Does My Pet Have Allergies?

by Petfinder

The following article is courtesy of Purina.

If your pet seems particularly itchy lately, you may wonder whether she’s suffering from allergies. Excessive scratching isn’t the only sign of an allergic condition, but it’s the most common; of course, itching can also indicate any number of other problems, so leave diagnosis to your veterinarian. However, by considering your pet’s signs and symptoms, you can get a good idea whether she has one of the four types of allergies: flea, food, contact or environmental allergies.

Flea Allergy Dermatitis in Cats and Dogs

Flea bite dermatitis is the most common allergy in pets, according to Donna Spector, DVM, DACVIM, writing for Halo. This condition is a hypersensitivity to proteins or antigens in flea saliva. When a flea bites a cat or dog, a small amount of its saliva is released into her skin.

Signs and Symptoms of Flea Allergy Dermatitis in Pets

While non-allergic cats and dogs experience little or no irritation from a flea bite, those that are allergic suffer intense itching and irritation – sometimes for days – at the bite site. This occurs with even a single bite. Bites may become red or inflamed, but the most significant signs and symptoms are usually self-inflicted. Your pet is likely to chew, lick or scratch excessively at bites, often causing localized hair loss, scabbing or sores. The presence of fleas, flea eggs or flea feces along with these symptoms makes this a likely diagnosis.

Food Allergies in Cats and Dogs

Food allergies are caused by the immune system’s hypersensitivity to a protein in a food. They can manifest as either dermatological problems or gastrointestinal problems. They aren’t the same as food intolerances, which result in only as gastrointestinal symptoms/problems. This type of allergy only accounts for about 10 percent of pet allergies, notes Dr. Spector. Beef, dairy, wheat, egg, chicken, lamb and soy are the most common food allergens in dogs, in this order; common culprits in cats include beef, dairy and fish.

Signs and Symptoms of Food Allergies in Pets

Hypersensitivity to a food can develop at any age, even to something your cat or dog has eaten for years. Typical signs and symptoms of a food allergy in pets include rash, hives and itching, especially on the face, limbs, sides of the body and anal region. Respiratory symptoms are sometimes seen, too. Diarrhea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal distress may also occur.

Environmen-tal Allergies in Cats and Dogs

Environmental allergies are also called seasonal allergies, airborne allergies, inhalant allergies, atopy and atopic dermatitis. Exposure to the allergen occurs through inhalation. Common irritants include dust mites, mold, mildew, and pollens from grass, trees and weeds. Pollens cause seasonal allergies, while other environmental allergens are problematic year-round.

Signs and Symptoms of Environmental Allergies in Pets

While humans associate environmental and seasonal allergies with hayfever, companion animals are more likely to develop severe body-wide itching as the primary symptom. Excessive scratching, licking and biting can cause hair loss, injuries and infections. Inflamed ears and ear infections also occur with atopy, especially in dogs. Hayfever symptoms, such as puffy or watery eyes, runny or stuffy nose, sneezing and coughing, are occasionally present, too.

Allergic Contact Dermatitis in Cats and Dogs

Allergic contact dermatitis is the rarest type of allergy in pets, says Dr. Spector. Chemicals that come into contact with your cat or dog’s skin are the problem allergens in these cases. Those found in or on detergents, soaps, shampoos, carpets, synthetic fibers, wool, leather, paint, petrolatum, rubber, plastic and insecticides are common triggers.

Signs and Symptoms of Allergic Contact Dermatitis in Pets

As is typical for allergies in pets, significant itching is the main symptom of contact allergies. Redness and irritation are likely on and around the site of contact with the allergen. Self-inflicted complications such as hair loss, sores, scabbing and hot spot are often seen.

Diagnosing Allergies in Cats and Dogs

The clinical signs observed by your veterinarian provide important clues as to whether your cat or dog is experiencing a flea, food, environmental or contact allergy. Your thorough accounting of symptoms helps, as well. Skin or blood tests that measure the body’s immune response to suspected allergens can confirm the diagnosis of environmental allergies.

Skin and blood testing are unreliable for food allergies, though, according to Dr. Spector. Food allergies are diagnosed with an elimination diet trial. Your veterinarian will advise you on feeding your pet a limited, hypoallergenic diet, usually for two to three months. Then, suspected foods are gradually reintroduced. You monitor your pet closely, watching for the return of allergic symptoms.

