Labrador Allergies: What To Look For
Posted by: Brooke Sunderland in Family, tags: FamilySometimes some dogs can be extremely allergic to environmental allergens. Unfortunately Labradors have a breed predisposition to certain allergies. Labrador allergies are horrible because they can cause your beautiful dog’s coat will start to appear patchy and mottled when fur falls off. What makes Labrador allergies worse is the distress that the dog is in when experiencing the symptoms of the allergy.
Without allergy testing a vet will not be able to diagnose the problem and will only be able to medicate your dog to treat the symptoms. This is not an ideal situation, as you don’t want your dog on steroids and other medications long term. Plus the scratching, chewing, and licking that your dog does to alleviate the symptoms will only make things worse and expose it to bacterial infections. There are a few things you can do to cut down on exposure to allergens so that your dog is healthy.
A sure sign that your pet is suffering from Labrador allergies is constant scratching that is accompanied by the head shaking and rubbing. Check your dog’s ears, they should be a healthy pink and have no odor. If the ear is red and the dog feels pain when you touch it then it has an ear infection. You should seek treatment for your dog straight away as continued scratching and biting will leave the skin exposed to bacterial infections.
One of the more common causes of Labrador allergies is flea infestation and the vet can easily find out if fleas are the reason your dog has an allergic reaction. Even if your dog is usually inside it may still have fleas that you can bring in from outside. If fleas are not the problem then a skin scraping to determine if a parasitic problem is making your dog ill is the next step. If either of this is not the problem then allergy testing will have to be carried out, this is expensive but may be your only option to finding out what is wrong.
Certain allergens that cause ear infections can be easily avoided and others may not be, in the latter case your pet may need regular injections to help fight ear infections and other allergies.
If your dog loves swimming then make sure to take off its collar and dry your dog as much as possible as soon as it’s out of the water. You should also clean your dog’s ears with a cleaning solution from the vet.
The only way to avoid ear infections that stem from Labrador allergies is to avoid the allergen. In some cases this is a seasonal thing, for example if your Labrador is allergic to pollen. In other cases it might mean a lifestyle change on your part, as some Labradors can be allergic to tobacco smoke.
You should also use anti-flea medications to avoid flea infestations and eliminate constant scratching.
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