Spring Has Sprung: Itching, Scratching and Misery Begin
This is the time of year when many dogs and cats across the US begin to feel the effects of seasonal allergies.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
Spring is upon us, which means dogs and cats across the U.S. are itching, scratching, and generally miserable thanks to seasonal environmental allergies
Seasonal allergies in pets almost always involve the skin rather than the eyes and respiratory tract; animals with seasonal allergies are typically very itchy, and the itch-scratch cycle results in irritated, inflamed skin, hot spots, and secondary infections
There are several things you can do immediately to relieve your pet's seasonal discomfort, including addressing the diet, treating leaky gut syndrome if necessary, and supplementing with essential fatty acids
It's also important to effectively control indoor allergens in your home, and give your pet regular foot soaks, baths, and eye rinses
Talk to your integrative veterinarian about giving your pet natural antihistamines, and if necessary, consider a desensitization protocol ideally initiated before the start of allergy season
Spring has arrived across the U.S., bringing the warm weather allergies so many of us, and our pets, deal with each year. Estimates are that approximately 10% of dogs and cats have some type of allergy, and allergic dermatitis (irritation or inflammation of the skin) tops the list of common health problems in both dogs and cats.1
There are two main categories of pet allergies — food and environmental. Food sensitivities create year-round symptoms; allergies to dust mites or fleas are environmental triggers that can also be year-round, depending on your pet's exposure. Seasonal environmental allergy symptoms, on the other hand, flare intermittently depending on what time of year an individual dog or cat's triggers bloom, blossom and grow.
4 Classic Seasonal Allergy Symptoms in Pets
Intense itchiness — Dogs and cats with allergies are usually very itchy. They scratch at themselves and may show signs of irritability. Some might bite or chew at a specific area of the body, while others are itchy from nose to tail. You may catch your pet rubbing his body against your furniture or along the carpet to help relieve that awful itch.
Hair loss and skin issues — As the itch-scratch cycle worsens, the skin becomes inflamed and tender, which can set the stage for secondary infections. There might also be areas of hair loss and oozing or crusty sores, including hot spots — areas of inflamed, infected skin resulting from an overgrowth of normal skin bacteria.
Problems with the ears and feet — Pets with seasonal allergies typically have issues with their ears and feet. The ear canals grow itchy and inflamed, and they often become infected with yeast or bacteria. Symptoms of an ear infection include scratching at the ears, head shaking, hair loss around the ears, and a bad smell or discharge coming from the ears.
Because dogs and cats sweat from the pads of their feet, when they go outside, allergens cling to their paws. Those allergens get tracked back inside and all around your home, especially in areas where your pet hangs out, and are a major source of itchiness.
Allergic pets often lick or chew at their paws and toes. The excessive licking and chewing can spark a secondary yeast infection, so if your pet's feet start smelling musty, or like cheese popcorn or corn chips, chances are she's developed a yeast infection.
Respiratory symptoms — Although it's uncommon, some pets, especially cats, can develop symptoms like those of an allergic human, such as a runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, and coughing.
Seasonal Allergies Often Turn Into Year-Round Allergies
Allergic reactions are produced by your pet's immune system, and the way her immune system functions is a result of both nature (genetics) and nurture (environment). I often see some variation of the following history with allergic pets:
A young pup or kitten, maybe 4 to 6 months old, begins with a little red tummy, itchy ears, and maybe a mild infection in one ear. His regular veterinarian treats him symptomatically — often with antihistamines and a round of unnecessary antibiotics. Believe it or not, antibiotics disrupt the microbiome and may be enough to set the stage for leaky gut, which can be the trigger for a cascade of abnormal immune reactions down the road.
The following year as soon as the weather warms up, the pet is brought back to his regular vet with very itchy feet, another ear infection, and a hotspot or two. More antibiotics may be prescribed, along with steroids (which suppress symptoms but don't address the abnormal immune response) until the weather turns cold and the symptoms disappear.
Year three, the same pet suffers from May through September with red, inflamed skin, maybe some hair loss, more hotspots, frequent ear and skin infections, and a tendency to chew his paws or scratch until he bleeds.
By year five, all the symptoms have grown significantly worse, and the animal is now suffering year-round.
