French Bulldog Health

Allergies

Allergies express themselves mostly on the skin and they are caused by a complex chain of events in the immune system. Until today, the origin of allergies is not completely clear. Genes seem to play a part in this, and researchers assume that it is at least partially hereditary.

When an allergy presents itself the immune system reacts excessively to certain ‘allergens’ in the surroundings. These allergens can be very diverse, for example different proteins, pollen, plants, insects or nutrition.

Types of allergies

One animal can suffer from multiple allergies at the same time. Generally, we can split the allergies into 4 types:

Atopic dermatitis:
Also called atopy. Previously we presumed that allergens needed to be in the respiratory system to cause a reaction in the body. Nowadays a lot of dermatologists believe that it is a combination of inhalation and contact with the skin. This is a very frequently occurring problem in French Bulldogs. See the tab ‘Atopic Dermatitis’ for a more in depth explanation.

 Flea allergy in a French Bulldog

Flea allergy:
This is relatively common. The dog is hypersensitive to the bite of a flea. Dogs with flea allergy often bite and lick the back half of their body so much it becomes bald. They have more hotspots and it is hard to catch the flea because the dogs immediate reaction to it: it scratches or bites right after the flea bite. There are good treatments available against flea allergy, of which prevention is the most important. A high percentage of dogs with flea allergy also suffer from other types of allergies.

Food allergy:
Also called food intolerance. We do not know how big the percentage of dogs is that suffer from this type of allergy. Multiple conditions exist with the same symptoms. Unfortunately it is hard to tell them apart. Dogs with food allergies can have skin problems, but also problems with the intestines. These dogs usually need an elimination of hypoallergenic diet.

Contact allergy:
The best way to compare a contact allergy is to think about poison ivy and its effect on humans. When you come in contact with the plant red itchy spots form that can grow out to enormous blisters. Next time that person comes in contact with poison ivy the reaction gets even worse. For a long time researchers believed contact allergies were rare in dogs because of their fur.

Besides from the normal symptoms in a dog with allergies there is often a secund (skin)infection. There seems to be a strong connection between allergies and skin infections. The resistance of the skin is so deminished that infections see a good chance to spread. The infections are ofter re-occurring and can cause problems that are worse then the problems that are linked to the allergy itself. It is important that the infection is well sorted out, so that it can be combated together with the allergy problems. The largest causes of secundary infections are:

Staphylococci infection
This infection is most common in dogs with allergies. The staphylococci can not be transferred to other dogs or humans. Symptoms consist of itch, pimples, hotspots, patchy spots with hair loss with a lot of itchiness. The problem areas are mostly the abdomen and groin area, the bottom of the chest, paws and ears. To set a diagnosis the veterenarian needs a scraping of the skin. There will be antibiotics needed.

Yeast infection
This infection is also seen a lot as a secundary infection. The occus in more moist areas. Yeast infections in dogs are different then in humans. Yeasts seem to love the more greasy spots on the skin. Like in the neck and chin area, the lips, the ears and in between the toes. Yeast can cause a lot of itch, even if the infection is not that severe. There are special shampoos available that kill yeat, but antibiotics of ointments are often also needed to kill the yeast.

Comination infection
A combination of both infections is also seen in allergic dogs. It is important to find out wich infection causes the most problems and treat that one first.

Irritatieplekken op de borst

 This dog has an inflammation between the toes due to excessive licking.

Contact allergy

For a long time they thought this was rare, partially because it is hard to set a diagnosis on contact allergy. A lot of dogs chew on their paws, the bottom specifically. This causes redness and even sores. Feet are the parts of the body that have most contact with the allergens. They often have problems on the bottom of the chest and the abdomen. A lot of dogs have a rash on the lips, this is because the allergens are transferred during the licking and chewing of the paws.

Diagnosis
One of the reasons a contact allergy is hard to recorgnise due to the testing possibilities. There is no test available that giver 100% certainty. Therapy often exists of elimination of suspicious allergens, such as an animal species in nutrition, or a laundry detergent. The second method is a patch test. Suspicious allergens are placed on a patch on naked skin. The patched must stay on the skin for 48 hours. The dog can not touch the patch. After 48 hours the skin is checked for any reactions to the patches.

Treatment
Treatment of contact allergy consist of avoiding the responsible allergens. An allergy builds up over time, so every time the dog comes in contact with the allergen it will worsen the reaction against it. A treatment with steroids is sometimes recommended, but this is not a long term solution. The hardest part in contact allergy is the dedication that the owner must have. It is not likely the dog will grow over the allergies, so a life long commitment is needed.

 Summarizing

The problem is briefly discussed here, not every allergy is extensively discussed. Although new antihistamines are developed for humans, animal medicine is not yet to that point. The histamines that work on humans unfortunately do not work on dogs. But is promising that research keeps improving in humans. Perhaps animal medicine can benefit from this in treating allergies in dogs

Irritation spots on the chest.