Treating Allergies in Pets

Preventing exposure to allergens is key to managing your cat or dog’s allergies. Prescribed antihistamines or corticosteroids often help control symptoms, while specially formulated shampoos or other topical therapies minimize itchiness and reduce excessive scratching. Allergy shots, which aim to desensitize your pet to an allergen with repeated exposure to minute quantities via injection, sometimes reduce or eliminate environmental allergies over time.

References

WebMD: Caring for a Dog with Food Allergies
http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/caring-for-a-dog-that-has-food-allergies

VCA Animal Hospitals: Flea Allergy in Cats
http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/allergy-flea-allergy-in-cats/112

VCA Animal Hospitals: Flea Allergy Dermatitis in Dogs
http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/allergy-flea-allergy-dermatitis-in-dogs/425

WebMD: Dogs with Atopic Dermatitis – Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment
http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/dogs-atopic-dermatitis-causes-diagnosis-treatment

DVM 360: Diagnosis and Treatment of Atopy in Cats
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Diagnostic+Center/Diagnosis-and-treatment-of-atopy-in-cats/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/581086

WebMD: Contact Dermatitis in Cats
http://pets.webmd.com/cats/contact-dermatitis-cats

WebMD: Irritants and Contact Dermatitis in Dogs
http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/irritants-contact-dermatitis-dogs

The Art of Mindfulness

“If you let yourself be absorbed completely,

if you surrender completely to the moments as they pass,

you live more richly those moments.”

Anne Morrow Lindberg

Mindfulness is a process in which we attentively observe our experience as it unfolds, without judgment or eval-uation. It is an awareness of how we think, speak and act. When we are fully engaged in mindfulness practice we are attending to what is happening, to what we are doing, and to the space we are occupying. Studies have revealed that people who focus on the past and future are less likely to be happy than people who concentrate on the present. Anyone can practice mindfulness because it cultivates universal human qualities and does not require anyone to change their beliefs.

            Mindfulness practice can become a way of living when it brings awareness and caring to everything we do cutting down on needless stress. Even a little bit of mind-fulness practice can enhance our lives. It is evidence based. Both science and experience has demonstrated positive correlations between the practice of mindfulness and our health, happiness, work, and relationships.

            A multitude of progressive doctors have recom-mended mindfulness practice for conditions such as in-somnia and irritable bowel syndrome. When we deal with our day to day complexities and uncertainties, mindfulness can lead us to effective and resilient answers to unyielding challenges. Because of our fast pace, media saturated cul-ture, we need support and encouragement concerning un-plugging, slowing down, and connecting to our inner life. Picture ourselves quietly listening to our breath after a hectic morning. We can finish the day by calmly addressing problems with a revitalized understanding. By grasping the indispensable nature of meditation and mindful awareness we intensify the power to positively influence our own mind and experience and to know a well-being not ruled by circumstances. Mindfulness practice is a purposeful, non-judgmental mode of awareness.

The benefits of practicing mindfulness are:

·         Reduction of stress.

·         Increased capacity to focus and concentrate, as well as mental clarity.

·         Freedom from damaging patterns of thought and emotion.

·         Trains our mind to let go of any thought unrelated to the present moment.

·         Increased learning capability and memory.

·         Improved well-being and peacefulness.

·         Fosters the ability to switch between various modes of mental activity which grants flexibility of our attention.

·         Trains a number of our brain functions including attention control, cognitive inha-bitation, mental flexibility, and emotion regulation (Weiss, 2004).   

Part of the mindful process involves meditation. We can meditate in various ways. We don’t have to sit still to meditate. We can take a walk in a beautiful area, or in the city on our lunch hour. Ideally, quiet locations are best. Mindfulness can be done while walking, standing in line at a grocery store or sitting at a desk. We can close our eyes or leave them open and focus on our normal breath. Then move our focus to the task at hand. The important thing is to allow our mind to become quiet. We can set a timer to alert ourselves when it’s time to head back so that we don’t have to think about the time. Then we basically walk at a brisk but comfortable pace. We can allow our mind to focus merely on the experience of moving. We can notice how our body feels moving through space, how our feet lift up and down, how our back holds us upright, how our hips move us forward.

Pay attention to our movement in as much detail as possible, and tune out the outside world. We can move while focusing on our breath, noticing while we inhale and exhale. Or we can count our breaths, starting from one to ten and beginning again. When I go on a walk in the woods I sometimes pay attention to the leaves crunching under my feet, the rustling of branches overhead and the sounds of birds and I feel so peaceful. If we are focusing on our breathing and moving, or counting, our minds will not be able to return to worrying or any other disturbing thoughts.

