Help Your Dog Cope from Allergies

People are not the only ones who experience allergies. Even dogs can have allergies too. Just like humans, dogs can become allergic to different things such as food, dust mites, pollen, fleas, ticks and bacteria. A dog can also get contact allergies from things such as dog collars, food bowls, plants, beddings, and other surfaces. To understand better, let’s briefly discuss how allergies are acquired.

What causes allergic reactions?

Allergic reactions are triggered when a substance or an “allergen” enters the dog’s immune system. The dog’s immune system will treat a substance as harmful (even if it’s not) and will attempt to fight it to protect the body.  

The immune system will produce antibodies which attach themselves in the blood cells. The cells will release chemicals including “histamines” which causes the symptoms we see in allergic dogs. (The same explanation applies to humans with allergies.)

What are the symptoms of allergy in dogs?

Since your pet won’t be able to tell you how he’s feeling, it’s important to observe your dog closely whenever he’s introduced to a new food or a new environment. Symptoms in dogs include:

• sneezing
• coughing
• loss of appetite
• a discharge in eyes or nose
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• difficulty in breathing
• itching
• rashes or red patches
• constant chewing and licking
• hair loss

How do you know if your dog is allergic?

If you notice any of the above allergy symptoms in your dog, take him to the vet for check up. Your vet would need to do some allergy tests (such as skin test or blood test) on your dog to find out exactly what kind of substance he is allergic to.  

Remember that the “allergen” or the substance your dog is allergic to may be found in several types of food or things. Once the cause of allergy is confirmed, your vet may prescribe an anti-histamine, a special shampoo, or allergy shots for your dog.  Hypoallergenic dog treats are best.

Some dogs are allergic to beef, chicken, pork, eggs, wheat or dairy products which are the same ingredients used in most brands of dog food found in the market. If your dog has a food allergy, it is not advisable to buy processed dog food. To be sure, ask your veterinarian about a recommended food suitable for your dog.

Do Dogs Know the Smell of Cancer?

We all know that dogs have extraordinary sense of smell. James Walker, the director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University in Tallahassee acknowledged that when compared to humans, a dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times more superior. Still, can dogs really smell cancer?

That Wet Dog Smell., originally uploaded by alifetimeatsingsing.

In 1989, a woman was diagnosed of skin cancer when she had her mole on her leg taken out because her dog ( a border Collie and Doberman mix) kept sniffing on it. In 2001, the same case was reported by a man when his Labrador kept sniffing on a patch of eczema on his leg.

In both cases, the cancer was detected just in time before it was too late for treatment. The dogs saved their humans' lives. These are just two examples but there have been a lot of dog owners who reported cases that their dogs have showed signs that there is something wrong with them, and it turned out that they have cancer. Are these all coincidences?

Scientists believe that tumors or cancer cells inside our bodies do emit certain chemicals that are beyond the range of our senses. However, it is possible that dogs can distinguish these scents.

A study was done to find out if dogs can detect bladder cancer from smelling urine samples of both healthy and cancer patients. The research was conducted through a collaboration of researchers from the Amersham Hospital in England and the organization of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Although the dogs weren’t able to come up with one hundred percent accuracy, a 41% success rate proved that dogs can be trained to recognize the smell of bladder cancer more accurately.

In March 2006, a more recent scientific research headed by Michael McCulloch of the Pine Street Foundation in California was published in the Integrative Cancer Therapies, reporting that dogs can detect breast cancer and lung cancer just by smelling a person’s breath. In this study, there was a remarkably 88% and 97% accuracy in both types of cancer respectively.

These true-to-life accounts and scientific studies give a promising hope that dogs can help us in the early detection and therefore, early treatment of cancer. Certainly, this is a life-changing feat for all of us.