The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Allergies The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Allergies
Showing posts with label Allergies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Allergies. Show all posts

Monday, February 17, 2020

Pet Allergies, Are You Allergic to Your Pet? - Do You Know the Symptoms?


What is pet dander?
Cats and dogs have pet dander. It is tiny flakes of dead skin that slough off the pet continuously. Breathing in pet dander is the number one reason that people have an allergic reaction to animals. The dander is hard to see on some animals, and on others it looks like a bad case of dandruff, and the animal smells even after a bath. When the dander combines with oil and dirt, it becomes a glue-like substance trapping the undercoat and causing the hair to turn into large wadded mats.

What are the most common causes for pet allergies?
Cat and dog Dander, or skin flakes, as well as their saliva and urine, can cause an allergic reaction such as: sneezing, wheezing, and running eyes and nose.

Both feathers and the droppings from birds, another common kind of pets, can increase the allergen exposure. Bird droppings can also be a source of bacteria, dust, fungi and mold. This also applies to the droppings of other caged pets, such as gerbils, hamsters and mice.

Animal hair is not considered to be a very significant allergen, however, the hair or fur can collect pollen, dust, mold, and other allergens. Although individual pets may produce more or less allergen, there is no relationship between the pet's hair length and allergen production. There is also no such thing as a non-allergenic breed.

Animal allergens are found mostly in homes where pets are present. What is surprising, however, is that these allergens are also found (in lesser amounts) in places where pets have never been present, such as schools, workplaces, and other public spaces. Since dander allergens are sticky, they can be brought to these places on the clothing of pet owners. Also, while dander on a smooth surface (such as a wall) can be easily wiped off, in soft materials, such as carpets, mattresses, upholstered furniture, and clothing, it can persist for long periods of time. That is why, unless special steps are taken, pet dander can remain in a home for up to six months after the pet has been removed.

Rabbit Allergy
Many people gets surprised when they first hear about rabbit allergy, it is something that they don’t even consider before buying a rabbit as a pet, however it is a type of allergy found in some homes.  Just like other types of animal allergies its origin is in the proteins found in the saliva and blood of the animal and not in the fur.

When the immune system is weak to fight these allergens, it enters into a defense mode, producing the infamous allergic reactions.  Watery eyes and nose dripping are used by the body to wash away the allergens.  This means that the body reacts to an attack, this attack by itself is not dangerous but it could be if the symptoms complicate.





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Friday, September 28, 2018

Does Your Dog or Cat Have Allergies That Last All Year Long? - They May Have a Food Allergy


Just as in humans, dogs and cats can have certain allergies to a specific type of food.  In fact, food allergies account for about 10% of all the allergies seen in dogs and cats. It is the third most common cause after flea bite allergies. Food allergies affect both males and females and can show up as early as five months and as late as twelve years of age.  Food allergies in dogs and cats can be cured with a little time, effort and change in diet.

The difference between food allergies and intolerance to food
There is a difference between food allergies and food intolerance. Food allergies are true allergies and show the characteristic symptoms of allergies such as itching and skin problems associated with canine and feline allergies. Food intolerances can result in diarrhea or vomiting and do not create a typical allergic response. Food intolerances in cats or dogs would be similar to people who get an upset stomach from eating spicy foods or sometimes dairy. Fortunately, both food intolerances and allergies can be eliminated with a diet free from whatever food it is that is causing the allergy.

The most common food that causes allergies
Several studies have shown that some ingredients are more likely to cause food allergies than others. The most common food that causes allergies in dogs and cats are beef, dairy products, chicken, lamb, fish, chicken eggs, corn, wheat, and soy. Unfortunately, the most common offenders are the most common ingredients in dog and cat food. While some proteins might be slightly more allergy inducing than others, many proteins are similar and therefore the allergic reactions are associated with the amount of each in the food.

Symptoms of food allergies in cats and dogs
The symptoms of food allergies are similar to those of most allergies seen in dogs and cats. The most common symptom is itchy skin affecting primarily the face, feet, ears, forelegs, armpits and the area around the anus. Symptoms may also include chronic ear infections, hair loss, excessive scratching, hot spots, and skin infections that respond to antibiotics but reoccur after antibiotics are discontinued.  It is sometimes difficult to distinguish food allergies from the more common allergies. One sign is if the allergies last all year round, it is probably a food allergy.

Diagnosis for food allergies in cats and dogs
The diagnosis for food allergies is very straightforward. But due to the fact that many other problems can cause similar symptoms and that many times animals are suffering from more problems than just food allergies, it is very important that all other problems are properly identified and treated prior to undergoing diagnosis for food allergies.  Your vet can determine if your dog or cat is just have a normal skin allergy.

