We live in a highly populated, polluted and industrialized world. It is quite true that while industrialization has brought about a great deal of by products and conditions that may not be as salutary or beneficial. The modern world is also quite a consumerist world, where one’s success if often determined and gauged by the abundance of things that they possess. But the human body is quite discerning and may bring up unexpected reactions to contact with or ingestion of certain external or foreign substances that do not go down so well with the human constitution. For instance, there are a lot of people who are allergic to certain kinds of food, including prawns and fish, nuts and egg. Some other people also have very pronounced metal allergy symptoms which show up in mild or severe forms the moment the person comes in contact with the particular metal that the person is sensitive towards or allergic to. This has become such a common phenomenon that one does not really get very perturbed on seeing the symptoms of such allergies.
Gold is one of the most alluring and attractive metals that is used widely in fashioning various kinds of jewelry. Since it glitters and is a repository of value, being scarce in supply, and hence is widely sought after around the world. But there are instances where gold is mixed or rather amalgamated with some portion of nickel, which creates a condition of metal allergy affliction. It is rather rare and quite unlikely that pure gold would cause any bodily reactions, rather it is the nickel part of the jewelry that is at fault in terms of the allergy. In fact it has been observed empirically that most of the allergic reactions that take place around the world are associated with nickel in some form or the other. It has also been seen that since most forms of jewelry are worn by women, the extent of allergic condition is prevalent more in the case of womenfolk, who warn various kinds of chains, bracelets, amulets or earrings that are metallic in nature.
Metal allergy causes certain rashes as well as itchiness and swollenness in the body which can cause real discomfort to individuals. These reactions can also be caused by consuming certain food types that are rich in nickel, which though it falls in the realm of food allergy, is actually caused by the metal content in the food. It has been seen that the amount of nickel that is present in legumes like wheat, as well as in team chocolate and also canned stuff is enough to cause mild to severe allergic reactions. In the mild form, the allergy may be manageable and may not require too much attention, except for total avoidance of such foods or contact with metallic jewelry that causes such reaction. On the other hand, if the metal allergy is acute and causes severe harm, it would need urgent medical attention that is imperative to save lives and prevent death.
When it comes to testing for metal allergy, doctors can place certain specific substances on the area which is infected with the rash, swelling or inflammation and then see the specific reaction that it has. Based on this, diagnosis is made and the allergy is suitably treated. In most cases some ointments and creams are applied to the infected area with the objective of bringing about a calming or soothing effect to the area and helping the healing process to get hastened. In most cases, once an allergy to a metal is discovered, one cannot do much apart from totally avoiding contact with the metal as well as ingestion of foods that contain traces of the metal in natural form.
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The life you save may be your pet’s!
There’s always been lots of information about second hand smoke and people but did you know there is considerable research proving secondhand smoke is harmful for pets too?
Think about this everytime you light up in your house with Fido on your lap, or when you’re taking Spot to his favorite park.
The American Lung Association of New Hampshire provides some stunning facts on why you should consider your pets when you smoke around them.
DOGS
• Dogs that inhale secondhand smoke are three times more likely to develop lung or nasal cancer than dogs living in smoke-free homes.
• Dogs can experience allergic reactions to secondhand smoke. Common symptoms of this allergic reaction are the scratching, biting, and chewing of their skin. Owners often confuse this reaction with fleas or food allergies.
• Cigarette butts can also be deadly. Two butts, if eaten by a puppy, can cause death in a relatively short period of time.
BIRDS
• Birds can react badly to secondhand smoke and may develop eye problems, as well as other respiratory problems like coughing and wheezing.
• Birds that sit on a smoker’s hand can experience contact dermatitis from the nicotine that remains on the smoker’s hand. This can cause them to pull out their feathers.
CATS
• Cats exposed to secondhand smoke in the home have a higher rate of an oral cancer called squamous cell carcinoma, which may be due to the way cats groom themselves. When cats groom themselves they eat the poisons from secondhand smoke that have settled on their fur.
• Cats exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher rate of feline lymphoma, a deadly form of cancer, than cats not exposed to secondhand smoke.
