Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic Dermatitis (Atopy) is the technical term for environmental allergy. This disorder has a genetic tendency, so it is likely your pet inherited this predisposition from one of its relatives. Atopy is something your pet will not outgrow, and unfortunately it usually worsens with time.

There are tiny particles (also know as allergens) which cause a reaction, mainly in the skin. This reaction is what makes your pet itch. There are a few categories of allergens: grass, pollens, tree pollens, weed pollens, mold spores, and environmental allergens (house dust mite, tobacco, etc.).

The diagnosis for a seasonal problem is fairly straight forward. Something, usually a pollen, is making your pet itchy. When the season passes, all is quiet until next year. Diagnosis of an itch that's year-round, however, requires detective work. In addition, different secondary infections (bacteria, yeast, parasites) can also cause an itch, and these must be dealt with first, and as they occur.

Treatment can take many forms:

• One is avoidance of the offending allergen (by stopping smoking, removal of the allergen from the home, keeping the pet away from fields that contain that particular weed, etc.). As you can imagine, this is not so easy. However, washing your pet frequently can decrease the allergens' chance to cause a problem by washing them away.
• Another can be symptomatic treatment, which means using oral and/or topical medication to prevent the itch. There is no magical formula to decide what treatment will always work. And there is often a lot of trial and error.
• Allergy testing can be performed to allow us to make a vaccine that you can administer at home (or at your veterinarian's office) to "desensitize" your pet to those allergens.

Allergy vaccines take from 3-12 months to work on decreasing the itch. And when they do work, the itch may be reduced as much as 60-75% without having to give much other medication. This means some pets may still need medication as the vaccine is started and/or at their worst time(s) of the year. Unfortunately, some pets may not improve at all.