All About Allergies- Jackdoodle's Test Results

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is what an intradermal skin test looks like. This is Jackdoodle's, and here's how it works. Two control injections are given- pure histamine, which produces the strongest allergic reaction the animal (or person) can have, and saline, which does not produce any reaction in anyone. The skin reaction to saline is a zero, and histamine is a four. Seventy-four common allergens are then injected and the reactions are measured against the controls to determine what the dog is allergic to, and HOW allergic he is. the scores range from 0- (no reaction) through 4 (severe reaction). The red welts in the photo are the reactions.
Jackdoodle did not score any 1's or 4's.  He had lots of zero's, only two 2's, and twelve 3's.
The substances that he is moderately allergic to are cat dander and maple trees.
The substances that he has significant to severe allergies to are: Dust mites (2 different species), storage mites (more on this later- this has to do with kibble, and all dry cereal type foods), Fescue grass (which we have in our yard),Johnson grass(anybody know what that is?), Quack grass(ditto), Red clover, Cocklebur (a weed), Lamb's quarter (another weed), Ragweed, Corn pollen, and one species of mold that is common both indoors & outside in wet places, including puddles of water and plumbing pipes, called Acremonium Strictum, or Cephalosporium acremonium (cephalexin antibiotics come from this). Whew.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

OMG Karen, you need to move to Arizona or somewhere very dry or very cold, Alaska, maybe. Of course, homecooking is the way to go, concrete yard? How can we help? Will the shots cover all this?

[2widfg8okrqg5]

Poor thing... what do you do to help with all of this?

[Janie]

Karen, what can be done to help him? Poor jackdoodle!

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Johnson Grass ( From Wikipedia)

Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) is a plant in the grass family, Poaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, but growing throughout Europe and the Middle East. The plant has been introduced to all continents except Antarctica and most larger islands and archipelago. It reproduces by rhizomes and seeds.

Johnson grass has been used for forage and to stop erosion, but it is often considered a weed for the following reasons:

Foliage that becomes wilted from frost or hot dry weather can contain sufficient amounts of prussic acid to kill cattle and horses if it is eaten in quantity.
The foliage can cause 'bloat' in such herbivores from the accumulation of excessive nitrates; otherwise, it is edible.
It grows and spreads so quickly that it can 'choke out' other cash crops that have been planted by farmers.
In Argentina the plant is causing new problems as it is growing resistant to the popular herbicide glyphosate[1].


See also
List of plants poisonous to equines
Media related to Sorghum halepense at Wikimedia Commons

Mister Johnson's Curse:
The Special Problem of an Especially Noxious Weed

http://www.seedsource.com/medicine/curse.htm

If you're new to the world of native plants, and nobody in recent generations of your family has been a farmer, you might not know about Johnson Grass. In fact, you might even drive by fields of it on your way to work every day and think to yourself, "That's a nice little patch of prairie." Because it grows tall and blows in the wind just like the movie images of prairie, it's easy for the average layperson to be deceived from a distance. But ask any knowledgeable farmer about the difference, and they will set you straight.

This tall and graceful-looking grass was first brought over from the Mediterranean as a gift to a plantation owner in Mississippi just 150 years ago. He liked it, and established it on his land where it grew thick and fast. From there, it has spread all over the southeastern quadrant of the United States and can be found in spots as far west as Texas and even California. It thrives on any patch of disturbed soil it can find, whether plowed or bulldozed or just overgrazed and overworked. A single plant produces up to 5,000 seeds per year, and those seeds can lie dormant in the ground for up to twenty years to come.

Johnson Grass particularly loves fields plowed up for agriculture, of course, and it has literally destroyed millions of acres and bankrupted thousands of family farmers in its march across the land. Suffolk County in West Virginia has made it against the law to have even a single Johnson Grass plant on your land because it is so destructive to farmland. But unbelievably, some seed dealers still sell Johnson Grass seeds!

No doubt that plantation owner in Mississippi had no idea what he was about to unleash on the continent when he accepted the gift of Mediterranean grass from his friend. He just wanted to establish a nice hay field to feed his cattle and horses, and this plant seemed to fit the bill. But he and others were soon to find out that during times of drought and under stress, Johnson Grass produces an acid that is poisonous to those same cattle and horses. And we can imagine that the first time that happened, they might have decided to mow the stuff down and plow it under to get rid of it. But they were in for a big surprise.


Mister Johnson's Curse spreads rapidly and aggressively by rhizomes as well as by its prodigious capacity to produce seeds. Unlike prairie grasses, its roots are shallow, so it does nothing to aerate the soil or to draw water deep into the ground. It also exudes a natural toxin from its root system that prevents other plants from growing close to it, so effectively serves as a "herbicide" to the competition.

We've heard that persistent severe grazing will eventually kill it off, but that can take years. Removing it by hand is an arduous process, because every part of the tough and extensive rhizomes must be located and pulled out of the soil or it will just spring back again.

So what should you do if you have Johnson Grass on your land? Solarization removal methods can be effective (see our Native Grass Planting Tips page) if it exists in smaller colonies and hasn't spread too far. For larger areas, we have used repeated plowing over the winter months to expose the roots to freezing temperatures and dry them out during sunny and dry spells. On native prairie restoration projects, we have made an exception to our general rule of avoiding chemicals, and carefully applied herbicide directly to the plants.

