Allergies are one of most common pet diseases today. It can be provoked by many causes but the most common ones are insect bites (especially fleas), pollen, grass, food, wool, cigarette smoke and medications.
Key symptoms that owners should look for are scratching and redness of the skin, especially on distinctive area like the face, paws, skin folds, friction points and spaces behind knees and neck. Also watch for itching and scratch marks. Because of excessive scratching, animals can get infections on affected skin so be careful about hygiene in damaged areas.
Beside these key symptoms, affected pets can also experience partial hair loss, scabs and inflammation of external area of the ears. It is important to know that pet can have these symptoms in certain parts of the year, sporadically, regardless of season or continually over whole year.
If the owner notices some of those symptoms, the following steps are recommended:
- Determine cause of the allergy and try to exclude it from the pet’s environment.
- Try to put protection on paws to prevent scratching.
- As stated above, special hygiene care is important to prevent infection as well as physically removing the cause.
- If none of previous steps help or the owner sees that the pet’s condition is worsening, please consult your veterinarian to receive proper treatment and adequate medication.