Tag Archives: allergy test

How itchy is your dog, really?

Posted on May 14, 2014 by skinvet

By Jon Plant, DVM, DACVD Scratching, biting, chewing, rubbing, and excessive licking can all be signs of itch (pruritus) in dogs. A number of methods have been developed to try to quantify itching, but these are most useful in research … Continue reading →

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Veterinarians recommend RESPIT

Posted on August 11, 2013 by skinvet

RESPIT, regionally-specific immunotherapy, is the practical allergy immunotherapy alternative that you can prescribe for atopic dermatitis in dogs and cats without allergy testing.  I recently conducted a survey of all 160 veterinarians who had prescribed RESPIT Injectable prior to September … Continue reading →

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Why aren’t there more randomized controlled trials on allergy immunotherapy in dogs?

Posted on April 3, 2013 by skinvet

By Jon D. Plant, DVM, Dipl. ACVD Long before I developed regionally-specific immunotherapy (RESPIT), I was interested in studying the efficacy of allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) in dogs. Why?  The only placebo controlled study on ASIT, although a noble effort, had … Continue reading →

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Serum allergy test reliability in dogs

Posted on August 12, 2012 by skinvet

If you are recommending that your client spend several hundred dollars on an allergy test for their dog, it would be nice to have confidence that the test is reliable.  It should demonstrate both test-retest reliability (repeatability) and inter-lab reliability … Continue reading →

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Serum allergy testing of normal dogs

Posted on July 28, 2012 by skinvet

Do you wonder about the specificity of allergen-specific IgE tests in dogs (the percentage of dogs not allergic to an allergen that are correctly identified as non-allergic)?  Hopefully, you are using clinical criteria to make the diagnosis of canine atopic … Continue reading →

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Intradermal testing reliability in dogs

Posted on June 5, 2012 by skinvet

This month I will review the reliability of “allergy” testing in dogs.  If you are going to recommend allergy testing to clients, you should understand their limitations.  The topics I have planned for the coming weeks are: Intradermal testing reliability … Continue reading →

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