Allergic dogs are pretty much like children. They can’t tell you what bothers them, but they just cannot stop from showing those symptoms which trigger your alarm signal that something may be wrong. This is why it is important to watch your dog permanently and to observe any behavior changes. These can translate into diseases. Diagnosed early, many conditions have all the chances to get cured. Wait too long, and your dog will never be in good health again. It’s your choice and your responsibility.
When living with an allergic dog, you need to take care of one golden rule: prevent your dog from getting in contact with the allergen that triggers the allergic response and you’ll be safe for the rest of your life, or at least for the rest of your dog’s life. This is the only condition for keeping the dog symptom-free, because his body behaves absolutely normally when not exposed to the irritating factor.
When you suspect your dog might suffer from an allergic reaction, don’t take decisions by yourself on how to treat the dog. Schedule an appointment to your vet and tell him the story with as many details as you can. By no means should you give antihistaminic medication to a dog. You’re not doing him any favor, because it wasn’t been scientifically demonstrated that dog allergy is triggered by the same mechanism as in humans, therefore antihistamines aren’t efficient at all.
The most common allergy in dog is food allergy. This is good, because you can easily avoid it by not feeding your dog that allergenic food anymore. In case of airborne allergies it would be much more difficult for you, if not impossible, to keep your dog from getting in contact with the allergens unless you move into another area where that substance is not present in the air.
