Dog Allergies

Dealing with your Pets' Allergies

During the winter months of the year is a time of the year when pets and Owners are very vulnerable to each other. As this is obviously the chilliest time of the year, your mutts are much more likely to be cooped up inside the house with us. All of the windows and doors are closed to the world and the heat is blasting around the clock. These are exactly the conditions, which make our winter homes playgrounds for certain allergens. Our pets are extremely vulnerable to the dust on the floors, the mould inside the walls of your old house, possible copper build up on from the studs in their leather collars and even other pets. But warm moist times of the year are high allergy times as well. Recent research shows us that Allergies are simply the most common conditions affecting both Master and his pet, 15% of dogs suffer from common allergies like pollen and house dust. An allergic reaction is the work of an overactive immune system. It is when an animal responds abnormally to a seemingly everyday substance such as grass or general food ingredients.

Excessive licking, chewing, and scratching can make your pet’s life miserable for month after month, even year after year. You may find many different ways of controlling your dogs behaviour using special collars, muzzles, this is fine if you have put chilli on his dick or deep heat on his balls or during his Neutering.
There are some animals that seem unable to live with any degree of comfort without medications - for some mutts that is a failure of their Master as the dogs should crave Master pain, and become a 'pain pig'.
The other feature of constant, non-erotic discomfort is that can break a slave down to distraction so all his attention is on that then how he performs for his Master.  Since the Master wants a perfectly fit slave to use that is focused 100% on the Master, its best to choose the most effective medication. You don't want some condition to be habit forming do you - Master chooses and  develops the ones he wants in his mutt.
Unfortunately, many medications have widespread and potentially dangerous actions throughout the body when they are used for inappropriately or for long periods and it is generally desirable to minimize the use of these chems when possible to do so.

Of the different kinds of allergies, contact allergies are the least common in genetic dogs but more common in human pets.

Contact Allergies

Some examples of a contact allergen are:

• A flea collar :)
• Nickel rash from a Dog chain
• Leather collars that have not been cleaned in a while.
• Straw, grass and various kinds of bedding such as wool are also examples.

An Inhalant Allergy ('atopy') is the most common allergy prevalent in dogs. This particular kind of allergy is caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to environmental substances. While humans usually show respiratory symptoms with atopy, our pets almost always show allergic reactions through their skin.  This means that not only atopy shows as itchy skin but so do food allergy and insect bite allergy. Since there are many allergic causes for a pet's itchy skin, we look for certain diagnostic hints that point us in the direction of atopy.

These often manifest as

• Dermatitis - Atopy usually produces a seasonal itchiness though after several years, the duration of the itchy period extends.  Finally, the pet is itchy nearly all year round.
• Seasonal itchiness due to atopy tends to begin early in a pet's life.
  Flea allergic dermatitis, the other prime cause of seasonal itchiness, tends to begin later in life. 
• Typical areas of irritation are Ears, sweat areas such are your mutts pits & crutch, beard & scalp.

Hydrocortisone

Itchiness due to atopy responds rapidly to cortisone-type medications. For rapid relief of itch and inflammation, nothing matches the corticosteroid hormones such as cortisone, hydrocortisone, and others.
 

Antihistamine

Histamine, a biological chemical, is the chief mediator of inflammation in humans hence the proliferation of antihistamines available for people both by prescription and "over the counter." Histamine is not the major mediator of inflammation in the dog, thus these medications are not as reliable for dogs as they are for us. The protocol recommended by this hospital is helpful to approximately 40% of dogs who try it. Four different antihistamines are used, one at a time, at least two weeks each, in hope of finding one that is acceptably effective. While the chance that an individual antihistamine will be helpful is small (about 15%), trying several antihistamines greatly increases the chance of finding one that works. Antihistamines are not free of side effects; they are notorious for drowsiness in some individuals. Still, this is vastly preferable to the systemic disruption caused by the corticosteroid group.
 

Topical Oils

These range from special bath oild or Moisture Therapy Lotions

Dry flaky skin can be the result from allergic reactions and it seems that Eczema/Dermatitis can be ‘caught’ or made manifest from contact reactions.  There are many treatments for this few work in the long term only offering short term relief.

There do seem to be best practise behaviours that make a difference:

• When you have a bath stay in there a while so that your skin rehydrates and apply a non-scented lotion to trap the moisture in the skin. There are other non-exotic oils you can put in the bath that make a big difference. Find the best one that suits you, as mineral based ones also cause me significant allergic irritation.

• You can apply topical compounds such as those from “eczema miracle” which do have a substantial and immediate effect.

Prevention is better than cure.

Your body can get used to anything, even a bad way of doing things.

This said you should avoid letting the skin get excessively dry – you will have that itch feeling starting up and this is when you need to take steps. For the most part you can rub in a ‘Moisture Therapy Lotion’ such as Curèl. But skin gets used to getting its moisture from a Lotion so why make itself. Same too with ‘chapped lips’ sticks one you use them you will always use them.

Another way of developing this skin condition is if you wear tall boots (Skinhead DMs or Timberland boots) where they do not allow the skin to breathe much, and in hot weather the heat & sweat builds up in the socks. Yes you need a fresh pair of socks each day but this might not always be good enough. Some people have no problem at all with wearing boots for long terms others do – that is the nature of allergic reactions.

It is possible for some dogboys to get nickel rash, which means that the chrome has come off the dog chain leaving the nickel (used to bond the chrome). The sweaty acid in the skin reacts with this and causes a raised lump and a burning sensation. To avoid this get used to cleaning the dirt off the chain and use a barrier crème Curèl hand crème. Some slaves don’t react at all and the chain will rot off before they notice anything.
As a generalization – if you are the kind of guy that ‘just can’t put weight on’ or has a high metabolic rate then you are unlikely to get Nickel rash, if you are a big hairy bear it is likely that you will.
 

Bite Allergies

A Flea Allergy is the single most common dog allergy. The normal dog suffers only somewhat minor irritation in lieu of a flea bite with minimal itching, but with exposure the mutt can get hypersensitive especially if previous triggers have been introduced when his immune system was not that strong. Just like when feeding Soya Milk to babies and they then develop nut allergies in later life.

Food Allergies

A food allergy is also somewhat common in pets due to over exposure. Where as your Cat often become allergic to their most common protein such as tuna. Dogs can be allergic to proteins like chicken and beef.

When it comes to allergies, like most things it's a matter of controlling, not curing. Once an animal's body becomes hypersensitive to certain things, it is then eternally vulnerable to those things. Regarding treatment of allergies, the most common treatments are topical products like shampoos or antihistamines. There are also certain supplements that you can give to your pets to help support the insides of their bodies, which to an extent determine the condition of the outside.

Sometimes the mutt might need some help to overcome 'apparent' allergies so his Master will need to take a firm hand.