Sources: Pet Holistic Allergy Summit, 2022, various presenters. Article by Dr. Peter Dobias, 2023
Is it Actually an Allergy?
My biggest take away from attending this summit is the frequency with which animals are misdiagnosed with allergies! According to Dr. Peter Dobias and others at the summit, “a large portion of these animals scratch, chew, and itch, not due to allergies but because of back injuries, inflammation, or tightness, which are often mistakenly labelled as allergies.
An allergy is the immune system’s exaggerated reaction to a harmless common substance such as protein from food, dust, plants, or pollen to name a few. It is important to distinguish other non-protein related sensitivities, for example to chemicals, which from the medical point of view are not allergies. In essence, the problem is not the allergen, but the immune system that has lost its ability to distinguish between harmful and benign substances
Experts have confirmed that genetics is only about 20% of the puzzle and that the cumulative effect of internal and external factors such as stress, diet, health, weather, toxins and everything else, play a key role. For animals that scratch and chew, Dr. Dobias recommends the key to a correct diagnosis is to first examine their joints, muscles, and back for injuries.
Contributing Factors
There are five contributing factors to allergies and a comprehensive approach to allergy support is the most useful:
1. Foreign substances
2. Digestive tract imbalance
3. Deficiency of nutrients that the body and immune system need
4. Excessive and unnatural immune system stimulation
5. Stressed and overburdened body
With respect to foreign substances, both we and our animal companions are exposed to an overwhelming burden of toxic substances on a daily basis. This can overtax our immune systems and simulate an allergic response. Detoxing and cleansing is recommended as a first step.
With respect to the immune system, our digestive system and our immune response are intricately linked. About 80% of our immune system depends on a healthy gut, so reversing digestive tract imbalances can help rule out allergies as a cause of your animals scratching and itching.. Eliminating inflammatory substances such as processed foods and kibble can be very helpful. Using a non-dairy pre and pro biotic can make a tremendous difference. And for older pets, digestive enzymes may be helpful as well.
Many commercial animal foods lack balanced nutrition. In addition, kibble and processed food in general is one of the primary causes of allergies, according to Dr. Dobias. It is not because of the proteins they are made of, but the fact that such foods are made with unnatural processed “dead and sterilized” species inappropriate ingredients that lead to gut inflammation and immune disease, as well as allergies. With respect to nutrient deficiencies, ensuring your animal has a balanced diet is important and using supplements can be helpful as well.
Excessive and unnatural immune system stimulation is another significant factor. Many of our animals are over vaccinated and the trend toward vaccines against multiple organisms is extremely tough on the immune system. When a multivalent (multiple disease) vaccine is given through an injection, the body is shocked with sometimes five or more pathogens, which can overwhelm the immune system. This leads to an allergic (exaggerated) reaction, auto-immune disease and can also lead to failure of the immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells, according to Dr. Dobias.
The negative impact of stress on the immune system is well documented. Ensuring your animal has enough exercise, trying to minimize situations that are stressful for your animal companions, preparing your animals for stressful situations and keeping your own stress in check can be very helpful. Please also see the article in this newsletter regarding preparing your animal companions for stressful situations!