Dealing with allergies in dogs and cats
Allergies are quite common in pets. They can range from food allergies, skin allergies, or even allergies to fleas and ticks. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a dog or cat is being playful by rolling around on their back or if they’re actually suffering from allergies and rolling around in attempt to scratch their itchiness.
The best way to determine whether your pet is suffering from food allergies, skin allergies, or allergies to other environmental factors is to visit your easyvet veterinarian so they can perform tests to get to the bottom of the issue. Easyvet clinics can perform allergy testing and provide the appropriate medications as well as nutritional counseling to make sure your dog or cat is allergy-free and living their best life.
About ten percent of all allergy cases that we see in dogs stem from allergic reactions to their food or treats.
Food Allergies
Food allergies are quite common. If your pet is allergic to their primary food or to their treats, we could see their symptoms result in gastrointestinal issues, chronic ear inflammation, diarrhea, gas, constant licking of their paws, scooting their rear end on the floor, and more. In order to diagnose the exact reason why your dog or cat may be experiencing these symptoms, an allergy test is typically performed by your easyvet veterinarian.
What we typically see is that the more common culprits when it comes to food allergies are dairy, beef, wheat, egg, chicken, pork, and fish. Unfortunately, these are all very common in dog and cat foods along with fillers like sweet potato and wheat which could also be the cause of your pet’s allergies. As it often happens, dogs and cats may very well be allergic to more than one thing, which makes planning an appropriate diet more difficult. Your easyvet veterinarian can help plan your pet’s diet so that they experience less itchiness and have reduced or completely eradicated symptoms.
One of the more common allergies in pets is a flea allergy condition affecting their skin.
Other types of allergies in pets
There are many ways your cats and dogs can experience allergies other than from food. One of the more common allergies in pets is a flea allergy condition affecting their skin. An allergic reaction to fleas on your pet’s skin is a form of dermatitis resulting from your pet being very sensitive to the saliva excreted by fleas. All it really takes is one bite from a flea and an allergic reaction could start from there.
The next thing you’ll notice is a lot of scratching and biting in order to alleviate the itchiness. Unfortunately, this typically results in even more skin issues, such as red, puffy skin, bleeding, sores, and permanent skin damage. By having your easyvet veterinarian perform an allergy test, it’s possible to get to the root cause of your dog or cat’s allergy issues rather than just allowing your pets to scratch themselves, which can be counterproductive to their health