You’ve probably heard the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This is true in a lot of cases and especially in dog skin allergy prevention.

A huge number of dogs develop dog skin allergies. The reason for this is that when a dog develops an allergy, it doesn’t affect its nose – as do our allergies, it affects the dog’s skin. Not surprisingly, a dog can be allergic to many different things, just as we can be.


Environmental Control In Dog Skin Allergy Prevention

Dogs can be allergic to things in their environment much the same way we can be allergic to the pollens, mold and mites in our environments. Since the season for these environmental allergens tends to be short lived, one good way to prevent your dog from having an environmental allergy is to make sure it avoids its allergens altogether. You can keep the dog indoors as much as possible and reduce molds by using a dehumidifier or by placing activated charcoal on top of the exposed dirt in your houseplants. Using an air cleaner with a HEPA filter can control dust and pollen. In the summer, close all your windows and turn on your air conditioning. This will reduce the circulating amount of airborne allergens in your house.

Groom And Shampoo For Dog Skin Allergy Prevention

You should also groom and shampoo the dog regularly with an oatmeal colloidal shampoo, Epson salts or a medicated shampoo. Ideally, you should groom the dog daily and bathe it weekly. Do this and you will go a long way towards preventing dog skin allergies.

A Healthy Immune System

Many experts believe the best way to prevent your dog from suffering a dog skin allergy is to make sure it has a healthy immune system. This means playing close attention to its health. You can learn to take its vital signs such as respiratory rate, heart rate, and temperature so that you will know if something is off, even if the dog is not showing obvious signs of an illness. Also, be sure to look at its eyes and ears regularly.

Dog Foods In Dog Skin Allergy Prevention

Another good way to prevent a dog skin allergy is to feed the dog a variety of foods. If you overexpose the dog to just one food, this can actually cause an allergy. Incidentally, the top four food allergens are corn, wheat, soy, and chicken.

The best diet to prevent a dog skin allergy, according to some experts, is to feed a raw diet and rotate the dog’s protein source at least once every two months. If you can’t afford the kind of variety required for a raw diet, you can buy super-premium dry kibble and then rotate brands and protein sources regularly. For example, you could buy a large bag with poultry as the primary protein, after two months rotate to red meat, then to fish and then poultry again and so forth.

You could also choose to feed the dog hypoallergenic foods such as Hills® Pet Food for Skin and Exclude® from DVM Pharmaceuticals. Both items have been shown to be helpful dog skin allergy products.

Flea Control As Dog Skin Allergy Prevention

When most people see their dog scratching and biting at itself, their first thought is “fleas.” And in many cases they will be right – fleas are one of the most common causes of a dog skin allergy – making flea control very important in dog skin allergy prevention.

The first thing to understand in flea control is that it’s a two-step process. First, you need to eliminate flea eggs, larvae and pupae from your carpeting, rugs and bedding. To do so, you will want to vacuum thoroughly, especially around those areas where your dog sleeps. You will want to vacuum daily in high traffic areas and other areas weekly. When you finish vacuuming, be sure to seal the vacuum bag in a plastic bag and discard it right away.

You will also need a product to kill any remaining fleas and the development of their eggs. Whichever product you choose should include both an adulticide and an insect growth regulator such as Nylar or methoprene.

You should also wash your dog’s bedding weekly and treat it and the surrounding area with a product that once again has both an adulticide and a growth regulator.

Outdoor Flea Control

You can control fleas in your yard by eliminating the habitat in which they are most likely to occur. This is usually areas that are moist, warm and shady and where there is organic debris. You can rake away organic debris such as leaves and grass clippings to disturb flea habitats. You can also concentrate your flea prevention efforts on areas such as under porches, patios, under decks and doghouses. Also, since wild animals can carry fleas as well as other diseases, you should protect your dog and prevent them from coming in contact with them.

Flea Control On Your Dog In Skin Allergy Prevention

Once you have done your best to eliminate fleas inside and outside your house, the second step is to eliminate them from your dog. There are many flea control products for use with dogs. This includes once-a-month topical products, sprays, dips, shampoos, collars, powders, and oral and injectable products. You should discuss these various products with your vet since they are best qualified to help you choose the one that will work best with your dog.

Allergies Are Inherited

Dog allergies are generally inherited. This means that if you are a dog breeder you need to determine if you have dogs with allergies and, if so, take care to not breed them. Not breeding a dog with skin allergies will stop the genetic link to this frustrating and annoying problem and will go a long way in preventing dog skin allergies in future generations of your beloved breed!

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