• Cats can develop respiratory problems, lung inflammation, and asthma as a result of secondhand smoke. There are 4,000 chemicals in secondhand smoke, and 43 are known to cause cancer.
Other dangerous issues can occur……
By ingestion of cigarette or cigar butts which contain toxins. Death- From 1-5 cigarettes and from 1/3-1 cigar can be fatal if ingested.
By drinking water that contains cigar or cigarette butts (which can have high concentrations of nicotine)
By ingestion of nicotine replacement gum and patches.
Think again of the health effects:
Breathing problems in dogs and asthmatic-like symptoms in cats
Salivation
Diarrhea
Vomiting
Cardiac abnormalities
Respiratory difficulties and respiratory paralysis
Feline lymphoma in cats
Lung cancer in dogs
Nasal cancer in dogs
Prevention:
As in the case of children and others in the home, don’t smoke.
If you must smoke take it outside- Don’t expose others to your smoke
Don’t allow others to smoke around your pets.
Keep ashtrays clean- Don’t leave butts in them for pets to find.
Dispose of nicotine gum and patches in receptacles that can’t be accessed by pets.
Consider quitting- The health effects of your smoking on pets is just one more good reason to quit.
If you can’t or won’t quit, consider a safer alternative……electric cigarettes. Products like Green Smoke are devices shaped like a cigarette but they contain a battery, water and nicotine. You’ll still get your nicotine fix but you and the people and pets around you won’t be inhaling the 4000 toxic chemicals that cause major health issues every day.
Our pets are our “furry family.” But like our human family members, our pets can suffer from allergies. Contact allergens are, by far, the most common of pet allergies, but inhalant (or ingested) allergies can also affect our pets.
Inhalant allergies are generally allergic reactions to food and/or oral drugs. Most ingested allergens are derived from your pet’s food – but not from what you might think! The majority of a pet’s allergic reactions from food come not from the coloring or preservatives in the food, but rather from the meat, dairy, or grain products from which their food is comprised.
Inhalant allergens also include a reaction to medication given by mouth, as well as an episode precipitated by your pet “snacking” on a plant.
Surprisingly, an allergic reaction to food can take anywhere from seven days to ten years to exhibit! Therefore, it is often one of the last things you, as an owner, may suspect. (After all, if your pet has been eating the same brand/type of food for several years, it’s not going to “top of mind” when considering what caused your pet to become ill.) As is the case whenever your pet becomes ill, it is wise to take them to your veterinarian to correctly diagnose the problem and begin treating your pet to get them back on the road to recovery! (Many veterinary pet insurance plans cover the lab work/tests and medications required to treat your pet’s allergies.)
An allergic reaction to medication or plant ingestion will manifest much more quickly. Felines and canines share identical symptoms including an itchy rash, and possibly diarrhea and vomiting. Additionally, your cat may also have an excessively oily coat.
Fortunately, treatment for this type of allergy is relatively simple. If your pet has a reaction to a plant, just remove the plant from your pet’s “realm.” If it is an allergy to a medication, your veterinarian may suggest an antihistamine, in conjunction with the medication, until it is finished.
Often, food allergies are treated by implementing a bland, hypoallergenic diet for your pet. Many pet supply stores offer hypoallergenic foods, which usually consist of rice and boiled chicken or lamb. Using distilled water for your pet instead of tap water is also recommended, as the minerals and chemicals in tap water can also cause a reaction. Your pet’s symptoms should subside within a week. However, if your pet continues to scratch incessantly, you may want to consider a veterinary dermatologist for further testing.
Allergies in dogs seem to have become more and more common over the years. Whether this is just because we are getting better at diagnosing them is debatable, but certainly the pet food manufacturers have had an important role to play in dealing with this phenomenon. Although a food allergy is thought to be non curable, the good news is that with proper diagnosis and management it can be well controlled in virtually 100% of cases.
What is a food allergy?
