by Audrey Harvey<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You may have heard of \u201callergy shots\u201d for dogs and people. That\u2019s a generic name for immunotherapy treatment for allergies, and is the ideal way to manage atopy, or allergies to dusts and pollens, in our dogs.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Allergic reactions occur when a dog\u2019s immune system over-reacts to an allergen, resulting in red itchy skin. The idea behind immunotherapy is to give your dog very small doses of that allergen, and gradually increase the dose over time. That way his immune system gets used to the allergen, and is less likely to react to it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A vital part of immunotherapy is actually figuring out what your dog is allergic to. This involves visiting a veterinary dermatologist for skin testing. Your dog\u2019s side will be shaved and small amounts of various allergens such as various pollen extracts, dust mite extract, and flea extract are injected into his skin. If he is allergic to something that has been injected, a round raised welt will appear on his skin where the injection was given.\u00a0 <\/span>You can then work out what your dog is reacting to.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Your dog\u2019s dermatologist will then formulate an injection based on the results of these tests. This injection will contain small amounts of the materials he is allergic to. It is then injected into your dog every few weeks, starting with an extremely low dose. The dose is then slowly increased over a 4-6 week period.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Immunotherapy can have a success rate of 60%- 80% in controlling the symptoms of atopy in dogs. This means that you don\u2019t have to use corticosteroids to ease your dog\u2019s itch, which will reduce the chance of unpleasant and potentially dangerous side effects. Just imagine \u2013 no more itching and scratching, and no need to give your dog tablets or injections on a regular basis just to keep him comfortable.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Immunotherapy isn\u2019t for everyone, and the reason for that relates to a dog\u2019s owner rather than to the dog itself.\u00a0 <\/span>This treatment for atopy is expensive: the average cost is $500 – $1000 per year in veterinary services and vaccine formulation, as maintenance booster injections are usually required for the rest of the dog\u2019s life. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Many people don\u2019t like the idea of having to give their dog an injection on a regular basis. Their veterinarian can do this for them, but this can be inconvenient and will add to the expense.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n There can be some adverse reactions to immunotherapy injection \u2013 because you are injecting something that your dog is actually allergic to, it can make his symptoms worse!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The other main disadvantage of immunotherapy is it isn\u2019t a quick fix. It can take from one month to one year to see a positive result. This on its own won\u2019t be quick enough for many dog owners who are concerned about their dog\u2019s discomfort. They want their dog to feel better much quicker than that, and prefer to rely on medication such as corticosteroids. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n If you do want to try immunotherapy with your dog, you can\u2019t use any medication at the same time. There\u2019s no point in trying to allow his immune system to adapt to allergens while you suppress it with drugs.\u00a0 <\/span>So, you\u2019ll need to use other methods to ease his itch while the vaccines are taking effect. This is where Comfy Dog <\/a>colloidal oatmeal shampoo is so useful. Its colloidal oatmeal is approved by the FDA to ease itching, and its <\/span>all natural herbal extracts will soothe his skin without interfering with the work of his vaccine. After a shampoo, use Fur Butter<\/a> for extra conditioning, and your dog\u2019s skin will be much more comfortable as his treatment takes effect. Finally you can try Itchin’ For Relief<\/a>– an all natural anti-itch spray that provides some immediate relief.\u00a0 If you are still desparate you can try Sleepytime Tonic. This is perfect for those nights when your dog wakes you up licking and scratching obsessively. All natural Sleepytime Tonic <\/a>will help to calm your dog so that you can both get some much-needed sleep!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Audrey Harvey is a veterinarian who has worked in small animal practice for 20 years, and has been involved in teaching and competing in dog obedience and agility. She is passionate about preventative health care in dogs, particularly <\/em>obesity management<\/span><\/a><\/em> <\/span><\/a>and the prevention of boredom related behavioral problems. Audrey lives in Brisbane Australia, and shares her couch with an Australian Cattle Dog, an Australian Working Kelpie and two Whippets.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Audrey Harvey You may have heard of \u201callergy shots\u201d for dogs and people. That\u2019s a generic name for immunotherapy treatment for allergies, and is the ideal way to manage atopy, or allergies to dusts and pollens, in our dogs. Allergic reactions occur when a dog\u2019s immune system over-reacts to an allergen, resulting in red […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itchydogsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}