I woke up last Saturday to find Shadow, our 11 month old Chocolate Labrador Retriever, with a swollen eye. At first I thought that he and Gunner (the German Shepherd puppy we’ve been fostering) had been playing a little too rough and Shadow gotten a black eye (or maybe in his case a brown eye : ). After looking a little closer, we decided it was time for a visit to the vet.
Shadow has allergies
It turns out that allergies are common in a lot of dog breeds and symptoms start appearing around the time the puppy turns one year old. The symptoms are typically different from humans, and are sometimes are easy to miss if you don’t know what to look for. (I’ll admit that I missed them before our trip to the vet.)
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When allergies start, you may see the following symptoms:
- Dry skin (possibly with red, irritate hot spots)
- Itchy face (especially around the eyes) with the dog rubbing his/her face against almost any surface (Shadow likes to rub his head against my leg.) (Please see the picture above for an example (this is not Shadow).)
- Scratching different parts of the body.
- Canine hair loss (usually as a result of the scratching)
- Sneezing
- Eye discharge
In some extreme cases, vets also see dogs with skin lesions (which can lead to infections), bad odor around the areas where they are scratching, diarrhea, vomiting, and ear infections.
What causes canine allergies?
Dogs can be allergic to many different things. Seasonal allergies, typically caused by trees, grass, pollen, or mold. Food allergies, have there been any changes in the puppy’s diet recently? Or, an environmental allergies, for example fabric, rubber, or plastic in toys or maybe even dust or fleas.
For my next article on canine allergies, My Dog Is Allergic, Now What?, I will go into detail on how to troubleshoot different allergens and methods of treatment. I will also fill you in on how the progress is going with Shadow.
Please feel free to post comments on products you’ve had success with in this area. I would like to provide Shadow some relief as soon as possible. Currently, the vet has us giving him antihistamines twice daily, but I would like to find a better, long term dog allergies treatment.
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