How to Manage Dog Allergies with Home Remedies

If your dog is experiencing an allergy attack, don’t fret – there are various remedies for your dog’s symptoms that you can easily prepare using ordinary items in your household. Here are some of them.


1. Oatmeal. Get rid of your dog’s itching by giving an oatmeal bath. Mix about a handful of oatmeal in cool water, and use this to wash your dog’s skin. Alternatively, you may use regular oats that have been ground finely using a blender, and add this to the bath water. Soak your dog in this mixture for around ten minutes. The oatmeal offers a thin layer of lubrication, preventing your dog’s skin from drying out.



2. Baking soda. For insect bites, you can mix baking soda in some cool water. This helps relieve the itch caused by the bite. Aloe vera and eucalyptus have also been observed to help lessen your dog’s itching and scratching. If your dog’s feet are itching, you can also try using Epsom salts dissolved in water.




3. Rosemary leaves or apple cider vinegar. Try using a homemade flea repellant using rosemary leaves or apple cider vinegar. Boil a pint of water, and add about a teaspoon of dried rosemary leaves. Let the solution cool for 15 minutes before removing the leaves. Apply this solution to the dog’s skin after bathing. Alternatively, you can use apple cider vinegar. Mix the vinegar with an equal amount of water, and spread it on your dog’s skin.


4. Aspirin. A solution to hot spots is a mixture of aspirin, alcohol and tea. First, dissolve two tablets of aspirin in about a tablespoon of alcohol. Next, place a tea bag in hot water. Combine these two solutions together and wait a few minutes. When the mixture has cooled, you can then apply it over and around the hot spot. It should be administered with caution and under veterinary supervision as it can be toxic if given in high doses. Limit it to about 30 mg (milligram) per pound of the dog.


5. Garlic. Keep the fleas away by adding garlic to your dog’s diet. Crush 1 or 2 cloves of garlic and mix this to your dog’s regular meals. Instead of garlic, some experts advocate the addition of yeast in the diet to drive the fleas away.



6. Mineral oil. If your dog is incessantly scratching his ear, mineral oil may help. Pour some mineral oil on a cotton ball and use it to swab in and around your dog’s ears. Mineral oil can help eliminate mites in the ears and reduce itchiness in the area.



Tips and Warnings:

• It is important to remember that these home remedies are not cures for dog allergies. Rather, they only serve to relieve the symptoms experienced by your dog during allergy attacks.

Dog Allergies: Hidden Health Risks in Your Home

When it comes to your pet, nothing is too good. You buy premium dog food, a comfy pad for those long lazy afternoons, and there’s never a shortage of chew toys around. It’s no different for the health-related needs of our canine companions; we’re all used to regular trips to the vet, and dread those unexpected emergency visits.

Flea collars, rabies shots, parasite remedies…yes, it is a rare dog lover who does not bend over backward to ensure a long and comfortable life for our pets. We bring them to grooming salons, enjoy long walks in the park, and generally lose track of who is really the owner in the relationship.

Yet, despite all of this devotion, a startling segment of the community is completely unaware of a serious threat to the health of domestic animals and unknowingly allow our poor silent friends to suffer. Dog allergies are quite common, though difficult to detect…and Rusty may be smart, but he probably hasn’t learned to describe his symptoms to the vet.

Not yet, anyway. I know some of you will keep trying to teach him.

The key area of concern are allergies in dogs which produce an immune response to everyday substances. Oftentimes, a pet who appears ill, or seems to be afflicted with a digestive parasite, could actually be allergic to dinner. Commercial dog foods often contain dozens of different meats and grains, any of which might be responsible for digestive symptoms such as regurgitation and loose bowels, as well as breathing issues, itchiness, and jerky motions with the face and paws, indicating irritation.

Dog allergies are also caused by the same pollens and molds that make hayfever season a struggle for many humans as well. The highly sensitive canine snout is also vulnerable to dust and associated mites, so a clean carpet and bedding is essential to reducing the harm caused by the local environment to some dogs.

Seeing obsessive scratching in a dog tends not to set off any warning bells; most folks reason that dogs enjoy all sorts of odd repetitive motion and are perhaps itchier than humans, since they generally don’t wear a lot of clothes and spend most of their time on the floor. Nevertheless, a great deal of the time, the itching is not natural at all, but the result of a dog allergy.

