Pet Allergies Article on CNN - Page 1

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/26/pet.allergies/

(CNN) -- Jacqui Read loves to hike with Buddy on the weekends.

n the spring, they can spend a whole day exploring the outdoors near their Atlanta, Georgia, home. When they return home, they enjoy a nice meal and an evening on the sofa.

But if it's been a bad day for pollen, Read breaks out the Benadryl. Two for her -- and three for Buddy.Buddy, the 75-pound golden retriever, has allergies. "I grew up with goldens. That's why I adopted him, and I don't remember us ever having dogs with allergies," she said. "But I had never heard of that, so when they said I could give him Benadryl, I was like, 'Really?' "

Pet allergies are more common than you think. About 10 percent of dogs have allergies, said Sandra Diaz, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech. She said good data don't exist for cats.  See map of top ten U.S. allergy capitals »

"Allergies we cannot cure. We just manage them and keep them under control so the animal can have a good quality of life," she said. Diaz said the most common kind of allergies, especially in dogs, is a reaction to fleas. The saliva from a flea bite can irritate an animal's skin.

Jacquie Smith, who lives in Washington with her boyfriend and five cats, works hard to prevent Ben, a gray tabby, from having flea issues. She uses a flea control product called Frontline, but every now and then -- especially when the weather gets warm -- Ben's hair will fall out near his tail. It's a telltale sign of the flea allergy that Ben has while his brother Jerry has no similar symptoms.