Pictured is Sonny, a 8 year old Yellow Labrador from Brick, New Jersey. Sonny suffers from allergies and is currently using Desensitization Injections to help control his allergies.

Allergy Control In Dogs Using Desensitization Injections

This discussion is limited to Atopy and only one specific treatment-desensitization injections to allergens.

Dogs can generally have three classes of allergies:

1) Atopic Dermatitis (Atopy)- These allergies are usually related to environmental allergens that trigger an allergic response by direct contact or inhalation.  These allergens include grasses, pollens, trees, weeds, molds, house dust mites, fabrics and others.  Often times atopy is worse at certain seasons when the specific allergen is prevalent in the environment, but over time can become year round.  Common signs are red, itchy, infected paws, skin and ears. 

2) Food- These allergies are usually related to specific ingredients in food, like certain proteins such as chicken or beef.

3) Insects- These allergies are commonly caused by biting bugs such as fleas, biting mites or flies.

With atopy, after exposure to specific allergens the immune system responds (or over responds) by producing chemicals such as interleukins, histamines, and others that cause skin redness, inflammation and itching, which allows yeast and/or bacteria to cause a secondary infection.  This sets up a vicious cycle of more itching and inflamed skin. 

An intradermal skin test or blood test can check for 50 or more specific allergens common in our area of the country.  Each allergen has a “score” of how allergic it is to the dog.  Those allergens with high scores are combined in a small vial specifically designed for your allergic dog.   Every three weeks you give a very small injection of the allergy solution under the skin of your dog.  By giving frequent injections of small quantities of allergens to your dog it will boost their immune system specifically to those particular allergens.  So then when the dog is naturally exposed to those allergens the immune system will help neutralize them, thus minimizing an outbreak. 

The allergy injections could take 2-6 months or sometimes more to start working.  In general 75% dogs are helped quite a lot by the injections and the dog owners are satisfied they went through with the treatment protocol.  The injections are easy to give and painless for the dog.  We make sure you can administer them properly in the exam room.  For more detailed information click here.

Environmental allergies like to come back month after month and year after year, which is very frustrating for the dog, owner and veterinarian.  So if you would like to discuss if your allergic dog has atopy and the desensitization injections, just give a call or make an appointment with the veterinarians at Squan Animal Hospital in Wall NJ.