Have you noticed any allergy symptoms so far this spring? Hubby and I both suffer from hay fever (he gets shots while I get pills, nasal sprays and inhalers). I was actually tested years ago and found out that I was allergic to dust, dust mites, weed mix and (?) dogs ~ yah....I don't know about that last one.
So speaking of dogs, Smalls also has allergies. We found out quite early when he would do this *snorting-sneezing-gasping* type of breathing which really scared me at first. After taking him to the vet, we were given a prescription for allergies to give him as needed.
Now for the last 2 days, he has been shaking his head (mostly at night) as if he's got something in his ears. He's also scratching the right ear a lot which led us to believe that he may have something in there that's irritating (like a piece of hair or even a bug). We've thoroughly cleaned both of his ears and after inspecting closely, we couldn't find anything else that was wrong.....yet he kept on "shaking his head".
So it was time to take him back to the vet for an exam. He was TERRIFIED (to put it mildly). He was shaking SOOOO MUCH, I felt so bad for him. Remember this?
The vet gave him a clean bill of health...ears were perfect, skin was perfect, no bugs or any other foreign body inside his ears, no infection and no inflammation. He's even lost 1 pound.
Final Diagnosis: Allergies. She told me to give his allergy meds at least 3x a day and see how he does. If he doesn't improve, he might need a cortisone shot.
When we got home, he was sooo exhausted from all the shaking he was doing while in the waiting room. So this happened.
Poor little guy.
Hi Jenn! I have spring allergies too, in addition to food allergies. I always have Claritin, Zyrtec and Atarax (prescription med) at home. Hope yoour dog feels better!
ReplyDelete