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.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh, Cam, I can't tell you how much this information means to me...this is more than I have been able to find out in 14 months of researching this. (Jack's specialist is very nice & well-respected, but she never seems to have enough time for questions.) Thank you, thank you, thank you!! It seems my instincts about which way to go were right!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Cam, I have another question that you might be able to answer. I didn't think of it until today, as I was looking over the test results. When I looked up the mold that Jack is allergic to, Cephalosporium acremonium, it seemed that the cephalexin-type of antibiotics are made from it. Jack has been treated several times with long courses of cephalexin for two incidents of bad paw pad abrasions, and also for the infections he's caused himself by licking & chewing at himself when his allergies have flared. Do you think the antibiotics caused him to develop the allergy to that particular mold? Does it work that way? I'm understanding that you need extended exposure to something to develop an allergy to it.

[Cam & Oski]

I would think that since cephalosporins are derived from Cephalosporium acremonium that Jack would also be allergic to cephalosporins altho in the studies that have been done on drug allergies involving penicillins & cephalosporins the allergen is thought to be the beta-lactam ring (a ring structure found in both antibiotic classes) altho now they've noticed that some of the chemical side chains are also allergenic. I don't want to get too stuck in the forest here but basically chemically similar structures or compounds that are derived from other chemicals tend to share allergenicity in the same individual--the concept of cross-reactivity. Which means that since he's allergic to the mold that the drug is derived from he could allergic to the drug too altho they don't use all of the mold to make the drug, they only take out what they think is the chemically active structure & it could be that he's not allergic to that. Did he get any sores or hives or breathing probs after getting cephalexin?

In terms of the correlation between exposure time & development of an allergy, that's sort of tricky. Jack has probably been exposed to Cephalosporium acremonium since he was born since it's pretty much everywhere. So once his body has decided that it doesn't like the mold & is "allergic" to it, he could theoretically have an allergic reaction to a new substance (the antibiotic) that he's never been exposed to before because it's chemically similar to the mold that he's already been exposed to. In other words, he could have an allergic reaction after the first use. Along those lines, did they only do environmental allergens with his allergy testing or did they also do some meds like penicillin or cephalexin? I don't want to scare you or stir up a hornet's nest or anything but IF he's allergic to the same part of Cephalosporium acremonium that makes up the cephalosporin antibiotic class he could be allergic to both cephalsporins and penicillins. On the flip side, in humans when we have patients that have true allergy to a necessary medication (hives, angioedema, wheezing or anaphylaxis not side effects like dizziness or nausea) we do desensitization treatments so that they can take the medicine which is essentially what Jack's allergy shots should do. Sorry for the long-winded treatise. Hope this makes sense :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It does make sense, Cam, and I thank you so much for sharing your wisdom & knowledge with me! (Jack's specialist charges $225 for an office visit & doesn't do phone consultations....I'm thinking you might find a lucrative income source from doing DK consultations, lol)
I have the full list of the things he was tested for, and there aren't any drugs on here...for $500, I would have hoped that it would cover everything, but apparently not. On the plus side, he didn't seem to have any reactions when he was on the cephalexin, which he's been on several times, but the last time he was on it, he was having such an extreme flare-up that I don't know if I would have been able to tell about sores or hives...no breathing problems. He was also on heavy corticosteroids at that time, too.
It seems I have some more questions for the doctor when I go back for my shot lessons...I really can't thank you enough for your help. Hugs to you from J & me.

[Cam & Oski]

No worries. Glad that all those years of mind-numbing education are being put to good use!

Slurpies from Oski :)

[Belinda Stevens]

I am so sorry Jackdoodle is dealing with this but I have to tell you this is one of the most informative post. I had no idea about all this. Thanks so much for showing the photo and explaining it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I will be so glad if this helps even one person, because I can't tell you how frustrating it was for me when I first tried to get some feedback on this in different doodle forums...all I kept hearing about was food. I was pretty sure it wasn't food, and the specialist was sure of it, because of the way his flare-ups would coincide with certain weather conditions & times of the year. But that's all anyone thinks of when they hear "allergy", change his food. One person on another forum actually came into a discussion and flat out accused me of causing his problems and harming him by not feeding him a raw diet...this was her answer to everything, and it was very hurtful. Actually, allergies in general are so poorly understood, even by the medical community it seems, and nobody ever thinks that the same kinds of things that cause "hay-fever" type allergies in people can also apply to dogs.
Now, it is possible that Jack is mildly allergic to some kind of food, although I have never noticed a difference when giving him different commercial and home-cooked ingredients. There is no reliable test for food allergies...you have to do long food elimination trials, eliminating one food at a time from their diets and waiting to see if it makes any difference. But foods are actually the rarest type of allergens in these kinds of cases...only 15% of allergic dogs have significant allergies to a certain kind of food. But even if Jack did have one, you can see that there are enough other common, everyday substances that he can't handle, that changing foods just wouldn't make much of a difference. Even if I gave him freshly killed venison every day, there would still be dust mites, ragweed, and puddles in the world, lol. So I am so glad if even one person could get a better understanding from Jackdoodle's experience.

[2hl9mp3c2fuam]

This reminds me of when I was a kid. I have always had severe allergies and had this test done as a child on my back.

Good luck with everything..... Poor baby.

[Adina P]

Karen, here's the website that possibly maybe useful to you. I don't know how valid it is or who the experts are behind it. But I remember going through the website when I had a client with many reported food allergies, and according to this website there are some foods that can bother people with environmental allergies because of either cross contamination or some molecular similarity. Again, I don't know a lot about it but it looks like it might be useful as it does discuss environmental allergies, not just food allergies.

The website is: http://allergyadvisor.com

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thanks, Adina! I am looking for as much info as I can get, and will definitely explore this website when I get home today.
What a way to spend New Year's Eve...reading about mites and pollens with a glass of champagne in my hand!

[Rae]

Hi Karen-Thanks so much for the update. So how did Jackdoodle do and, as important, how did you do? Our dobie had exactly the same test, except they tested her for over 100 things. Then the vet mixed up a special formula that covered all her bad allergies - and she had a huge number of #3''s. She started out with 2 injections a week for a month, then went to once a week-then once every 10 days and we got it down to 2 injections a month. The vet taught us how to give the injections (tiny needle) and our Kati was just wonderful. The last 5 years of her life, after we moved from California to Oregon, her alergies just disappeared. We had the very same thing going on with our beagle. The very worse part is now behind you. Congrats! Give Jackdoodle a big HUG from us!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Rae, before you moved, did Kati get relief from the shots? That's one of my worst fears, that we'll go through all this, and then a year from now, it will all have been in vain.
I'm also so glad to hear about the tiny needles...I am getting up my courage little by little, thanks to my DK friends! You guys are the best!