Did you know that animals can suffer from allergies too? They don't get the sniffles and runny eyes like we do, instead they normally get itchy feet and ears. In Sydney's case he kept getting ear infections which were being set off by an underlying allergy.
We took a blood sample and ran a special test and found out that he was allergic to storage mites and house dust mites. These are very common in the home and almost impossible to get rid of completely.
A special vaccine was made up with the things that he was allergic to. This was given as an injection, starting in very small doses. The amount was gradually increased over about 6 months. This allows to body to get used to them and stops Sydney reacting to them in the future. For some dogs this can cure them of their allergy and some may need to stay on injections once a month for life but this can stop them needing other medication or allows us to keep them on a lower dose.
Sydney improved a lot after starting the injections but his ears were still bothering him. Because of the repeat infections his ear canals had become narrowed making him more prone to infections. We performed an operation to help open out the ear canals to stop this happening again.
With the combination of the special vaccines and the surgery Sydney is so much better now. There are several different ways of treating allergies in pets. If you think your pet is showing any signs of an allergy please come in and talk to us.