A more appropriate term for a food allergy is an adverse food reaction. It is where ingestion of a certain ingredient in the diet causes itchiness anywhere on the body and recurring skin or ear infections with Malassezia yeast and bacteria. Food allergies can also cause digestive tract signs too, such as fecal mucus, blood in the stools and increased frequency of defecation. They have also been associated with increased flatulence.
The root cause of these adverse food reactions is unknown, but research points towards an increase in permeability of the gut wall, or a failure of the gut associated immune system. Though it has never been proven that certain breeds are affected worse than others, some breeds do seem to be over represented. The age of onset can range from a few months to 12 years old.
What are the ingredients that dogs are most commonly allergic to?
There are 7 ingredients that are frequently responsible for adverse food reactions:
1. Beef
2. Milk
3. Eggs
4. Chicken
5. Soy
6. Wheat
7. Corn
Statistically, beef and soy are the biggest offenders. Many dogs will be allergic to more than one of these ingredients, and may also be allergic to things in their environment, such as pollen, certain grasses or fleas.
How can a food allergy be diagnosed?
If a dog has had general itchiness that does not lessen in the winter months, recurrent skin and ear infections or intermittent soft stools, it is worth investigating for a food allergy.
There are 3 recognised diagnostic methods:
1. A blood test to measure antibodies to various ingredients.
2. An intradermal skin test where allergens are injected at various points on the skin and the reaction is measured.
3. An elimination diet.
The intradermal skin test is thought to be very inaccurate, and the jury is still out on the blood test. The elimination diet is seen as the most reliable, and the cheapest of the three options. It does however require a motivated and disciplined owner in order to achieve meaningful results.
Elimination Diet
There are three basic elimination diet choices:
1. Home cooked food
This is not generally recommended as it is time consuming for the owner and can also provide an unnatural and nutritionally unbalanced diet. However, if the dog is incredibly fussy and the owner cannot bear to force it to eat a commercial diet, the best ingredients are one of either lamb, fish, duck or turkey, plus one of either rice or potatoes. The two ingredients selected (the former high in protein, the latter a carbohydrate source) should be ones that the dog has preferably never eaten before.
2. A commercial, limited antigen diet
If one of these diets is to be recommended, suitable ingredients would be venison, rabbit or oatmeal. Remember, we are looking for ingredients that your dog has never eaten before, so cannot possibly already be allergic to.
3. A commercial, hydrolysed protein hypoallergenic diet
These contain proteins that have been broken down to the extent that they are no longer capable of causing an allergic reaction. They are often referred to as prescription diets because they are usually purchased via a veterinarian, although they can be obtained over the counter without a prescription. They are significantly more expensive than limited antigen diets, so it is wiser to try a limited antigen diet first as if the elimination diet is successful, the dog will remain on that food for life.
The elimination diet must be given for a minimum of 6 weeks, and possibly up to 10, in order to observe the maximum response. Owners must not give their dog ANYTHING else during the trial period, meaning no titbits, treats or vitamin supplements. For example, many owners do not realize that rawhide chews are made from cow derivatives and that with beef being the most common culprit in allergies, these chews could be the root of the problem. During the trial period, nothing must enter the dogs mouth apart from the chosen diet and water.
If the symptoms in question are intense itchiness, many vets will prescribe antihistamines or steroids during the first few weeks of the trial in order to make the dog more comfortable. If the dog gets better as the trial goes on, and the initial drugs to provide temporary comfort have worn off, then it is suggestive of a food allergy. If this occurs, the dog is then challenged with its former diet to see if the symptoms return and therefore confirm the diagnosis. It usually takes between 3 and 7 days for the symptoms to return after initiating the challenge.
If there is a partial improvement in the dogs condition, it is likely that the dog indeed has a food allergy but also has other allergies at the same time. The dog will then be kept on the elimination diet while other potential allergies are investigated, such as flea bite sensitivity and atopy. These can be checked for via intradermal testing or blood tests.
If a food allergy is confirmed, the owner can either continue to feed the same food given during the elimination trial indefinitely, or can persevere with dietary trials by introducing the 7 most common allergic ingredients (see above) one by one until it is ascertained exactly what the dog is allergic to.