Q & A: Seasonal Allergies

By Dr. Kim Everson, DVM

 

Question: Every year around this time my Retriever gets terrible recurrent infections in her ears. I’ve tried changing her dog food, but it hasn’t helped. What can I do to keep this from happening?

 

Answer: Ear infections are a common canine complaint. Indeed, some ear problems do stem from food ingredient allergies and finding a novel protein or hypoallergenic diet can help reduce inflammation and infection in the ears. Simply switching dog food brands or buying a premium dog food will rarely do the trick. Moreover, since your dog’s ear infections occur with some predictability in the springtime, it is more likely a seasonal inhalant allergy or lifestyle change that is causing the ear trouble.

For example, if your dog spends more time swimming as the weather warms up, her infections may be related to moisture in the ears. You might be able to head off infection by cleaning her ears after swimming with a gentle, pH-balanced cleanser that can prevent moisture-loving yeast from overpopulating the ear canals. Even if your dog is not a swimmer, damp or hot humid weather of spring and summer can create a perfect environment for yeast and bacteria to grow inside her ear canal, especially if she has heavy, floppy ears. Weekly ear cleaning with a veterinarian-approved cleanser again might prevent infection from occurring.

While the internet abounds with homemade remedies for cleaning dogs’ ears, you should proceed cautiously. Pouring straight rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide or vinegar, for example, into your dog’s ears can be extremely painful in the face of infection and can create more inflammation than it treats. Flushing the ears with soap and water should be avoided because “water is the enemy” of an infection-prone ear! Your veterinarian can recommend a safe and effective maintenance ear cleaner for your dog.

If you notice your dog’s ears becoming itchy when your own seasonal allergies flare up, you can bet there is a correlation. Whereas most people and a small percentage of dogs with “hay fever” get stuffy sinuses, nasal drainage, sneezing, coughing and itchy eyes, most dogs get generalized itchy skin. Foot chewing, head shaking, and over-licking the belly often signal an allergy process. Allergic inflammation causes itchiness which causes chewing and scratching which causes infection which in turn causes itchiness and the cycle self-perpetuates! If these symptoms happen all year-round, your dog may have a food allergy and/or inhalant allergies to indoor allergens such as dust mites, tobacco smoke, molds and certain textiles. If the itchy ears and skin happen only during the spring, summer or fall, the problem is a seasonal allergy.

A dog with ear infections secondary to seasonal allergies may benefit from antihistamines, avoidance and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in addition to regular ear cleansing described above. A good source of inflammation-reducing omega-3 fatty acids for dogs is found in fish oil capsules, the same fish oil capsules people take to promote heart, skin and joint health. Incidentally, the same cannot be said of flaxseed and its derivatives. Canines simply cannot break down flaxseed to extract the same health benefits people do. Your dog’s daily dose of fish oil may be higher than you expect so check with your veterinarian.

Avoidance of allergy triggers can be helpful if you’ve been able to identify them. Some people see a surge in their dog’s itchiness right after mowing the grass and therefore reason the pet has a grass allergy. Keeping your pet off freshly mowed grass and keeping the windows shut and the air conditioner on may reduce an allergy flare up. Rarely is it that easy to avoid allergens. They circulate on the air currents and accost us and our pets even inside our homes. Dogs with severe seasonal or year-round allergies may benefit from allergy testing and hypo-sensitization treatment, a series of injections designed to reprogram the immune system to stop over-reacting to environmental allergens.

Finally, the same types of medications relied on by millions of human allergy sufferers to relieve their hay fever symptoms—antihistamines—may control allergy symptoms and prevent ear infection in your dog. There may even be an antihistamine in your medicine cabinet right now that will help your dog, but PLEASE CONSULT YOUR VETERINARIAN FIRST. Decongestants, for example, are toxic to dogs. And your dog’s antihistamine dosing instructions will probably shock you. Ask your veterinarian for dosing directions, and remember that when infection is present no antihistamine in the world will keep your dog comfortable.

Even well-controlled allergies using the above methods do occasionally result in infections requiring veterinary intervention and anti-microbial treatment. However, working proactively with your veterinarian to develop an anti-allergy and ear care plan should significantly reduce the frequency and severity of your dog’s ear infections.

 

Originally printed in Pet Journal, July 2013