Dogs in the City get Hay fever too – Learn to Recognize the Symptoms of Dogs Hay fever and get your Pooch Treatment

If you have a dog with red sore eyes in the city – the last thing you’d expect him to suffer from is hay fever. At least that’s what I was thinking when I took my dog to the vets to have his itchy eyes checked out. Half an hour later I left the vet’s with Maxitrol eye drops and antihistamines – and my dog’s eyes have now magically cleared up.

Our vet explained it is really common that dogs get hay fever and other allergies in big cities like London because the pollution actually make allergies worse. She firstly checked my dog’s eyes to see if they were dry, which luckily they weren’t and told us that his lower and inner eyelids were swollen and red and that two weeks of Maxitrol eye drops and antihistamines would probably soothe his symptoms.

Apparently a lot of Labradors in our area have similar problems with their eyes in springtime, especially when the weather is dry and the pollen flies around freely. Sometimes the labradors’ eyes get so bad the vet has to scrape the inside of their eyelids, and send them home with the dreaded cone around their head. It’s a drastic treatment, but apparently makes them feel better long term.

Most of the time, dogs develop slightly different symptoms to humans when they get hayfever. They inhale pollen just like we do, but rather than getting itchy red eyes and sneezing like humans do, they instead tend to develop a reaction in their skin. This is because the histamines released by the body in response to pollen in animals are mostly released in the skin of a dog, rather than in his nose and eyes.

If your dog is suffering from hay fever, he is likely to scratch, bite and lick his body all over. Some dogs scratch so hard to find relief, that they pull some of their coat out or create sores that could become infected and require antibiotics treatment.

If your dog has hay fever which is a seasonal allergy, it is likely that he will start showing symptoms around March-April (although this of course depends on where you live). Dogs are particularly sensitive to tree pollen which is around much earlier than grass and flower pollens. Obviously the trees and grasses in the city produce pollen just like any other plants and combine with the pollution to cause allergic reactions in your dog.

If your dog’s symptoms are seasonal and seem to last fewer than three months, he can get medications like cortisone to help getting rid of the itching. Sometimes vets recommend skin allergy test to find out exactly what allergens your dog is sensitive to.

If their allergy is really bad, sometimes the dog can receive injections of small doses of what they are allergic to, slowly building up their immunity. The vets also sometime recommend treatments like immunotherapy, antihistamies like my dog received, steroids and special medicated shampoos.

Tips for relieving your dog’s hay fever symptoms

1. Brush your dog’s coat daily during pollen season and wipe him down with a damp towel after your walks. This will help remove pollen and seeds that might be trapped in his coat and might relieve his symptoms.
2. Clean his beddings regularly during pollen season
3. Bathe your dog regularly with shampoo designed for sensitive or irritated skin – but not too often as that might dry his skin out instead of soothing his symptoms.
4. Give him oily fish as part of his diet or buy some Omega 3 capsules - this will help keeping his skin and coat moisturized which may help reduce the itching.