How Do We Determine a Pet Has Allergies?

There are three main components to how we determine your pet has an allergy:

1. The history the owner describes. The history that you provide as the owner is extremely important; what is the pet doing? Scratching? Biting? Is it seasonal or all year round? Worse at different times of the year? The list of questions is quite long and your veterinarian will ask the appropriate ones for your pet.

2. How does the pet look? The physical exam by your veterinarian becomes extremely important. Are there fleas or ticks? Is there inflammation? Where is the irritation? Is an infection of any sort present?

3. Testing... We can perform a skin test or a blood test to try and determine what the pet is allergic to and hopefully we can then eliminate it from the pet's environment. This is an important part of the puzzle, but since nothing is 100% accurate, you need to have (1) and (2) along with (3) to be sure you come to the correct conclusions.

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