Animal Reaction
By Lisa Gutierrez
Pets suffer from allergies, too—sometimes to humans
All dogs scratch themselves. But Laura Sutherland had never seen her dogs, Casper and Boomer, put
on such a show. About a year ago her 3-year-old Shih Tzus began rubbing up against the furniture, sawing
their silky, furry flanks back and forth under chair rungs. Outside on the patio, they scraped their bodies
against the coarse bricks. Then came the constant paw licking. “It kept them up at night,” recalled
Sutherland, a former registered nurse and Kansas City mother of three sons. “They’d get up at night and lick.
It was way too over the top.”
Veterinarian Dan Hecker at Hecker Animal Clinic examined and tested the siblings and discovered
they are allergic to house dust, leaf mold, and goldenrod. “And various and sundry weeds, all of which are on
the golf course where I walk my dogs every day,” Sutherland said.
At this time of year, animal allergies send pet owners to local veterinary clinics in “bucket loads,” as
one local vet put it. The same tree pollen and molds that fell their owners can drive dogs and cats wild.
These companion pets are the most likely to fall victim to allergies, which are treatable with antihistamines,
steroids, and allergy shots. Dogs seem more genetically wired to develop allergies than cats. Sometimes—
and we’re not pulling your tail—pets can even be allergic to humans. “It is kind of a man-bites-dog kind of
thing,” said veterinarian Bohdan L. Thompson in Miami, who has seen more than a few such cases.
The Usual Suspects
Animals don’t sniffle and suffer the way we do. We sneeze; they scratch. And pet owners may not
recognize these symptoms. “The vast majority of cats and dogs that have inhalant allergies don’t have any
respiratory signs,” said Jean Greek, veterinary dermatologist with Veterinary Specialists of Kansas City in
Overland Park. Veterinarians often see owners at “wit’s end,” Thompson said. “If they come to us, that dog
is driving them crazy. Those are the ones who come in with all their (dog’s) tags taped together because the
dog is scratching loudly at night. They say, ‘I think he has fleas.’”
Fleas are the most common cause of pet allergies. The saliva of just one flea can cause a reaction,
though not all dogs and cats are allergic to fleas. Like humans, animals can also be allergic to certain foods
(like beef, corn, and soybeans) or environmental particles that cause “canine hay fever.” The list of possible
allergens is long; some tests look for as many as 63. If your eyes itch as you read this, you’ll recognize the
culprits: grasses, trees, feathers, house dust, cats, and secondhand smoke.
Zito, a 2-year-old Border Collie owned by dog trainer Melissa French, began scratching like mad last
summer. His red-toned coat didn’t fill out like it usually does. A blood test showed that Zito was allergic to
weeds. Too bad for Zito. “This is primarily what our yard is made of,” said French, who gives Zito an
allergy shot every two weeks. “That’s why he has issues.”
Getting her dander up over weeds was not the issue for Maggie, a 9-year-old Yorkie owned by Lisa
and Peter Arnold. A few years ago, Maggie inexplicably began licking and chewing her feet obsessively,
mostly in the summer when the lawn greened up. She rubbed her itchy nose on the carpet so often that her
once-black nose now glows pink. Thompson, Maggie’s veterinarian, tested her for allergies and—surprise!—
the blood test revealed human dander among the allergens giving her fits. Human dander—the dead,
dandruff-like skin that humans shed every day—is a major ingredient of house dust. Vets don’t always test
for human dander allergies because it happens so rarely. Some don’t do it for philosophical reasons: How do
you tell a human owner that she gives her puppy the itches? But Maggie’s owner, Lisa Arnold, laughed over
the diagnoses and still tells people about it. “Nobody believes it because it’s supposed to be the other way
around,” said Arnold.
People Cures, animal cures
Veterinarians recommend oral antihistamines such as Benadryl, designed for humans, to try to
control a pet’s allergic reaction. But some of the newer drugs, such as Claritin and Allegra, “are not
acceptable,” Bob Kennis said. “Most of the newer generation are non-sedating. Drugs like Benadryl have
some sedative properties and give them (animals) some relief in that way,” said Kennis, a veterinary
dermatologist and professor in the college of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M. “The newer ones have not
been researched, nor are they approved for usage in dogs. I don’t know a standard dosage in dogs.”
Vets also prescribe low-dose, anti-inflammatory steroids to control the itchiness. Bust steroids have
side effects, especially in dogs because they can’t tolerate high does like cats can. “They can cause hormonal
problems, increase their appetite, lead to more frequent urination,” Kennis said. “We use it like a fireextinguisher, as a short-term relief.”
Allergy shots are another course of treatment for animal allergies. But they can be pricey and can
create some strange situations. In the Arnold home, for instance, Maggie the Yorkie, who tested positive for
human dander takes shots. So does the 4-year-old Nathan Arnold. He’s allergic to dogs. And then there was
the dog who was allergic to, uh, dogs. Jim Humphrey, a veterinarian in Overland Park, saw this a few years
back. A dog tested positive for allergies to dog dander. The dog’s owner laughed that Sally “is allergic to
herself.”