a while back i published a video about dog allergy diagnosis and treatment
that was when we first discovered jimmy's unknown itchiness and we were pretty clueless back then
now it has been about two years since his allergy diagnosis and i'd like to use this
video to summarize exactly how we diagnose the root cause and some treatment options we opt
in to use in order to control his symptoms we will talk about common symptoms for dog allergy
how to diagnose treatment options and some useful tools that will help your fur buddy
feels better during this difficult time all items mentioned are also listed in the description box
with a time stamp so head down there and check out the section you're most interested in if
this is your first time here this is the channel about our life with a shiba inu dog
named jimmy and we also share tips and tricks of how to raise a happy dog subscribe to get notified
whenever there is a new video published without further ado let's get right to it
symptoms how to know if your dog has allergy let's pause here for a moment
and think about what symptoms we have when humans body reacts to allergens we have runny nose watery
eyes sneeze and itchy throat same concept when your dog's body reacts to an allergy source
he might have itchy nose that cause him to rub his nose excessively until it bleeds
he will have more discharge in the eyes than normal that require you to help to remove
he can also have itchy ears that cause excessive shaking head but the most common reaction
is itchy skin and especially itchy paws in our dog one respond to an allergy source depends
on each individual dog but in general he will start to lick a specific body part
most commonly his pawn or joint he will lick it excessively until it bleeds or until the skin
is damaged your dog doesn't know keep licking the same spot will hurt the skin and he also doesn't
know with the broken skin there can have second degree bacterial infection or yeast infection
that will make the situation worse if you start to see one of the symptoms or all like excessive head
shaking rubbing nose looking paws watery ice then you should absolutely take a visit to your vet
and discuss potential cause and treatment based on each individual case diagnosis once you notice
your dog has those allergy reactions other than checking with your vet there are things you can do
to assist with the diagnose there are different potential reasons why your dog is itchy so we
will take a look at each of them here flea and tick bite this one is one of the most common one
especially in summer months and also especially if you regularly take your dog to public dog park
with flea and tick bite you should be able to find a bite wound on your dog's skin if it is a
flea bite you should be able to discover flea dirt when you brush your dog it looks like tiny black
pepper but essentially those are flea poop if it is determined that flea and tick is the cause
it is quite straightforward for treatment and prevention there are drugs your vet can
prescribe to kill any remaining flea eggs in your dog system and also you should consider getting
regular flea and tick control medication for your dog give him a thorough bath will also help
with flea and tick prevention there are collars pills or topical application options
check with your vet which type makes the most sense to you and your dog
food allergy your dog's itchy skin can also be caused by food allergy
food allergy can start as early as 6 months when jimmy was young we used to give him egg yolk
and then he will start to itch we then determine he is likely allergic to eggs
later on we also discovered that he is allergic to chicken product in general so now when we
select dog food we need to make sure there is no chicken product in the ingredient list
some common food allergy source are mostly from protein like chicken beef
lamb pork fish wheat soy and corn the list goes on and if your dog is allergic to one item
he likely will not only be allergic to that one item but more with food allergy once you identify
the item he's allergic to simply remove the item from his diet should help with the symptom there
are also prescribed specialty dog food very pricey we bought it before and it is like 90 dollars
per bag but the ingredients in the food will almost guarantee your dog won't be allergic to
and then you can slowly add his usual food back in order to determine which ingredient
he is allergic to with the specialty diet food you will need a prescription from your vet
so talk to your vet to see if he recommends this option environmental
environmental allergy is what i want to focus on today this is also what jimmy has unfortunately
last year when his symptoms flare up our vat was not able to let us know exactly
whether he is allergic to food or environment we notice jimmy starts to itch his paws
and his ears more than usual to a point his skin becomes raw at that point
in order to prevent second degree skin infection the vet prescribes us some anti-inflammatory
and steroid types of drugs steroid while will prevent him itch it also weakens his whole immune
system and can cause the already damaged skin more prone to yeast or other bacterial infection
you want to make sure to stop him itch early on and prevent him from further damaging his skin
when it comes to environmental allergy it is all about control and prevention you don't want to
wait until your dog's skin is completely ruined because at that time it will be much harder
to cure and rebuild it back there are some tools we use to prevent him from licking i will share
those later in the video but let's take a look at some treatment options out there for environmental
allergy first treatment for environmental allergy there are allergy shots called cytopoint
the shot needs to be kept cold so likely you need to go to the vet to get it inject cytopoint is not
like traditional antihistamine treatment it is actually a biological medication it's a protein
not a chemical that works like your dog's own immune system to block the main protein that
sends signals that trigger itchy skin cytopoint typically works for between four to eight weeks
and varies on different dogs jimmy has had Cytopoint couple times and it works like a charm the
very first time but then it doesn't work as well anymore other than shots there are also pills
option there is apeguel pills that can be used to prevent itch and inflammation there are also
traditional antihistamine drugs like the allergy drugs human use antihistamine
is relatively inexpensive and most are available over the counter without a vet prescription
the only thing you should be paying attention to if you're giving your dog human antihistamine
is the dosage we gave jimmy aller-tec half a pill a time half a pill is 5 milligram antihistamine
on bad days he will get 2 dosage so that's 10 milligram a day i will leave a link down below for
the pills we currently use for jimmy other common brand for antihistamine including benadryl allegra
claritin always check with your vet if you are giving your dog human medication
with antihistamine it should be relatively safe option to curb environmental allergy the dosage
will vary based on your dog's weight and it will also vary based on how severe his symptom is
useful tools to control the symptoms on top of the medication option there are a few staples we
keep at home and use during allergy season in order to control jimmy's symptoms unfortunately
it is hard to cure the allergy a hundred percent so some extra work is required for dog
owner if your fur friend has environmental allergy cone the famous cone of shame
we use cone whenever we notice jimmy starts to itch a specific hot spot when that happens we put
a cone on him to prevent him from further damage the skin cone is also useful if you need to apply
any topical medication like neosporin to prevent him from licking the medication neosporin yes your
dog can use neosporin especially when there is an open wound jimmy usually has hotspot between his
toes so we will apply neosporin between his toes right before the walks to give it time to absorb
if you apply any kind of topical application on your dog make sure he cannot lick it afterwards
mousse this is a product our vet recommends us to use it is not cheap but it does help to curb the
itch shake it before you use and use roughly one two two pump on the spot and then massage
it into the skin i will leave the product link down below if you want to check it out
other natural remedy option if you don't like the idea of giving your dog shots or pills there are
some other natural remedies that will enhance his immune system things like fish oil that is rich in
omega-3 fatty acid where we can find in salmon you can also purchase fish oil designed for human
and sprinkle some on your dog's food another theory is by switching your dog's diet
to all human grade food either cooked or raw the conventional dog kibbles while it is economical
and convenient in order to lower the cost of the ingredients typically the protein used to make
the dog food will be the second even third tier that's left over from the meat processing factory
we have been trying out raw diet with jimmy recently and i will share our experiences at
a later time when we have more information about how he respond to raw diet i hope you find this
video helpful unfortunately there's no cure that works for all dogs
but the good news is now you know your options so make sure to bring those options up with your vet
to have a constructive discussion and determine what makes the most sense for you and your dog
as always share in the comments below how you care for your allergy fur friend so this community can
also benefit from your experience the best way to support this channel is by clicking on any
other videos that is listed on the screen and i've listened a few that you might be interested in
thank you all for watching and i will see you next time you