Spring is my favorite season. The leaves are returning on the trees, the hills are green (at least for a few weeks), and I admit that I am strange, but I love the June gloom.
But with spring and the wildflowers and the warming temperatures come pollen and fleas. This means coughing kitties and itchy doggies. Allergy season can be devastating to pets, causing asthma, skin infections, and ear infections.
While allergies keep me very busy, I don’t like the recurrent infections that my patients get. Sometimes it’s almost like a revolving door of infections during allergies season. But it doesn’t have to be this way. If we treat the allergies before the secondary infections start, we can stop the revolving door. And it’s much easier to treat the allergies instead of infection and allergies.
So watch for the scratching, the chewing on the feet, the shaking of the head, the first cough…and know we can try to get things better. Allergies are treatable. It just takes finding the right treatment for your pet. Unfortunately, not every treatment works for every pet. While some veterinarians use long-term steroids to treat allergies (they work all the time and are cheap and easy), they have too many long-term side effects to make me comfortable with using them except short-term unless all other options have been exhausted. But rest assured that together, we can make a plan to get those allergies controlled. Good communication is crucial.
So know that we can all enjoy the spring…allergy free.