By the Editor, Golden Times

Unlike humans whose allergies may erupt in the respiratory system, dog's allergies overwhelmingly affect the skin and coat. There is a correlation between warmer, damper climates and allergies because increased temperature and humidity also increase the allergens produced by grass, molds and pollens. Some dogs, however, suffer not only from inhalant allergies, but food allergies as well. Fortunately there is hope.

My Rescue Golden, Max, came to us with no history of hot spots or skin problems. To our dismay, he developed four nasty hot spots in the first six months we had him. Since the hot spots were pretty serious and I was opposed to giving Max prednisone because of side effects, I asked my veterinarian for advice. She suggested that we test Max for allergies.

At first I was reluctant because I thought she intended Max to endure the shaving and patch tests and all day odyssey that many other Goldens had experienced. But she quickly told me about an alternative -- a different allergy test that had been introduced within the past few years. She reported that several of her patients had been diagnosed with allergies through the test and the allergies were now under control. We decided to go ahead and have Max tested.

The new allergy test only involved a very quick drawing of Max's blood in his own vet's office. The blood was sent off to the Heska Laboratory in Fort Collins, Colorado. (There are other companies doing this same sort of allergy testing). A few weeks later, his results came back.

Among other things, Max was allergic to the main ingredients in the high quality kibble I was feeding him -- chicken and rice. He also suffers from some inhalant allergies but none of his responses was dramatic. As a first step, we changed his food. Since he had also reacted to the most commonly available sources of protein as well as to wheat, we decided on fish/potato or rabbit/potato kibble from Innovative Veterinary Diets (only available from veterinarians). I had been told that the fish/potato kibble was pretty smelly, so we chose the rabbit.

Max now has been on the rabbit and potato for almost two years and he has not had a single hot spot. There have been very bad allergy seasons in the northeast and yet he has not suffered at all. Since he is also allergic to wheat, I make him barley flour dog biscuits or bake slices of the canned rabbit/potato food as treat. It seems to me that Max is allergic to stimulants besides his food, because his system is no longer being challenged daily by the food, he is able to handle the challenge of the inhalant allergens. If his condition had not improved as a result of the diet change, we would have moved onto allergy shots (immunotherapy) to desensitize him to the allergens.

I can highly recommend this form of allergy testing to people whose dogs have the symptoms of allergy -- face rubbing, paw licking, ear scratching or incessant scratching of other body parts. Hopefully, you and your dog will have the same great results that we did. Ask your veterinarian about it!


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