 The practice of mindfulness involves being mindful while completing daily tasks. Take eating for example. We can pay attention to the food we are eating, how it tastes, and the texture. How does it feel when we are eating the food? Is it warm, hot or cold? So often we are in a rush and eat really fast and before we know it, we have consumed a lot of calories and didn’t really enjoy what we ate. When we eat mindfully, we will enjoy our food a lot more and eat less because we are paying attention to our eating.

Ten tips to assist us with practicing mindfulness fully in our lives:

·         Pay attention to our own perspectives, which involve choosing how we view our lives.   We can perceive ourselves as victims without any control of what happens in our lives or we can see ourselves as masters of our own destiny. We could be in a crowded store one day and not be bothered by the crowd and then another day every nerve is on edge in the same crowded store. It is important to understand that our frustration comes from within and it is not reliant on external sources.

·         We can establish or maintain efficient communication skills to assist us with applying a greater sense of restraint, empathy, or perspective to any communication we have with others which is vital concerning all relationships. All of us have people in our lives who can push our buttons; but being aware of their personality types and how to continue treating these individuals with kindness is vital for our own peace of mind. We can’t be frustrated with someone and be at peace at the same time.

·         Taking the time out of our busy schedules to smell the roses. Oftentimes we can place our focus on the negative things in our lives, even small difficulties such as someone pulling out in front of us when we are driving. We should focus on the wonderful things life has to offer, even our breath is a miracle. We need to focus on what we have instead of what we don’t have.

·         Treating ourselves and others with kindness. When we are kind to others we feel better and more at peace. We live in a world with such high expectations and we can be so critical of ourselves if we don’t live up to our personal expectations. The question “What do you do,” referencing our jobs creates more stress especially if our jobs are not considered mainstream. A friend of mine responded by saying “You mean for money,” great response and it takes everybody off guard. 

·         Compassion is a lot like empathy which means seeing what it is like to be in the shoes of another individual. It means seeing, thinking and feeling what others are experiencing. It’s part of our awareness. It doesn’t mean we take on the pain others are experiencing, it means understanding the pain they are feeling. 

·         Having balance in our lives. Our lives can be like the ebb of the sea with calm and serenity and then there are massive waves capable of capsizing boats. The challenge is to not be swept away by the strong waves of emotion. It is essential to develop a way to  ride the waves and accept the waves as a part of our lives.

·         The process of acceptance includes what we need to let go of, rather than what we need to start doing. There is no such thing as the ideal life free from stressful challenges. We often get frustrated when we don’t get our way. Observe when we are experiencing moments of resistance so we can become more aware of what prevents us from accepting what is actually occurring. 

·         Maintaining a posture of composure and letting go of impatience. Many of us are experiencing busy, hectic lives and in return we are often feeling impatient. During these moments of impatience, our foot may be tapping, our breath is shallower and our jaw is tightening, not peace inducing actions. Notice the impatience and turn that intolerance into a sense of curiosity, the very nature of the irritation we are experiencing is changed. When we become aware of our impatience we will develop a sense of ease.  Just taking the time to notice will change our perspective.

·         Develop a sense of dedication to finish things we started and the ambition we need to start new tasks we need to accomplish. Again, mindfulness is about a shift in thinking and feelings. We will develop an understanding about our motivation and why we are doing things, not just going through the motions.  Find things we are passionate about and do them. 

·         Being present and living life skillfully will prevent us from saying and doing things we will regret later. Think before we say and do things, consider the consequences of our actions. It will give us the strength and wherewithal to respond sensitively to challenging situations rather than reacting spontaneously. By becoming more aware of our-selves and trusting our own instincts more fully, we can learn to apply this quality of discerning our actions in everyday life and begin to live more skillfully (Weiss, 2004).

Living a life of mindfulness means developing an awareness, an understanding of ourselves and others. It’s not about trying to be someone else. It’s about finding a sense of acceptance and ease about who we are at a specific moment in time. Mindfulness practice works because we are not trying to attain benefits. We befriend ourselves as we learn how to drop in and visit with ourselves and just hang out in awareness. Mindfulness meditation allows us time in our busy lives to unleash our curiosity about the workings of our minds while approaching the present moment with warmth and kindness towards ourselves and others. It permits us to take a vacation from fretting about the future or something that just happened. Mindfulness is about establishing a peaceful curiosity by watching, obser-ving, and noticing what is happening in every aspect of our lives, how we act, how we speak, and how we think.

