What to do when it is allergy?
Not all itchy skin and scratching is due to allergies. There are other diseases that can cause similar signs. For that reason your vet will start by excluding all other potential causes, such as fleas, scabies, infections, etc. If the allergy symptoms remain after excluding or treating other causes, the next step is to exclude the possibility of food allergy and identify which allergens are causing the allergy, through a simple and quick blood test.
This is a fundamental step, since without knowing which allergens are causing the problem it is not possible to avoid them and treat your pet for its disease and constant discomfort.
Your vet will take a small blood sample from your pet and send it to a laboratory to be tested. The lab will look for antibodies against different allergens. If the amount of antibodies are above a certain value that means that your pet is over-reacting to them and therefore these allergens are the cause of the problem.
Next+ Blood Test – the recommended allergy test
The Next+ blood test looks for 32 different and the most relevant environmental allergens: indoors such as house dust mites or moulds and outdoors such as pollens from trees, grasses and weeds. After performing the Next+ test you can finally know which allergens your pet is allergic to and a treatment can be produced.
Allergy blood test
For dogs and cats
The Next+ allergy serum test examines the following allergens:
| Food | Outdoor allergens |
| Beef | Grass pollen |
| Chicken | Orchard grass |
| Lamb | Timothy grass |
| Pork | Perennial ryegrass |
| Turkey | Kentucky bluegrass |
| Venison | Bermuda grass |
| White fish | Oat pollen |
| Blue (oily) fish | Rye pollen |
| Milk | Rape pollen |
| Egg | |
| Soya bean | Weed pollen |
| Corn | Common mugwort |
| Potato | Stinging nettle |
| Sugar beet | English plantain |
| Carrot | Lamb's quarter |
| Pea | Dandelion |
| Wheat | Sorrel, red/sheep |
| Rice | Common ragweed |
| Oat | |
| Yeast | Tree pollen |
| Birch | |
| Indoor allergens | Elm |
| House dust mites | Sycamore |
| Dermatophagoides farinae | Willow |
| Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus | Privet |
| Cypress | |
| Storage mites | Olive |
| Tyrophagus putrescentiae | |
| Lepidoglyphus desctructor | Insects |
| Acarus siro | Flea |
| Moulds | Other allergens |
| Alternaria alternata | Malassezia (yeast) |
| Aspergillus fumigatus | |
| Cladosporium herbarum |
IF YOUR PET HAS ALLERGY SYMPTOMS YOUR VET CAN HELP
Key facts to remember:
- Allergy is a very common disease in dogs and cats
- Be aware of any sign that might be indicative to allergy. Most of these signs can be considered normal behaviour so request an allergy check up with your vet
- It is important to identify which allergens are the source of the allergy so they can be avoided and your pet can be treated
- The first choice for treating allergy is immunotherapy, a custom-made, all-natural treatment which is safe, effective and gives long-lasting itchy relief