On a hot summer’s day towards the end of August Suzie, our Cairn terrier, began scratching. At first it was mostly at the bottom end of her bare tummy. When she rolled over you could see the flesh was red and itchy-looking. She scratched and scratched and scratched. Knowing a little about allergies in dogs, we wondered if our dog’s symptoms related to an allergy. But what sort of allergy?
Dog allergy symptoms always needs thorough investigation.
Definitely not fleas!
Suzie had recently been de-bugged, but we still checked her from head to toe. No fleas, no flea droppings.
We gave her a thoroughly good combing, but there was no sign of tics either. Could it be something she had eaten, or perhaps rubbed against?
Our dog’s health is something we take seriously and seeing the poor little creature scratching until she gave herself great bald patches and drew blood from the skin beneath was distressing not just for her, but for us too.
Shortly after this particular problem she began to swell up underneath and it now to add to her problems it seemed she was coming into season. An urgent visit to the vet was called for.
Rescue dog
At this point, it should be explained that Suzie is a rescue dog.
She had not been with us very long and we knew hardly anything about her background.
The people at the rescue centre had – as with all their newcomers – taken her to their vet to be checked over. But, apparently, it is never easy to determine categorically if a female dog has been spayed. This is because the incision is so small that the site of the wound soon fades away and after a few years has vanished altogether.
Not entirely convinced
While some of the swelling and itchiness could be attributed to her being in season, our vet said he wasn’t entirely convinced that was the root cause of the dog problems because many of the other signs and symptoms were absent.
Dogs come into season around every six months, so the only way we could know for sure, he explained, was to see how she was in six months time.
Carry on scratching
Meanwhile, she carried on chewing, licking and scratching – now mostly in the region of her feet. The vet suggested distraction techniques. Every time she started scratching, we should clap our hands, throw something on the floor (near her, but not at her) or make any other sudden noise to take her attention away from the itch.
While that did work during the daytime, it seemed that at night when she was tucked up in her bed in another part of the house she could lick and scratch to her heart’s content and no-one would be any the wiser. Until morning.
Aloe Vera gel and some anti-inflammatory tablets did help a little in the early stages.
As part of the distraction process we took her for long walks in the fields and woods around our home. Only instead of curing the problem it made it flare up again.
Not allowed tidbits
We knew Suzie wasn’t suffering from a food allergy, because her High Oats dried food had not changed since she joined our family. And being on a diet, she was not allowed tidbits. What else could it possibly be?
Off we headed to the vet again.
Could it be stress-induced, we asked?
He thought not. Suzie is a very laid back sort of dog and has never shown any outwards signs of stress. Her diet, then? She has, on his advice, lost almost a third of her original body weight and apart from the itchiness, is in great form.
Could her need to chew great chunks of herself be hunger-induced?
No, he told us. Dogs – however hungry they are – do not tend to eat themselves.
Squatting on the grass
He still believed it was some sort of allergy and now thought it might be related to grass.
‘Eating it?’
‘More likely walking, playing or weeing on it.’
Female dogs squat down to urinate, and most of Suzie’s trouble was in the area of her body that touched the grass when squatting.
Researching this point on the web, we came across a site that explained the nature of contact dermatitis. This occurs when part of the dog’s body comes in contact with a substance to which he/she might be allergic.
Following on from our vet’s comment, we learned that the itching produced by grass pollen is the same as that produced by dust mites.
So how does one overcome such a basic problem?
Walk on hard surfaces
Our vet prescribed some more anti-inflammatories to ease the soreness and the low doses of steroids certainly did provide temporary relief. He suggested that I keep her on the lead and try to restrict her walks to hard surfaces.
Mercifully, it worked. She stopped biting and chewing at herself. The skin problem cleared up and the hair began to grow again.
Until December.
Back to square one
That was when the snow came, with a vengeance. And the rain. And the frost.
The roads and pavements were gritted and once again Suzie began the old routine of licking, biting and scratching.
We were back to square one.
This time, it seemed entirely possible that she was allergic to the grit the workmen had put down to prevent people falling on the ice.
More visits to the vet. More tests. More Aloe Vera. More tablets. More distraction therapy.
And that’s the trouble with various kinds of allergy in dogs – you never quite know when they are going to strike again. Determining the root cause of an allergy is a long drawn-out process and is a real pain (in both senses of the word).
Allergies common in dogs
Dog allergies, according to the experts are surprisingly common. They can be particularly sensitive to substances in their food and/or in the environment.
Protein (milk, eggs, wheat), bacteria and pollen can all be responsible. Allergens apparently enter the body by being breathed in, swallowed, touched or injected.
The answer is to remove the dog from the allergens.
Yes…. we understand all that, but it’s more easily said than done.
In severe cases, blood tests and hyposensitisation are called for.
Thankfully, Suzie seems to have stopped scratching, for now. But we are keeping our fingers crossed that such allergies in dogs are a thing of the past as far as Suzie is concerned.
Related posts:
