Seasonal Allergies In Pets

The light showers and beautiful blooming flowers that Spring brings are often accompanied by seasonal allergies for both humans and pets! 

When it comes to allergies in pets, our instincts lead us to believe that they are attributed to a food sensitivity. If your pet is still experiencing symptoms associated to allergies even after you eliminate certain food factors, their allergies could be attributed to the environment. Just like humans, pets an be affected by environmental allergens such as pollen, dust, grass, and flea bites.

Symptoms 

If your pet has environmental allergies, you will notice that they will be scratching excessively. This can lead to hair loss, open sores, and scabbing from excess scratching. Similar to humans, pets can also experience watery eyes, a runny nose, coughing, and sneezing!

Treatment

A strict grooming routine is a great way of helping minimize the symptoms of allergies. Regularly bathing your pet to make sure that any grass or pollen is washed off their bodies is important. Since too much bathing can lead to dry skin, you can also give your pet paw soaks after being outside. This will help minimize the amount of allergens that are brought indoors.

Some vets will also recommend antihistamines to help. It is best to get your vet's opinion for proper doses. In extreme situations, steroids can be administered, but are often a last resort due to the possible side effects.

Environmental allergies can be manageable if you take the proper steps to ensure that your pet's exposure to them in minimized. If your pet is still experiencing symptoms after ruling out food sensitivities, you may want to talk to your vet about environmental allergies!