This is a common progression of how seasonal environmental allergies become a year-round condition. The more reactive your pet's immune system grows to substances in the environment, the more intense and long-lasting his allergic response becomes. That's why it's extremely important to begin addressing potential root causes, including microbiome imbalances, at the first sign of an allergic response, no matter how mild it appears at its onset.
Topical Treatments for Seasonal Allergies
My recommendation, once warm weather arrives, is to rinse your pet regularly and do daily foot soaks and eye rinses. Since dogs and cats who are outside a lot collect millions of allergens, it's just common sense to rinse them off, which can provide immediate relief for irritated, inflamed skin.
When it's time to actually bathe pets (when they're stinky, dirty or have a skin infection), I recommend using only grain-free and pH balanced shampoos. Because oatmeal is a carbohydrate and carbs can feed yeast, I don't recommend oatmeal shampoos for yeasty pets.
Follow up with a lemon juice or vinegar rinse to help manage yeast infections. Just add one cup of vinegar or one cup of lemon juice — or 10 drops of peppermint oil with 10 drops of lavender oil — to a gallon of water. Since lemon juice can also lighten fur, I usually recommend vinegar or the essential oil mixes for dogs with dark coats. Using cooled green tea as a soothing rinse can also help with inflamed and irritated skin.
If your pet has been prescribed a medicated antibacterial shampoo, rebalancing the skin's microbiome is a wise idea: mix a teaspoon of probiotic powder in a quart of water and pour over your pet from the neck to the tail, rub in and towel dry.
Foot soaks are a great way to reduce the number of allergens your pet tracks into the house and deposits all over her indoor environment.
Daily eye rinses can also be very effective for pets who are pawing at their eyes. It's very important that you not use human medicated eye drops. Colloidal silver can be safely used to disinfect your pet's face and the delicate areas around the eyes.
Colloidal silver solution can also be used to swab out irritated ears, followed by a light dusting of French green clay, which absorbs moisture and helps prevent secondary ear infections.
Additional Important Recommendations
The following are also important commonsense, all-natural steps you can take to help ease your allergic pet's discomfort. If you know your furry family member has seasonal allergies, I strongly recommend not waiting until symptoms get worse to start an allergy protocol. Preventing systemic inflammation is a whole lot easier than addressing a profound allergic response, once it's underway.
Evaluate your pet's diet — One of the first things I do for a dog or cat with allergies is review their diet and check for leaky gut syndrome (dysbiosis), which is often the reason seasonal allergies get progressively worse from one year to the next.
Your pet's gastrointestinal (GI) tract has the very important job of deciding what nutrients to allow into the bloodstream, and which to keep out. The job of the GI tract is to allow nutrients in while keeping allergens out. When the gut starts to "leak," it means it's allowing allergens into the bloodstream.
Medications, especially antibiotics and steroids, cause leaky gut syndrome. Any pet on routine drug therapy should be assessed for a leaky gut. Another trigger for leaky gut are ultraprocessed diets that contain glyphosate residues, mycotoxins and chemical byproducts of high-heat processing (advanced glycation end products) that negatively affect the immune system.
There's a canine microbiota dysbiosis test from the Texas A&M GI lab you can use to check for this condition. Even better, have your pet's microbiome evaluated through a GI assessment. AnimalBiome has a biome restoration program that can dramatically improve an allergic pet's quality of life.
Pets with allergies should be transitioned to a fresher, minimally processed anti-inflammatory diet very low in starch content (less than 15%). It should contain no soy, corn, rice, whole wheat, tapioca, peas, lentils, chickpeas, or potatoes. By eliminating extra sugar and carbohydrates in the diet, you'll also limit the food supply for yeast, which can be very beneficial for allergic pets.
It's also important to offer your pet clean, pure drinking water that doesn't contain fluoride, fluorine, heavy metals, or other contaminants.
Supplement essential fatty acids (EFA) and lauric acid — I recommend boosting the omega-3 fatty acids in your allergic pet's diet.
The best sources of DHA and EPA come from the ocean, including responsibly sourced krill, squid, anchovy, and sardine oil, and other sources of fish body oils. Phytoplankton supplements do not contain enough omega-3 fatty acids to moderate allergic inflammatory responses or meet minimum EFA requirements for dogs and cats.