Try to feed your dog or cat a new source of protein
A way to get rid of a food allergy is to feed your dog or cat a new food source of protein and carbohydrate for at least twelve weeks i.e. a protein and carbohydrate that your dog or cat has never eaten before. Examples would include be rabbit and rice, or venison and potato. There are a number of such commercial diets available on the market. In addition, there are specialized diets that have the proteins and carbohydrates broken down into such small sizes that they no longer would trigger an allergic response. Regardless of the diet route you choose, the particular food needs to be the only thing that your dog or cat eats for 12 weeks. This means no treats, no flavored medications, no rawhide, cat nip, only the special food and water.

Treatment for food allergies in dogs and cats
The treatment for food allergies is avoidance. Once you have been identified the offending food through a food trial, then they can be eliminated from the diet. Short-term relief may be gained with fatty acids, antihistamines, and steroids, but elimination of the products from the diet is the only long-term solution. .

If you choose to feed your dog or cat a homemade diet, then you can periodically change the ingredients off your food and determine which ingredients are causing the food allergy. For example, if your dog or cat’s symptoms subsided on a diet of rabbit and potatoes, then you can add beef to the diet for two weeks.

If your dog or cat still showed no symptoms, then you can add chicken for two weeks. If your beloved dog or cat now has symptoms, then chicken is clearly one of the things your dog or cat was allergic to. The chicken could be withdrawn and after the symptoms cleared up, a different ingredient could be added and so on until all of the offending ingredients were identified. A diet could then be formulated that was free of the offending food sources.

You can also you the same principal with very pure pet foods that are on the market and are chicken or beef based, and then add or switch accordingly.

As with all diets, make sure to check with your veterinarian to make sure that they agree with your basic diet and that all other allergies have been ruled out.




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Saturday, August 25, 2018

Just Like People, Dogs Can be Allergic to a Wide Range of Things - Does Your Dog Have Allergies?



The most widespread allergy symptom that dogs manifest is scratching. Because constant scratching can result in open sores, raised welts, and even loss of hair, dog owners have to be careful when it comes to feeding and exposing their pets. Dog owners have to educate themselves about the symptoms and treatment options of dog allergy in order to keep their best friend as comfortable as possible.

Understanding the Basics

There are several types of allergies: the airborne, food, flea, and contact. All dogs are prone to one or a combination of these allergies. It usually affects them when they are a couple years of age; though some cases report that even dogs as young as five months have already suffered from it. Dogs that have been affected by allergies frequently suffer all throughout their lives, and the symptoms usually become worse as they age.

Common Allergy Symptoms
You should suspect your dog is having allergies if he relentlessly:

1.     Scratches his ears
2.     Licks or chews his feet or other parts of body
3.     Rubs his face against the floor or furniture
4.     Sneezes or has a runny nose
5.     Vomits or has diarrhea
6.     Coughs or wheezes
7.     Has a rash, pimples, bumps, or open sores
8.     Has a reddish hair discoloration on the paws or between his toes
9.     Has red or watery eyes
10.   Has ear infections

Diagnosing Dog Allergies

Once you suspect your dog is suffering from allergies, you should immediately see your vet. Veterinarians will oftentimes make a preliminary diagnosis as well as treatment plan based on several data. These include the season of the year when the dog manifest the most allergy symptoms, the specific body locations that are found to be the most itchy, and the response of the itches to particular medications such as shampoos, steroids, and antihistamines.

If the initial treatment plan does not offer your dog relief, your vet will likely recommend a more specific allergy testing. This procedure is commonly done either by taking a blood test or by performing intra-dermal skin testing. The blood tests are reliable for airborne allergy detection, but not as good when it comes to identifying food or contact allergies. Skin tests, nonetheless, are considered to be more accurate as it involves shaving a small patch of hair on the dog’s side, and then injecting a minimal amount of allergens underneath his skin.

Just like people, dogs can be allergic to a wide range of things like pollen and grasses, certain foods, even cats! Working closely with your vet to diagnose an allergy and treat it will make your dog much more comfortable.

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Sunday, October 12, 2014

What Do You Think? Are Airlines Treating Pets Better Than Human Passengers?


Some airline passengers are more equal than others, as Michael Morris found out when his daughter and 2-month-old granddaughter visited him from Los Angeles this summer.

On their first flight on Sun Country Airlines, they shared the cabin with two small dogs. “My daughter suffers from pet allergies,” says Morris, who lives in Minneapolis. “As you can guess, she had an allergic reaction.”

It happened again on the trip home.

“Across from her, the same passenger with her dog were also returning to L.A.,” Morris remembers. “My daughter told the flight attendant about her allergies, and they moved my daughter to a seat in the very back row.”

Morris wants to know — and so do other passengers who contact me regularly — who should be moving: the pet or the passenger?