Flexing Our Emotional Intelligence Muscles

“You cannot do a kindness too soon,

for you never know how soon it

will be too late.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emotional Intelligence is one of the most important forms of intelligence we can possess which is represented by our ability to assess, monitor, and manage our own personal emotions and the emotions of others. It is the ability to gain an understanding of our and others’ emotions, and to draw upon that knowledge to manage situations before they become overwhelming for everyone involved. Making a commitment to our emotional well-being can be an uphill struggle.

Emotional intelligence involves the following:

·         Self-Awareness: Being aware of our inner signals, recognizing how our feelings affect us, and how we are attuned to guiding values for determining the best course of action in various situations.

·         Self-assessment: Knowing our limitations and strengths and exhibiting a meaningful sense about ourselves.

·         Self-confidence: Being able to use our strengths to assist us with handling any given situation.

·         Self-control: Finding ways of managing our dis-turbing emotions and impulses and the ability to channel these emotions and impulses in useful ways. 

·         Transparency: Establishing an authentic openness to others about our feelings, beliefs, and actions.

·         Adaptability: Being flexible in adapting to new challenges. There is no such thing as a problem free life, so accepting that there are going to be problems in our lives is important.

·         Optimism: Finding ways in which we can roll with the punches, and seeing challenges as opportunities for growth and learning rather than as setbacks.

·         Empathy: Being able to be attuned to a wide range of emotional signals of others.

·         Catalyst for change: Being able to recognize the need for change even if we are faced with oppo-sition. Sometimes the opposition exists within us (Coleman, 1995). 

The word “emotion” was derived from two root words meaning “move” and “out.”  Emotion is a form of energy that moves out from a person’s innermost recesses into an experience, and then into action and/or speech, by these means into the world at large. Our emotional history has been associated with fear which was based on our ability to react in a manner that ensured survival. Our ancestors possessed the capability to jump into action to protect their families from danger, dangers such as opposing tribes and the European invasion. Our emotions have provided us with the impulse to act. Without our emotions we would be walking around like robots without demonstrating or experiencing any feelings. 

We still encounter situations that require us to jump into action immediately. These automatic reactions are orchestrated by our limbic system, the older portion of our brain, which can aid in our continued existence. I was in a couple of serious car accidents and when the accident was occurring it felt as if I was in a dream state and my body was going through the necessary motions such as turning the stirring wheel in the right direction which saved my life and the lives of others. Being automatically placed in this dream state is a way in which we are protected from the seriousness of life threatening situations (Ellis, 2001). 

Healing from trauma requires cultivating emotion instead of extinguishing it. When we experienced trauma in our lives, the trauma tended to constrict our range of emotion. We may be stuck in feelings of resentment and/or fear, unable to experience positive emotions such as joy.  Healing from trauma needs to accompany feelings and expressing our feelings more. It may help to think of emotions as a flower garden with different kinds of plants, some weeds and thorns among the beautiful flowers. 

Cultivating emotions is the best way of managing our emotions and preventing an emotion overload. Because of the trauma many of us faced, we can feel bombarded by intense emotions and we are often blindsided due to our suppression of our feelings. When our feelings are sup-pressed, these feelings are intensified over time and come out in disruptive ways.  Cultivating our emotions creates greater awareness of all our emotions, negative and posi-tive. This is a preventative measure, because we cannot influence what we do not know. There are various emotions that play a major role in trauma: fear, anger, shame, guilt, disgust, and sadness.  Again, cultivating our emotions can prevent further eruptions. Our world is judged by our emo-tions; hence, our emotional judgments can be informative and motivating (Coleman, 1995). 

Fear and anger are a part of our self-protective emotions. When we feel threatened we automatically respond quickly and with vigor by running, or counter-attacking, depending on the situation. Our logic doesn’t step up to the plate in these circumstances.  Instinct guides our actions. Emotions set our priorities. If we have a history of trauma, then we may become horrified by a sudden bombardment of emotions such as anger. However, we can take a step back and examine our anger from another angle.        Emotions can interrupt our ongoing day to day activity, which can reorganize our priorities and can consequently reorganize our functioning. Perhaps we can go back to a time when we were doing our day to day activities and received an unexpected phone call. The person had bad news to tell us. The bad news reorganized our priorities from completing the task at hand to the newly discovered crisis.   

