{"id":1979,"date":"2016-03-27T17:09:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T17:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/pets\/the-vet-is-in-skin-allergy-treatment-summary\/"},"modified":"2016-03-27T17:09:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T17:09:44","slug":"the-vet-is-in-skin-allergy-treatment-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/pets\/the-vet-is-in-skin-allergy-treatment-summary","title":{"rendered":"Treatment for Skin Allergies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-47543\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/A-Dogs-Life-PHoto.jpg\" alt=\"A Dogs Life PHoto\" width=\"640\" height=\"237\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Photo courtesy of A Dog&#8217;s Life Photo<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Spring is officially here, and it brings with it a world of beauty and a bout of sneezing and congestion for a lot of us. Allergies affect our pets as well, particularly skin allergies.<\/p>\n<p>Skin allergy, also know as <i>atopy<\/i> or <i>allergic inhalant dermatitis<\/i>, is a common skin condition that can lead to a lifetime of frustration. It is caused by an exposure to an allergen that causes a reaction under the skin that releases a chemical called <i>histamine<\/i>. Histamine causes the skin to become itchy, which leads to continual scratching and associated secondary conditions such as skin infections.<\/p>\n<p>There are many different treatments for this condition. Here is a summary of some approaches to mitigate it. Since we live in an area with year-round fleas, always start with flea control as your first line of defense.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Avoidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Minimize exposure to grasses, trees, and shrubs, if possible. Use water to wipe off muzzle and paws before returning to the house.<\/li>\n<li>Use a high-quality room purifier to filter pollen particles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Topicals<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cool water baths soothe skin and rinse away allergens<\/li>\n<li>Use colloidal oatmeal and antihistamine shampoo, rinse or spray<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Dietary<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Low-allergen food like Hills Z\/D or novel protein like venison and potato along with essential fatty acids can help decrease the pruritic threshold in some allergies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Apoquel<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A new veterinary medication that is highly effective, does not affect the immune system, and can be used with other medications<\/li>\n<li>Antihistamine\/cortisone combination (Temaril-P)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;\">\u00b0 The low dose of each is synergistic and has negligible side effects<\/p>\n<p><strong>Atopica (Cyclosporine)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Inhibits the immune system from starting the itch cycle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Antibiotics<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Used to control the skin infection <i>pyoderma<\/i> and decrease itching; often is needed to be used on a long-term basis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Glucocorticoids (cortisone or steroids)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Strong anti-itching properties for severe problems such as hot spots; safe and effective long-term when used at low doses intermittently<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Immunotherapy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Allergy testing and allergy injections; works well 60 percent of the time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-47544\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Apparent-allergy.jpg\" alt=\"Apparent allergy\" width=\"620\" height=\"366\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><i><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-47545\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Blue-light.jpg\" alt=\"Blue light\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" \/><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i>An allergic reaction was suspected in the lesions on this dog\u2019s muzzle. In this case, it was caused by a fungal infection called dermatomycosis, confirmed by the fluorescent green hairs when the lamp was directed at it. Photos courtesy of LBAH.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>For more information on atopy, please visit the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lbah.com\/word\/canine\/skin-allergies\/\">Canine Allergies page\u00a0<\/a>of our website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" align=\"center\">Spring is officially here, and it brings with it a world of beauty and a bout of sneezing and congestion for a lot of us. Allergies affect our pets as well, particularly skin allergies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":67350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[388],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets","tag-the-vet-is-in","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1979"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1979"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}