Hello Amira,
Is it your Pomerian you were talking about?
What all are you currently feeding?
Where does your dog scratch more? On the ears, on the paws or on the whole body,...?
Has the skin been thoroughly examined, for example by skin scraping or swabbing?
First of all, the term "intolerance" must be distinguished from "allergy".
In the case of a food allergy, there is a hypersensitivity reaction of the immune system. Normally our immune system distinguishes between "good" and "bad". If dogs with an intact immune system eat proteins, these usually do not cause any problems. In the case of an allergy to a certain protein source, the body reacts with an excessive allergic reaction to the actually harmless protein. As a result of an allergy, there are often skin and coat changes, itching or more frequent itchy ear infections.
In contrast, intolerance has nothing to do with the immune system. Rather, it is that the digestive system in an intolerance of this type is unable to digest or absorb the ingested components in the food. No proper processing takes place, which is why unpleasant symptoms can also occur, such as flatulence or diarrhea.
An allergic reaction can also be triggered by hypersensitivity to certain parasites, such as mites (dust mites, food mites,...) or the saliva of fleas.
In addition to conventional itch-relieving medications, such as cortisone or Apoquel, for acute episodes, there is the possibility of hyposensitization (antigen-specific immunotherapy).
This is based on the principle of administering the allergen(s) to which your dog reacts in increasing doses over a longer period of time. The allergen is given as an injection by the vet 1x a week at the beginning, later 1x a month.
The itching as well as the skin changes should decrease within 1-3 months.
There is up to 70% chance that your dog will respond to the therapy and no longer show symptoms.
The use of so-called defined recombinant high-purity allergens (specifically adapted) improves the prognosis.
These allergens have to be ordered by your veterinarian to be adapted for your dog.
Before that, an allergy test must be done to find out what your dog is allergic to.
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