Tomorrow is the full moon. Give your monthly preventatives!
FYI: If you have another way to remember to give your preventatives, that’s okay too! Do what works for you. I thought it might be fun for us to all give it together.
Ahh, Spring is here! We have flowers, sunshine and …fleas,ticks and allergies. Ticks are becoming much more active now. I am already seeing them. Lots of pets get itchy in the Spring, so I thought I’d dedicate our March newsletter to our itchy pets. I attended a great lecture at the National Veterinary Conference in January, and I will try to summarize that lecture here.
People with inhalant allergies tend to get respiratory signs, while pets get itchy skin and ears. There is a ladder of itchiness that can range from mild and tolerable, with maybe some foot licking or a little scratching; to miserable where the pet can not stop scratching, and damages their own skin. This can result in the loss of hair, and even loss of weight because they just can’t stop scratching.
Atopy is the name we give to inhalant allergies in dogs and cats. It is a diagnosis of exclusion, which means we rule out everything else, and if we can’t find anything else, we are left with atopy.
Checklist for all skin conditions:
- Allergy mimics – weird things like leishmaniasis and sebaceous adenitis/follicular dysplasia and lymphoma of the skin. Most of these require skin biopsy for diagnosis.
- Endocrine diseases like Cushings disease and hypothyroidism. These require blood testing.
- Ectoparasites – fleas, mites. Use your monthly preventatives.
- Cutaneous adverse food reactions – food allergies. Controlled with diet.
- Atopy – itchy skin as a result of an inhaled allergen
The very first defense for itchy pets is good parasite control. Any of the name brand monthly products will do and there are lots of them out there. They are all roughly the same in safety and efficacy. At our clinic we recommend either Nexgard/Heartgard or Simparica Trio (this is a combo product that has efficacy against fleas, ticks, and heartworm).
Neither product should be used for animals that have had a prior seizure. Fleas make pets itchy, but many dogs and cats have a flea allergy where fleas don’t just make them itchy, they set up an allergic cascade that makes them miserable. So if you have an itchy pet, the first three things on the list are flea control, flea control, and flea control.If you are using good flea control and your pet is still itchy, don’t self medicate, pets should be evaluated by a Veterinarian. Together we will choose one or more of the therapies below:
Products for Managing Atopy
- Good Flea Control – Remember pets can be ALLERGIC to flea bites!
- Fatty Acids – Essential fatty acids need to be used about 60 days prior to a flare BEFORE there is a problem. They aren’t going to stop an allergic flare but they might prevent one. We use and recommend a brand called WellActin.
- Bathing – Benefits tend to be modest and short lived. They can be of benefit in mild cases. We sell medicated shampoos with chlorhexiderm or miconazole.
- CBD – Ellevet is a reliable brand. It has a mild transient effect on itchiness and no effect on skin lesions.
- Antihistamines – Benadryl is one example as are Zyrtec, hydroxyzine, and Claritin. These can be mildly effective, but any individual medication has about a 40% chance of being effective. We may have to try several before we find one that is effective.
- Diets – Hill’s Derm Complete (which requires a prescription) and Royal Canin’s Skintopic (also prescription) were recommended at this lecture. I have had good luck with Hill’s Sensitive Stomach/Sensitive Skin (which does not require a prescription).
- Dermoscent – Is a company that makes a line of spot on topical products that strengthen the dermal barrier and may help in mild cases.
- Treatment of secondary bacterial or fungal infections of the skin with antibiotics or antifungals. We may do a tape prep and look under the microscope at a slide that has been pressed onto the skin to see either bacteria or yeast or sometimes both. I prefer to have lab work on pets receiving antifungals as they can raise liver values.
- Immunotherapy. We desensitize pets to the things to which they are allergic so that they no longer react to allergens. We do this by slowly increasing the amount of allergens to which they are exposed. This can be either oral or injectable and injections can be given at home. This is the only way to make a pet innately less itchy. This requires a blood sample which tells us what the pet is allergic to and then the company makes the serum for desensitization.
- Cytopoint – An injectable monoclonal antibody that binds to itch receptors and lengthens the amount of time before the next allergic flare. Ideally it is used monthly as prevention rather than after the dog is already itchy. Effective.
- Apoquel – Oral medication. Is an Interleukin 31 inhibitor. Effective
- Atopica – Oral medication. Shuts down an itch mediator called Interleukin 2. Effective.
- Steroids – Shut down all inflammation all over the body. Effective but with side effects. I like to have lab work on pets requiring steroids as steroids can cause increased liver values.