posted 05-19-2003 08:02 AM         

Common allergies come from flea bites, contact with foreign substances, inhalant and food allergies. For flea bite allergy, the symptoms are hair loss and skin infections. The first step is to eliminate fleas by using flea powders, sprays, shampoos and dips. Follow instructions and avoid excessive exposure to these as chemicals are hazardous to health. As fleas can re-contaminate your de-fleaed pet, it is necessary to treat your home and surroundings with anti-flea flogging. Dog products are unique to dogs and can't be used on cats.

Inhalant allergies come form inhaling pollen, house dust or mold. To overcome this, you need to identify and remove the offensive culprit. Your vet mat try hyposensitization or low doses of steroids on your pet. This is a series of shots to desensitize your pet to the allergen. Steroids help to relieve allergy symptoms.

Contact allergies are due to contact with chemicals or materials like insecticides, soaps, carpets, paint, grass pollen and others.You have to identify and as far as possible, remove the allergen or avoid contact with that allergen to safeguard your pet's health.Your vet will treat the lesions and itches.

Food allergy is the result of a reaction to an ingredient in the pet food. Clinical signs are skin diseases and digestive system disorders.You need your vet to do a physical check up of your pet to try to determine the cause. Changing pet foods does not solve the problem as many pet foods contain similar ingredients.

To test for food allergy, the elimination trial diet is used. Your vet can recommend a special diet to test for allergy to food ingredients. If the symptoms remain after an elimination-feeding diet, then the allergy is not due to food. If the symptoms disappear, then the allergy is likely to be from food. When the offending ingredient is identified, your vet will recommend a suitable diet. This is because a food allergy can be controlled but not cured.

When your vet makes a diagnosis, you can avoid the cause of the allergy. If you can't avoid the allergen for your pet, the vet will recommend medications or injections to ignore the allergic reactions.