Grass allergy?

[aliasjoey]

Our 4-year-old toy/mini poodle (see photo!) has always been very itchy, especially face, paws and ears. He is on Wellbeloved hypoallergenic food. About 6 months ago we changed his flea treatment to Revolution which treats mites (mange) as well. When this runs out, he does seem to get worse which is odd because you would think it would 'cure' it if he had mange...

We usually just go to park (pavements/paths/short grass), yesterday we went for a walk (Only for about 20 minutes!) through a field which did have long grass -to the extent that my hayfever suddenly got worse & I had to take medication - Last night he was in a right state, chewing his paws, rubbing his face on the carpet and scratching his ear till it bled.

I thought dogs were mainly allergic to food ingredients or dustmites. Has anyone had a test which proved there dog was allergic to pollen? We didn't bother testing because I figured what was the point, not much we can do about dust, but this seemed so clearly linked to his walk it HAS to be grass.

It would be great if it was something that could be avoided... Thanks for reading, sorry its so long

[horseylady]

They can run full bloods to check for an increase in White (?) blood cells which would indicate an allergy. Having taken my dog to the vet recently for an intermittent cough, the vet suggested a pollen allergy as there was nothing to indicate anything else.

They ran no tests, just advised us to watch her, if she got worse go back, they could do more investigations. I was fairly happy! They don't test for human hayfever and allergies readily they just base it on clinical symptoms.

Sorry not much help but may be worth a chat with your vet?

[SnoopyKnine]

Hi

I have a 14 year old chocolate lab with grass, pollen, clover and dust mite allergies.

She was very bad as a young dog and we did have the allergy tests on her which clearly indicated her allergies. It has really helped us as we were then able to manage her allergies and she rarely now has to have an medication or symptoms. She was also given small injections of the allergen to see if she would build up an immunity to it. I am not sure that she did and it meant she had to have regular injections which she hated.

Our main problem was the summer (obviously) and we found by changing her walks to sandy location and not walk in meadows etc made a huge difference.

We have wooden floors downstairs in our house and she is not allowed upstairs this has helped a lot with the dust mite allergies. She also has a plastic bed with vet bed which I change regularly and wash at a high temperature. We don't ever have flowers in the house either.


We made an area in the garden where she used to lie and paved it so she does not lie on the grass outside.

Our main problem is if we go away and are not sure of the environment but if she does have a flare up we give her priton tablets which helps her.

[aliasjoey]

thank you snoopy I am reassured to hear that pollen is a real allergy for dogs (I thought perhaps it was just internet gossip!)

We had one of those vet beds, but it was a real pain to cut to size... I still have half of it left and don't use it...

Have just given him a piriton, never really noticed a seasonal trend to this, (suspect he has other allergies as well ) but this was driving him crazy last night.

[Lizcat]

I find most dogs test positive for at least 5 to 6 allergens when we do the blood tests. House dust mites are very common, meadow fescue, pigeon feathers and rabbit fur also very common. Actual genuinely diagnosed food allergies that have had a blood test followed by an exclusion diet and then a food challenge to prove cause of the problem are much much rarer.
I am guessing you are in the USA as Revolution is called Stronghold here in the UK. It actually only treats one type of mange sarcoptic mange there is a second type demodectic mange which does tend to affect the face particularly around the eyes. Though a skin scrape would be necessary to diagnose this.
I am not certain if the blood testing for Ig G and Ig E is avaliable in the USA, but if it is and immuno therapy can be bought this is often a very successful route. Here in the Uk we actually purchase our immune therapy from Holland.

[aliasjoey]

lizcat thanks for the reply

I am in the UK - couldn't remember the name of the flea treatment but when I googled it Revolution/Stronghold was the one that fitted - sorry I confused you!

I had always assumed his allergies were food or dustmites, actually I am relieved to have found a genuine trigger which now we can avoid. He gets bathed regularly anyway and this is something I can ensure if he does go in grass (or is the pollen inhaled?)

[Lizcat]

Really identifying which grass pollen it is and then use immunotherapy gives a far superior improvement that nearly everything else. The immunotherapy use now is succesful in around 80percent of cases.

[aliasjoey]

I have heard immunotherapy has a good success rate, but it's all down to money at the moment

But I'm going to monitor it and see if we can control it better. Luckily we had our lawn dug up and replaced with gravel... because he liked to dig lots of holes! So there is no grass there.

Thanks again