Dog Skin Allergies: A Few Quick Pointers

Our pets are super important to us, so knowing a little bit about dog skin allergies should be important to you as well, as this can be a major source of discomfort for your best animal friend, even without you being aware of it. It’s our job to make sure our animals are healthy and happy!

Because you have to remember that just like humans, dogs are affected by allergies similarly. It’s an itch that you want to scratch like no other, but that’s really probably not something you want to do, because that just makes the feeling worse. Unfortunately, dogs don’t really have that kind of self-control.

Be aware though, that it isn’t just allergies that cause skin issues in dogs. There are also environmental and physical conditions like hot spots or ulcers caused by compulsive like, as well as parasites, bacteria, fungi, and viruses that can created underlying damage to tissue that cause dogs to scratch at the areas affected.

It’s particularly useful to understand what hot spots are, because what began as an allergy can quickly turn into one if you are not careful. Essentially, these hot spots are rashy areas on a dog that became infected after the dog bit or chewed on it, and the infection spread as pus got caught in the dog’s fur.

Fleas and ticks often irritate your dog, too, and their little bites can be mistaken for the presence of an allergic reaction. These little critters can come from other animals, from new environments that your pets visit, or from adventures out into the woods or out to a park to get some exercise and some air.

Is your dog shedding or losing excessive hair for some reason or another? Be sure to check to see if it is allergic to the food that you’re feeding it, or that there isn’t some other sort of underlying problem. Look close at the affected areas to determine if may be caused either internally or externally, and if it might be contagious.

The actual treatment for allergies can be as simple as potentially changing your dog’s diet, to maybe just having to give it a quick shampoo, to potentially shaving off the fur of the affected area and putting a cream or ointment on it, with or with out the addition of antibiotics.

So we all know that allergies are a pain, and if you see your dog suffering, look into what dog skin allergies are and what you can do to help lessen the effects of them. If you don’t get the information you need on the internet, simply call your local vet.