If nothing else, Johnson Grass should always be mowed to prevent it from blooming and going to seed, while you work persistently and patiently to remove it from your land.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Holy Poop - had to clean up the words!!
What can you do - will allergy shots help?

[Tamara & Giada]

Poor Jackdoodle...........licks from Giada!!!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The options are very limited, which I knew when he was first diagnosed with probable atopy 14 months ago. There is a drug, Atopica, which is a masterful attempt on the part of the pharmaceutical companies to make some more money since the human version of the drug, cyclosporine, went generic. Cyclosporine is what they give to organ recipients to prevent organ rejection...it does this by suppressing the immune system. It is marketed for veterinary use only under the brand name, even though the human form is the same exact drug. This way, the drug company can charge $200 a month for dogs, while a person can get the generic version for about half that. But that's not why I don't want it...his immune system is already not functioning properly. Why would I want to suppress it more? It opens them up to dangers such as not being able to fight ordinary infections, needing modified versions of all vaccines, and it hasn't been used in dogs long enough to know what problems there are down the road. And he would have to take it for life. So, not my first choice.
The shots, which are the only other real treatment option, have a success rate of about 70%; Costwise, it would run about $50 a month if I can do it myself. There is a very complicated schedule involving three different strengths of the serum, increasing both the strength & amount of serum each day until you are full strength(at which point they give you instructions for what to do if he goes into anaphylactic shock), and decreasing frequency of the injections. At first, he would need a shot every other day, for a month; during the first month, the shot has to given at the same time of day each time, and he would have to be watched for a half hour afterwards.Then once a week, then once every two weeks, then once every three weeks, then once a month. Every time you go to a higher dosage, you have to watch them for signs of shock, so you have to do it when you can stay home for awhile. The idea is to build up his tolerance to the allergens so that his immune system won't recognize them as foreign invaders, which is what happens now when he flares. One problem is that even if it works, it takes 6 months to a year to see results. If he is in the 30% who aren't helped by this, I wouldn't even know it for a year. But to me, even though I honestly don't know if I can do it, this seems like the best way to deal with it, because it would be building up his immune system, rather than suppressing it. I wish i knew someone who had tried these treatments, but I don't, so it's hard to get advice. What do you all think?

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Did you ask the Specialist if she knew anyone you might contact about how the treatments worked? Maybe someone in a similar situation.

[Leslie and Halas]

Poor Jackdoodle! He's lucky he's not allergic to himself. I think I'd go with the series of shots. At least there's a track record there. But that will be tricky to do on your own. At least you know some of his worst allergies now, but some of them are so common that it will still be hard to try to keep him from coming in contact with them.

How's Jack taking all this? If he seems upset, maybe you should read outloud to him from the Red Rocket/lipstick discussion. That will cheer him up.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

See, Leslie, you do that with a straight face every time, and you crack me up when I least expect it. LMAO!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Seriously, it's absolutely impossible to keep him from all of them, or even most of them. Ragweed pollen, which is the one that usually sets off his already overtaxed immune system in late summer and causes the worst flares, travels a radius of over 400 kilometers. I would have to seal him in a glass bubble. And some of the others are just as unavoidable. My back neighbor has the kind of maple tree that rains those airplane pods all over my yard, I mean every inch. Which when it isn't covered with the pods, is grass. And the cat lives here, lol. And dust mites? I try to keep a clean house, but if I quit my job to attack dust mites every waking moment...(and they are everywhere, numbering in the millions per square inch...delightful reading), I won't be able to afford the medicines.
We've gotta figure out a way to let him be a dog...he's a little too old for a career change, lol.

[Cam & Oski]

Wow. That's a pretty impressive list of unavoidable environmental allergens. One of the doodles here in Portland is in the same boat as Jack--she gets sores on her skin that then get superinfected with bacterial infections. She's also seeing a vet allergist & they've done allergy testing on her as well. Like Jack, she's allergic to grasses & other allergens commonly found in the environment. She's undergoing allergy shots & has been tolerating them. I haven't seen her at the park for over 4 months so I can say how things have been progressing.

In terms of the cyclosporine, besides being an immunosuppressant which would predispose Jack to other infections (like bacterial skin infections, viral infections, perhaps even make him less responsive to his doggy vaccinations since those work by priming the immune system to recognize invaders which the cyclosporine would be suppressing) it has significant side effects in humans such as development of kidney failure which is seen in 10-38% of humans on it. The nice thing about the allergy shots is that it isn't suppressing the entire immune system in a shotgun effect, it's increasing the threshold of exposure required for Jack's body to notice it & have probs with it (at least that's the theory behind it) so eventually the amount of allergen naturally found in the environment will be smaller than his threshold to respond to it ergo bye-bye symptoms. If it's any help, the percentages on dogs seems to be better than humans. In humans about 1/3 achieve success, 1/3 do okay until about 6-12 months & then relapse & the final 1/3 relapse at a more rapid rate.