Underground Journal

Poor Jake, A Dog With Allergies

Ryan watched Jake, his lab mix rubbing his face against a table leg. This was a new habit that he had picked up in the past few days and Ryan wasn’t exactly sure why. This was accompanying the near constant scratching Jake started a week or so ago. Ryan knew the condition was getting worse, so he called Jake’s vet to make an appointment.

“We’ve gotten an opening tomorrow at 8:30”, said the ever pleasant receptionist. Ryan was thankful because he could get Jake in the office without missing a lot of work.

The next morning Ryan watched Jake chewing at his paw with incredible vigor and told his old friend that he would get him some help soon. Upon arriving at the vet, they had to wait in the lobby for 35 minutes and were eventually invited to go to an examining room.

Jake’s vet did a few scratch tests and then told Ryan that he has had a lot of experience dealing with dogs with allergies. “Allergies in dogs can be caused by a number of reasons. What we are seeing here are likely dog allergy symptoms.” After inspecting Jake and not finding any fleas, flea dirt, or apparent flea bites, he concluded that fleas were probably not the cause. “Since I don’t see any indication of fleas, the next most probable allergen is some type of inhalant.”

The vet gave Jake a steroid shot and asked Ryan to come back in one week so they could reevaluate Jake and see if he has made much improvement. “The steroid should take effect in a few hours. It should reduce the symptoms and give us some time to uncover the actual cause of the allergy. If Jake gets any worse before next week, please bring him back in.”

My next article in this series will discuss the continued diagnosis of Jake. This story is based on actual events that have happened with my dog.

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