Did you know?
- Pet’s can have allergies just like people! Most common allergens are food like chicken, beef, and some vegetables. If your pet has frequent or reoccuring itchiness, redness around the eyes/ears/feet, has hairloss, or even smelly ears, they could be suffering from allergies.
- We do allergy testing!
Do you think your pet could be suffering from allergies? Give us a call!
Stella’s Story
Stella has suffered from itchiness ever since she was adopted 2 years ago. I always gave her HeartGard/NexGard every 30 days and she never missed a dose, so I knew it wasn’t fleas. She was bathed every week to sooth her skin and help with the itching and even switched her diet to many different top of the line foods. No luck. After numerous food trials, I decided that it was time for allergy testing.
Dr. Bell and the technicians took her blood samples and sent it off to the specialty laboratory where our allergy patients’ samples are sent for testing. About 2 weeks later, the results were in. My poor pup was allergic to dust, mites, pollen, and CARROTS! Who would’ve thought?! As soon as I got the results, I checked the ingredients list of all the foods that I tried. One common ingredient? Carrots. Next thing, I ordered the serum.
While I waited for the laboratory to create Stella’s customized allergy serum, I went food shopping! Most over-the-counter diets contain carrots a few ingredients down the list, so we decided to start her on Hill’s Z/D, which is a hydrolyzed protein diet. Best part? She LOVES it! Stella went from picking through her food and eating “breakfast for dinner” nearly every day to barely letting me finish pouring it out before she gobbled it down!
Once the allergy serum arrived, we began her treatment. It took a couple of weeks before I started seeing the results of the allergy serum and food switch, but with one week, I noticed that the itching had almost completely subsided… it was a miracle! Finally, she had relief!
I’m so glad that we did the allergy testing! Stella still itches once in a while, but it’s much less often and no longer driving us (and herself!) crazy… she’s able to enjoy being a dog so much more!
-Karen
Lead CSR, Marketing Coordinator
Dr. Bell’s Recommendation
If your pet suffers from itchy ears or skin, redness, or hair loss, they may be a candidate for allergy testing! We recommend allergy testing in our chronic itchy pets that can’t find relief with just medication. We do our allergy testing through Nelco Laboratories, where they test everything from molds, trees, and grasses to food and household allergens!
If you think your pet could benefit from allergy testing or are curious and have more questions, give us a call at 904-940-9401 and we can see how we can help!
