Allergy

Allergy is an increased reaction of the animal immune system to certain substances - allergens. 

The most common allergies in cats and dogs are: 
 

1) hypersensitivity to flea bites 

- This is an allergic reaction that occurs to flea saliva proteins when this external parasite bites. This allergy is one of the most common and is often underestimated by pet owners, because it is believed that if an animal does not go outdoors, it makes it impossible for it to become infected with this type of parasite. But this is not the case, because fleas can be brought home by the pet owner himself on his shoes and clothes. The most important point to remember is that fleas do not live on the animal itself, they come to it with one purpose, and this purpose is food. The main habitat is our apartments and houses (carpets, sofas, rugs).
 

2) food allergy

is an allergy to components of the diet (proteins, carbohydrates). It is considered one of the rarest. It is important to remember that the immune system needs time to develop this type of allergy and it can be quite long, and not always instantaneous. 

3) atopic dermatitis

is an allergy to environmental components (house dust mite, plant pollen, etc.). It is a fairly common type of allergy, ranking second in terms of frequency of occurrence. 

The difficulty with all three of these allergies is that they often have similar symptoms.

One of the most common manifestations of allergies is itching, it can be localized or spread throughout the body, have different intensity, and intense licking of the body, rolling in the grass, rubbing against objects can also be a sign of itching. Other symptoms of allergies are redness and swelling of the skin, rashes, scratching, and bacterial and fungal infections can occur as a result.

Often, otitis media can be a symptom of allergy, and cats may develop eosinophilic granulomas on the lips and eosinophilic plaques on the body. 

Unfortunately, the diagnosis of these three allergies is difficult, because there are no specific tests that would help us find out which allergen triggered the allergy. 

Therefore, the gold standard is the method of elimination. When we exclude each of the presented types of allergies step by step.

• To exclude the diagnosis of hypersensitivity to flea bites, a dermatologist prescribes treatments for external parasites and concomitant therapy depending on clinical manifestations.
• To confirm or exclude the diagnosis of food allergy or atopic dermatitis, the doctor prescribes a special diagnostic diet, which is selected for each animal individually based on an analysis of past diets, proteins and carbohydrates that your pet has consumed throughout its life.
• For diagnostic diets, diets with a new type of protein and carbohydrate that your pet has never had before in its life or special foods containing protein hydrates are used. 

If your pet is diagnosed with a food allergy, the doctor will select a diet that does not contain a protein or carbohydrate that causes an allergic reaction.

If we are dealing with atopic dermatitis, the animal is treated for life with the prescription of appropriate anti-allergic therapy on an ongoing basis (these can be both systemic and topical drugs), which are selected individually for each animal. Supportive therapy is also prescribed to reduce the manifestations of bacterial and fungal skin lesions, as well as drugs that will maintain the epidermal barrier, because in the presence of allergic reactions in animals, it is compromised.