Emotions consist of major components which are physiological reactions, expressions, actions, thoughts, and feelings. Many emotions can trigger useful actions or reactions. When we are angry we may feel like striking out. The physiological reactions, expressions, and emotional actions can occur quickly before we have a chance to think.  Emotions trigger thoughts and thoughts trigger emotions. Our emotions either warn us about something that may harm us or they may steer us to something that may benefit us. Emotions are usually brief only lasting seconds or minutes. Self-awareness is essential for effective emotion regulation. Although, self-awareness can be extremely painful, it can be especially excruciating if we are exper-iencing feelings of fear, shame and guilt (Coleman, 1995). 

Today many Native American homes resemble war zones, homes laced with higher rates of domestic violence, child abuse, child neglect, and substance abuse than any other sectors of the population. The victims and the abusers are in a state of chronic crisis. Many people are in a con-stant flight or fight mode. Most abusers are in a flux of pain and suffering also along with the people who are being mistreated. Happy and content people are not cruel, exploit-tive and dependent on substances to deaden their pain. 

Throughout history the most common response to conflict has been violence: interpersonal, emotional, phy-sical, and international, concluding in an organized murder ritual called war. Many people see conflict as war and refer to peace as an ideal society. As a result, we repress our individuality as a way of eliminating conflict from our lives. Peace cannot be found in utopian societies because it goes against our nature. The more we are in denial about conflict, the more we struggle with denying our dark side, our alter ego we refer to as our evil twin. It is not the conflict itself but how we react to the conflict that gets us into trouble. Conflicting values and interests are inevitable. Opposition is not to be feared but to be ad-dressed in a beneficial way.  Conflict is normal between individuals, groups and globally (Block, 2009).

Each and every one of us has conflicting wants and needs. Reality often conflicts with our expectations. Dealing with conflict in a healthy manner is the way we learn. It’s the basis for all thinking, learning, creativity, problem solving and personal development. When reality goes against our belief system, opportunities for new ideas and insights occur. Our old beliefs are often challenged by new ideas. Through conflict we are often given the oppor-tunity to see more clearly. Our emotional well-being is challenged when we don’t possess the tools to handle con-flict in a healthy manner. We need to adopt an under-standing of our emotions in order to do so (Ellis, 1988). 

When we are fortifying our emotional intelligence we need to regain a sense of safety, which means finding ways to neutralize our anxiety. We need, with perhaps the help of a counselor, to explore why we are jumpy, hyper-vigilant, and experiencing nightmares and panic attacks, all symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues. Gaining an under-standing of the symptoms and why they are occurring will lessen the fear associated with them. 

Once we develop an understanding of why we experience stressful feelings such as dread and anxiety, we can begin to establish a strong foundation for enhancing our emotional intelligence. Examine why we are feeling all emotions including happiness, anger, sadness, and anxiety. There is often a deeper meaning to why we are feeling the way we are. On the road to establishing a strong emotional intelligence base we also need to examine why others are exhibiting specific feelings. Look for cues such as facial expressions, voice tones, and gestures. Explore what is be-hind what they are saying and doing. 

When we are on our healing journey, we need to be emotionally committed to the process of healing. Great leaders may not be handsome or beautiful, but they are emotionally committed to a vision and to the people in-volved in the realization of the vision. An emotional com-mitment is necessary for anything we want to accomplish from establishing healthy relationships to accomplishing household tasks. During our healing journey we need to picture life without pain and suffering and then we need to become emotionally committed to our healing process.  

Managing emotions will take some time, but we will begin to recognize why we are feeling the way we are and in turn will be able to recognize triggers that may lead to unsettling emotions. Managing the emotions of others will also be comprised of making changes in the way we communicate (Coleman, 1995). For example, my dogs chased a man and his dog and demonstrated threatening behaviors when he and his dog were jogging past our home on a public street. He was very angry about my dogs’ behaviors.  Instead of get-ting defensive, I apologized and told him he was right. My proactive approach defused his hostility immediately. He had every right to be upset and I validated his feelings.

Enhancing our emotional intelligence skills is cru-cial for establishing healthy relationships with ourselves and others. If we don’t enhance our emotional intelligence, we will be stuck in a realm of uncertainty and dismay. Oftentimes when we don’t understand why we or others are distressed, angry or frustrated, we may feel lost and confused and perhaps take it to heart the perceived hurtful acts of well-meaning individuals. When we are able to read and manage our emotions and gain an understanding of others’ emotions, we will be on our way to healing from our unresolved trauma.