I also recommend coconut oil for allergic pets because it contains lauric acid, which has natural antifungal properties that can help suppress the production of yeast in the body. Omega-3 oils combined with coconut oil can modulate or even suppress the inflammatory response in allergic pets.
Minimize indoor allergens — Another thing you can do to help your allergic pet is reduce allergens and toxins around your home. Vacuum all carpets, rugs, and upholstery, clean hard floors, and wash pet and human bedding in natural, fragrance-free detergent at least once a week. Don't use dryer sheets.
Keep the areas of your home where your pet spends most of her time as allergen-free as possible. Use nontoxic cleaning agents instead of traditional household cleaners.
During allergy season, keep windows closed as much as possible, and change the filters on your heating or air circulation unit often. Invest in an air purifier to remove allergens inside the house. Also consider protecting your pet's bed with a dust mite cover that can be frequently washed to help reduce allergen contamination that she may be bringing in from outside.
I also recommend eliminating all chemical air scenting products such as plug ins, candles, room sprays and pet odor sprays that contain toxic ingredients.
Give natural antihistamines — There are supplements I routinely prescribe to pets with seasonal allergic issues starting with quercetin, which is a bioflavonoid with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antihistamine properties. I call it "nature's Benadryl," because it's very effective at suppressing histamine release.
I also recommend adding a stinging nettle supplement to your pet's springtime allergy protocol at the same time, to keep histamine levels low before the season is in full swing. Herbs such as butterbur, sorrel, verbena, elderflower and cat's claw have a documented history of helping animals combat seasonal allergic responses, as does supplemental vitamin C.
I recommend starting this protocol with an allergic pet several weeks before the weather begins to warm up or a month before your pet normally shows allergy symptoms.
Plant sterols and sterolins, which are anti-inflammatory agents, have also been used successfully to modulate the immune system toward a more balanced response in allergic patients. Immune-modulating supplements, such as arabinogalactans, can also be beneficial.
Locally produced honey contains a small amount of pollen from the local area that can help desensitize the body to local allergens over time. Usually, the best place to find local honey is at a farmer's market or neighborhood health food store. Check with your veterinarian about the right dose for your dog or cat.
Most importantly, begin a seasonal allergy protocol before your pet becomes itchy, red, and inflamed. Waiting until your pet grows miserable makes it difficult to get through allergy season without using allergy drugs that have side effects.
Instituting a natural support protocol before allergy season commences means you have the potential to moderate your animal's histamine production, which can result in milder symptoms and a less itchy pet.
Consider a desensitization protocol — If you've tried the above suggestions with limited success, I recommend helping your pet's immune system quiet down through desensitization. This can be achieved through a technique integrative practitioners use called Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET) performed by practitioners trained to treat dogs and cats, or through sublingual immunotherapy.
Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is a variation on allergy injections to treat atopic dermatitis (skin allergies) in dogs, cats, and horses. SLIT is common in Europe and is used to treat respiratory and skin allergies in people. Sublingual immunotherapy is given orally, which can be much easier on both you and your pet than injections.
I've had good success using a sublingual product called regionally specific immunotherapy, or RESPIT®. I like it because it doesn't rely on testing to determine what your dog or cat is allergic to. It uses a mixture of the most significant regional allergens instead.
If you decide to try sublingual immunotherapy, it's important to know that most pets require an "immediate relief" protocol (including therapeutic bathing, herbs and nutraceuticals that reduce inflammation), in addition to beginning a desensitization protocol of any kind.
Desensitizing pets is one of the best long-term solutions for managing allergies, and sublingual immunotherapy is a needle-free option.
Healthypets Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your own veterinarian or doctor. Dr. Karen Becker cannot answer specific questions about your pet's medical issues or make medical recommendations for your pet without first establishing a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Your pet's medical protocol should be given by your holistic veterinarian.
Spring Has Sprung: Itching, Scratching and Misery Begin
My little Chihuahua will be 8 in Sept. He is on Theophylline and Vanectyl-P for trachea, cough, and itch. His eyes, ears, and paws still bother him. Cough is a little better, also the itch. Only on the Vanectyl every second day. Just started about three weeks ago.
We are currently doing slit with my chihuahua. It seems to exacerbate her collapse trachea is that possible ?