pollen allergy part 2

Ever since Ginger visited the vet a week ago, I realized that Ares and Luna have been very sneeze-y and had a sudden increase in reverse sneezing. There was no doubt in my mind that they were suffering from mild pollen allergies. At the time, I knew that Ares had two weeks before he was going to go back to the vet for his mange recheck (which, by the way, he doesn't seem to have lost more hair but I haven't noticed the hair growing back so I'm curious as to what the vet will say), so I really wanted to wait until that visit to discuss allergy treatment options for Ares and Luna.

Benadryl is always an option for allergic reactions but never give animals medication without discussing it with your vet first. You don't want to give your dogs too much! (For reference, my vet said that in a pinch, Ares at 19 pounds can have one pill and Luna at 10 pounds can have half a pill.)

Unfortunately for Ares and Luna, as each day passed, they were sneezing and reverse sneezing more and more. By last night, I could hear the Ares' congestion as he was laying on me, breathing, and poor Luna would have reverse sneezing fits that would leave her literally gasping for air.

My amazing vet managed to get me in before I had to work today to see someone today to give them relief. It will take 24-48 hours for the medicine to work its magic on them but at least we've started the clock on it.

A quick note on reverse sneezing: 

it's mostly a squishy faced dog thing. One video I saw on YouTube said that it is a result of an allergic reaction to something (in Ares' and Luna's case, they were having respiratory problems from the pollen). There isn't really anything you can do to stop your dog from reverse sneezing but there are a couple of things that can help. One is to rub their throat and the other is to hold their nostrils closed. The idea behind these techniques is to make them swallow and calm down. I took a video this morning of Luna's reverse sneezing fit. She usually does it for quite awhile and like I said above, she is gasping for air when it is over. It's a scary thing to see but don't be worried if it happens.

pollen allergy

On Tuesday morning, I noticed that Ginger had been very itchy. She has the funny ability to stay standing and still use her back legs to scratch her ribs. Her owner had told me that the last time she went to the vet, the doctor wanted to test her for allergies because of her scratching but he had declined at the time. I made a mental note to tell him to get her checked out.

Early afternoon, I caught a glimpse of her side where she had been scratching and saw this:

My first thought was that she was going to scratch herself raw so I called her vet (which is also my amazing vet and got her squeezed in to see the doctor. I made sure to mention what the other vet had told her owner and that I thought that she needed to be tested for allergies.

By the time we got to the vet a few hours later, her entire body was red. The poor girl wasn't spared - her ears, face, armpits, belly - everything was even redder than the above picture. 

The vet took one look at her and declared it a pollen allergy. (She was a year old as of Wednesday, April 17 which is why it wasn't caught last year.) Ginger needed what was essentially a cortisone shot and doggie prescription benadryl. The shot worked to give her immediate relief while the pills will be part of her daily preventative to keep it from happening again. The vet said that in the future to keep an eye on the redness returning - the red splotchy skin can easily turn into raised lesions that can ooze and need antibiotics to treat.

The vet was right and within an hour or two of us being home, Ginger's redness was almost completely gone. The pills have also worked wonders at keeping the redness and scratching at bay.

Yesterday, I went to my local pet store and told the owner about my adventure with Ginger. She gave me another quick and easy way to help wirh pollen allergies: baby wipes. I now keep cheap, unscented, hypoallergenic baby wipes by the door and wipe off everyone's feet when we come inside (and faces and backs because Luna is short and Ares and Luna love smelling all of the buttercups growing in the yard.)

Anyway, the idea behind the wipes is to keep the pollen from being tracked inside on their bodies for them to inhale or ingest all day long. Surprisingly, all three pups have been very willing to let me wipe them off when they come inside. I'm hoping that this also helps with Ares and Luna's constant sneezing.

Fingers crossed that everyone's pollen allergies remain under control so that we don't have to give up the dog park for the time being!