If you suspect that your pet is afflicted, request an examination from your veterinarian, being careful to describe the symptoms which aroused your concern. If no other obvious cause is found, such as fleas, worms, or infectious disease, a series of tests can narrow down the source of your dog’s allergy.

Once the offending item has been identified, the next task will be to remove that substance from your pet’s living space. If an ingredient in food turns out to be the problem, changing to a purer brand might be an easy solution. On the other hand, if it turns out that your dog is allergic to humans, there may be no better solution than moving out to the doghouse and leaving your house to your pet.

After all, you’d do anything for your dog, wouldn’t you?

Treatment of Dog Allergies

Is your dog always scratching his skin, causing blisters and sores to form all over his body? Then your dog might just have an allergy.

Symptom Relief

Allergies in dogs present as uncontrollable itching, forcing the dog to lick and scratch himself until sores develop on his body. These sores could become infected, accumulate pus and become very painful. With recurrent attacks, some dogs eventually end up with their hair falling out.

One of the most effective ways to manage your dog’s allergy symptoms is to give him regular baths with cool water. Using shampoos that contain eucalyptus and aloe vera can help relieve the itching that your dog experiences until the skin heals. Diets rich in vitamins, minerals and fatty acids also aid in keeping your dog’s skin healthy.

A number of medications can also help relieve the symptoms of allergies. These include antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine, and steroids, such as prednisone. If your dog develops an infection, antibiotics may be given. Keep in mind that continued use of these medications can result in serious side effects, such as liver problems and a weakened immune system. Thus, it is best to consult a veterinarian about the proper dosages prior to administering these medications.

Immunotherapy in animals has also become more popular in recent years. Your dog is given shots to prevent the development of allergies. Remember that these shots may take anywhere from several months to a year to work, and can cost a huge amount of money.

Specific Treatment

There are several kinds of dog allergies, and the treatment for each kind varies significantly.

Some component of the air around us, such as pollen, mold spores or household dust, could cause allergies to your dog. This is known as inhalant allergy. Frequently dusting and vacuuming the areas where your dog usually stays helps a lot.

Flea infestation is one of the biggest problems experienced by dogs. What’s even worse is that some dogs are allergic to the saliva that fleas produce. The treatment for flea allergies is to control, and if possible, eliminate the fleas. Regular grooming and brushing of your dog’s hair is quite helpful. You can also use any of the numerous anti-flea products that abound in the market, such as flea shampoos, foggers, sprays and medications containing pyrethrin.

Another common type of allergy that dogs experience is allergy to certain components of dog food. An effective way to manage food allergies is to change the dog’s diet to a hypoallergenic one. Then gradually introduce a certain kind of food one at a time, waiting approximately a few days to a week to observe if the dog reacts to it. Once you have determined what components cause the allergies, you can permanently remove it from your dog’s diet.

Avoidance

Still, the most effective way to manage dog allergies is to prevent them. No matter what kind of allergy your dog has, avoiding the allergen that triggers the disease minimizes the symptoms experienced by your pet, and keeps your pet healthy and allergy-free.

Question: Should I not feed Raw Food because of Salmonella?

I have been feeding raw chicken and pork for at least 10 years. My dogs or my family have never had any problems. Of course I wash my hands and counter tops. I believe that a dogs digestive tract is much shorter than ours and the food is not in their system long enough to cause a problem. Not to be gross but consider how they can lick their butt and not get sick. Raw feeding takes some time for us to get used to in the beginning. Keep in the back of your mind that if dogs were in the wild what would they be eating?

I have a very itchy Collie. Tried everything the Vet suggested even the prednisone. No improvement. Someone mentioned Tavist for itching. Well , it has really helped. My dog has itchy elbows and back. The Vet told me it could not be food related because food allergy always show up on the face not the rest of the body. His face is fine. Well, I did kind of an elimination diet and Beef is the big cause of his itchiness. I am sure there are environmental things working on him too but with the Tavist and no beef he hardly ever scratches and his elbows are growing back the hair.