough. More often, they scratch and lick themselves, shake their heads and develop ear infections. Woodard said her Yorkie mix, Teddy, had the classic signs: scratching around his shoulders and getting rashes and ear infections starting as a six-month-old puppy. She lived in the US south at the time, and he tested positive for allergies to various trees and grasses there. A common sign of allergies in her feline patients is “overdoing their grooming”, Woodard said. “Cats shouldn’t be pulling their hair out when they groom. So if you start seeing bald patches on your cat, even though the skin underneath it looks normal, that could be a sign of allergies.” Even food allergies, often to chicken, beef, lamb or other protein sources, frequently show up on the skin, although pets can have vomiting or diarrhoea, too. Rarely, pets can develop life-threatening anaphylactic reactions, perhaps after being stung by an insect. But most allergies are simply miserable for the animals. “It breaks my heart because it gets to a point that not only do I have socks on poor Mr Friedman – which is humiliating for him – he sometimes gets so bad he has to wear the cone of shame,” Friedman said. “And that’s not fair because he can’t move around right, he can’t sleep right. It’s terrible.” How can you help your pet? The first step is to get a diagnosis from the vet. This could involve allergy testing, or in the case of food allergies, an “elimination diet”, which involves feeding limited ingredients the pet has not previously eaten. If the allergy culprit is environmental, there are medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs and newer oral and injectable medications for dogs to block chemical signals associated with itchiness. Food allergies may be treated with special diets such as “hydrolysed” food, in which proteins are chemically broken down into tiny pieces. All this can get expensive. Friedman estimates she has spent about US$10,000 on testing, medication and care for Mr Friedman and another allergic dog. But vets say there are also ways to help pets at home by cleaning their bedding frequently, wiping their fur with a wet flannel and giving them baths. Outdoors, “they’re almost acting like little Swiffers, getting allergens on their skin, and it goes through their skin and actually becomes a problem”, Schick said. “We say bathe your dog, at a minimum, once a week if they’re allergic.” After she has tried nearly everything, Friedman’s dogs are still vexed by allergies. But they are doing better. “I’m going to keep experimenting until we find what stops it completely,” she said. “All you can do is try.”

Does your dog or cat have allergies? Common symptoms and what you can do to help

Allergies can be a problem in pets, caused by things like pollen, dust, mould, chemicals and food. Vets give advice on how to treat them

What sorts of allergies do dogs and cats get?