Fortunately, human-animal conflicts on planes appear to be relatively rare. The DOT recorded only 22 complaints about pets on aircraft in 2013, and so far this year, it has received 18. Grievances about service animals used by passengers with disabilities are also minuscule — a total of 35 to date, compared with 45 last year, according to the department.

Airlines are concerned about the welfare of passengers who suffer from allergies. For example, Delta Air Lines in 2012 adopted a new policy for passengers with peanut allergies, and, when notified of an allergic passenger, will refrain from serving peanuts and peanut products aboard the flight.

But pet allergies are more complicated. Pets generate sizable revenue for airlines in the form of extra fees and are unlikely to be removed from a flight just because another passenger complains. What’s more, the Transportation Department requires that they allow service animals on flights.

“Carriers should do their best to accommodate other passengers’ concerns by steps like seating passengers with service animals and passengers who are uncomfortable with service animals away from one another,” it says in a 2009 rule on nondiscrimination and air travel.

A closer look at the federal regulation reveals one or two loopholes that could come to the rescue of passengers like Morris’s daughter. First, there’s no requirement that all pets be allowed in the cabin, only service animals, although many airlines allow pets small enough to fit in a carrier under the seat. Airlines must accept service animals in the cabin as long as they don’t “pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others” or cause a “significant” disruption in cabin service. The DOT lists as examples an animal that would display threatening behavior, such as “growling, snarling, lunging at or attempting to bite other persons on the aircraft.”

The small dogs on the Sun Country flight might have qualified as “emotional-support” animals, a type of service animal. Sun Country did not respond to several requests for comment, but its policy on these four-legged passengers is available on its Web site.

Specific to what it calls “psychiatric-assist and emotional-support animals,” as permitted by DOT rules, the airline requires a letter from a licensed mental health professional or medical doctor specifically treating the passenger’s disability. The letter must also be dated and have been written within a year, and the disorder must be recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition.

The government draws no distinction between a service animal — which is identified by the presence of harnesses, tags or the credible verbal assurances of a qualified individual with a disability using the animal — and one used for emotional support. But passengers do. An incident in October 2000, in which a 300-pound potbellied Vietnamese pig used by a first-class passenger for emotional support reportedly ran amok on a US Airways flight, drew something of a line. An FAA investigation cleared the pig’s owner and the airline of any wrongdoing, but US Airways reportedly vowed to never allow a pig to fly in the passenger cabin again.

Passengers are understandably skeptical of these special designations. “I’m not allergic myself but am of the opinion that there is a time and place for pets, and people are really pushing those limits,” says Scott Hassel, a San Francisco marketing executive. “I love animals, but they don’t need to be inserted into everyone else’s lives. I see people bringing pets on airplanes, trains, into grocery stores and restaurants. No one has any consideration for those around them anymore. Just another symptom of the ‘me, me, me’ culture we live in.”

Unfortunately for allergy sufferers, it usually doesn’t matter why the animal is in the cabin. Chances are, unless it’s growling, hissing or biting other passengers, it’s staying on board. That means allergy sufferers must take sensible precautions. Calling the airline before your flight to let it know about your allergy is a good first step, although it won’t guarantee a pet-free flight. Carrying an EpiPen or allergy medication is a must, particularly when you’re in an enclosed cabin.

A DOT insider noted that if a passenger’s allergy is severe enough to substantially limit a major life activity, that would meet the definition of a disability, and under the rules, the airline must make a “reasonable accommodation,” which could mean moving the animal. That’s an argument you should make long before your flight by calling the airline’s special services desk.

One of the best ways to avoid an allergic reaction to a pet or service animal is to do what Morris’s daughter did on her return flight, and ask to be moved. That’s what Debi Rivkin, an accountant from Las Vegas, does when she travels by plane. “I’m allergic to most dogs,” she says. “I once was seated next to someone who had a dog with them, and I simply asked to be reseated. It was no issue.”

If the airline won’t act, ask a passenger for help. Anne Nelson, a government researcher from Chevy Chase, Md., did that when she found herself sneezing uncontrollably on a recent flight from Atlanta to Washington. The culprit? A long-haired cat under her seat.

“The plane was full, and there was no place to move me,” she remembers. “But a nearby passenger saw my predicament and offered to switch seats.”

If your pet allergies are severe, you’ll want to have the proper documentation on hand. “Get a doctor’s note about the pet allergy to avoid change fees,” says Victoria Day, a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, an airline trade group.

When it comes to the conflict between pets and allergy sufferers, pets and their owners seem to have a little edge. Day suggests complaining to the Transportation Department, which could prompt it to review its rules on pets and service animals in the future. But probably not in time for your next flight. FOLLOW US!
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