My jack russell is 5 yrs old and he is bitting on his feet and removing the hair. I notice scabs are forming. I have not changed his diet. I took him to a vet and he said that it could be atopy, contact allergy or food allergy.He gave my dog a shot but now my dog is doing it again. I would like to know more about atopy. Please help!
Experienced Advisor Brian Spar says:
January 21st, 2008 at 04:40 AM
Hi there, Atopy is one of the most frustrating conditions a dog can get because there is no cure for it. It basically means that your dog is allergic to something in the environment - things like dust, grass, molds, etc are common allergens. Obviously, these are things that can't be avoided, so we are left with a dilemma on how to treat these dogs. We always need to rule out food allergy via a strict dietary trial of a novel protein/carb diet. Contact allergies usually have typical presentations and can be fairly easily ruled out. We also need to be sure that there are no parasites (i.e. mites, fleas) or skin infection complicating matters. Once these are ruled out, we are left with atopy as our diagnosis. Now the problem: How to maintain these dogs? Some dogs can be maintained with an anti-histamine like Benadryl. Most dogs cannot. Some people opt to have their dogs allergy tested and start allergy shots. There is a medication called cyclosporin which is a great drug for severe atopic animals, but this gets very costly. For those people who are strapped for cash, occasional use of corticosteroids (probably the shot your dog was given) may be used. Hope this helps!
Angie says:
January 21st, 2008 at 05:04 AM
Thanks!
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