Animals and allergies: How allergy season could be affecting your furry friend

EVANS, Ga. (WJBF) – Many of us have been feeling the effects of allergies this spring, but they can also impact our furry friends. 

Animals and allergies are more common than pet owners may realize, and there are a few ways you can tell if your pet is suffering.

“Most of them are seasonal, the same way you and I get seasonal allergies here during the spring. We start finding a lot of itchy pets,” said Matthew Bain, Owner and Vet of Southern Trails Vet.

Symptoms in pets could be licking their paws, scratching, shaking their head, and scratching of the ears, which could be an ear infection.

“It’s really when you start noticing that it’s affecting their quality of life. Other things to really look at for, though, are going to be what look like pimples on their belly or on their skin. That can be signs of a skin infection, which frankly is a fairly common side effect of our allergies,” said Bain.

Animals can take over-the-counter antihistamines like Benadryl or Zyrtec to help with allergy symptoms, but it only works for some.  You can contact your vet to learn the dosage or to see if you should pick up pharmaceuticals only, they can give you that could help.

“Mosquitoes are an annoyance for us, but they can be deadly to dogs. Heartworms are endemic in the area, and they are carried and spread by mosquitoes,” said Bain.

Staying on heartworm prevention this year is very important because of the influx of mosquitoes. There are other vaccinations to get your pet to fight different diseases this spring and summer.

“As we start doing our warm weather activities events. Alright, is worrying about Leptospirosis. It’s a disease that gets spread by wildlife peeing in puddles and your dog goes and drinks from those puddles and it can wreck their kidneys and technically they can transfer it onto you and wreck your kidneys. So, it’s important to stay vaccinated against Leptospirosis,” said Bain.

Make sure to stay up to date on your animals’ vaccinations and medications to help keep them healthy as it continues to warm up.