Tail Talk with Dr. O’Hara

Scratching the Surface: Pet Skin Problems Explained with Dr. O'Hara

• Dr. O’Hara • Episode 7

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How Do You Diagnose And Treat Skin Conditions In Pets?

Scratching, licking, and constant discomfort—when our pets can't stop itching, it's more than just an annoyance. It's their way of telling us something's wrong. Dr. O'Hara dives deep into the world of pet skin conditions, revealing why allergic dermatitis and ear infections are the most common issues he sees in his practice.

Unlike humans who sneeze and sniffle with allergies, our furry friends express their discomfort through their skin. The conversation reveals fascinating seasonal patterns—some pets struggle in spring with tree pollen, others in summer with grass allergies, and surprisingly many suffer in fall when mold and ragweed are at their peak. For unfortunate pets with year-round symptoms, Dr. O'Hara explains how common household dust mites might be the culprit.

Diagnosis begins with careful observation, as the location of irritation often tells a story—intense itching at the tail base frequently points to fleas, while widespread irritation suggests environmental triggers. The good news? Treatment options have advanced significantly. From specialized food allergy testing to remarkable Cytopoint injections providing 4-8 weeks of relief with a single treatment, veterinary medicine offers more solutions than ever before. Dr. O'Hara shares practical advice for pet parents, including the proper way to transition between foods (gradually over a week) and signs of ear problems to watch for.

Whether your pet battles seasonal allergies or chronic skin issues, this episode provides the insights you need to help them find relief. Have questions about your pet's specific skin condition? Call or text Abingdon Animal Medical Center at 276-628-9655 or visit Myabingdonvet.com to schedule a consultation with Dr. O'Hara and his team.

To learn more about Abingdon Animal Medical Center visit:
https://www.MyAbingdonVet.com
Abingdon Animal Medical Center
19586 Dennison Drive
Abingdon, VA 24211
276-628-9655

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Tail Talk with Dr O'Hara, where Eastern Tennessee and Southwest Virginia's favorite pets get the spotlight they deserve. He's the heart behind Abingdon Animal Medical Center, combining small-town charm with state-of-the-art veterinary care. Whether your furry friend purrs, barks or just steals your socks, this is the place for tips, tails and a whole lot of tail wagging.

Speaker 2:

Itchy skin, hot spots and mystery rashes. Dr O'Hara breaks down how veterinarians diagnose and treat common skin conditions in pets and what owners can do to help Welcome back everyone. Skip Monaco, host producer, back in the studio with Dr O'Hara of Abington Animal Medical Center. Dr O'Hara, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

It's going great. How you doing Skip.

Speaker 2:

Doing fine Always a pleasure. Today we're talking about how do you diagnose and treat skin conditions in pets. Take it away.

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean, the biggest thing in how you diagnose things with skin is your eyes. Honestly, Skip, I mean you kind of look at it. With enough experience, you usually have a pretty good idea of what's going on. The most common thing I see is what's called allergic dermatitis, where they have an underlying allergy and that's kind of eroding their skin, healthy skin barrier and then they get secondary infections and that that's most common.

Speaker 3:

Yes, I would say allergic dermatitis and ear infections are the number one presenting complaint for me with dogs and it varies throughout the year depending on when their allergy is like. Some dogs, you know, will exclude food allergies, because that's kind of a different thing, but some dogs are allergic, say in the springtime when the tree pollen goes crazy. Some dogs in the summer when grass is going crazy. Some dogs in the fall when all is surprisingly an itchy time, and you know it's when the leaves are starting to fall, the mold coming down. I think the ragweed is really high in the fall, so that I see a lot of itchy dogs in the fall right now too.

Speaker 2:

What about cats? Have the same issues.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean cats can have allergies too. They're not as prone as dogs, but the cats will get their things from certain things in the environment too. But I would say the majority of cats not all of them are indoors and if they don't have fleas and stuff they stay pretty.

Speaker 2:

I don't see them as much for skin as dogs, but I do still see them for it okay well, this may be a dumb question, but how do you determine whether a skin condition is caused by allergies, parasites or possibly something else?

Speaker 3:

location of the lesion is key, right? I'll give you an example. That's a good question, say, like right at the base of the tail, if a dog comes in and it's really itchy there. You know, the first thing I'm going to do is that that's a big zone for fleas and dogs. I'll look for evidence of fleas you know what I mean and see if their history are they on flea prevention or something like that? Allergic dermatitis usually presents with itching. There are some skin conditions that don't present with that and, like I said, the location on the body, how old they are, kind of matters and things like that.

Speaker 2:

Well, I was going to ask what about diet? Does that play a role in managing chronic skin problems?

Speaker 3:

Yes, food allergies are a. You know that's a lot of time trial. You know you've been putting them on food trials for weeks at a time to see if their itching stops. They're usually allergic to the protein source in their food, and so sometimes we'll change the protein source in food and see if the itching will stop. That takes time and trials. Something cool we can do now, too, is we can actually test them for what foods they're allergic to. There's a lab we use for that, and then we'll send a sample out to them and then they'll test all the foods that they're having intolerance or allergies to.

Speaker 2:

So you know well, now, speaking of managing of a diet, how often often, you know. I've heard different things. But when you change a dog or a cat's food, the type of food that they're eating, how should you go about that without causing and not necessarily allergic reactions? But I guess to watch for that or any other issues.

Speaker 3:

Well, those are usually GI signs, right? You know their gut, gut flora. Dogs are pretty much on the same diet all the time, right? They're not like us where we kind of tinker with other things. They're usually on the same diet. So when you change their food you want to do it gradually, because their gut flora is kind of used to a certain thing being entered into their system and it's sometimes not all the time, but they'll get diarrhea or something like that if you try and switch their food too quickly. So a gradual change over a week is recommended.

Speaker 2:

So when you say gradual, you mean maybe you have some of the old food plus the new food and just mix it, start mixing it and go heavier, I guess.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, like if you're feeding a cup, the first couple days just do a quarter cup of the new food and then by day three or four do half a cup, you know, and just just a gradual mix there gotcha gotcha.

Speaker 2:

Well, back to allergies and skin conditions. What treatments do you typically recommend? Topicals, medications or or lifestyle changes? What as far as addressing those skin conditions?

Speaker 3:

number. One thing you know the owner can do is flea and tick prevention. All right, so we can eliminate fleas, because some dogs are actually allergic to the flea saliva itself, right you know. So it starts a big immune system response of them or they release histamine and all that stuff. So if they're covering that, that's good. But some dogs they can't control what they're allergic to, right, you can't control if you're allergic, like we're talking about, to ragweed or something like that.

Speaker 3:

And the thing I found best and skin drugs have come a long way there's these injections. They're called Cytopoint injections and they'll provide itching and allergy relief from anywhere from four to eight weeks at a time. So it'll just push some dogs to their one season. They're itchy and I have some dogs that are on them. They get them religiously every four to eight weeks because they have year-round allergies. You know, year-round allergies. What could that be? Well, one of the big problems that is dust and storage mites, which are ubiquitous in our environment. You can't really do much about it, but that is a common, not allergy, indoor allergy dogs dust mites, dust mites Wow, hmm, did not know that.

Speaker 2:

What do you have? Any advice for pet owners who are trying to prevent skin flare ups at home?

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean, it all depends. And if there's a context, you know, you know sensitivity, like a certain grass or something or something you go do and then you notice they're super itchy or it's a super shampoo or something like that and obviously you kind of want to avoid, avoidance helps, right. But, like I say, atopy is a crazy thing. It's just not a contact thing. It's actually, you know, a breathing in and the allergy coming out through your body. You know us as humans, we kind of have respiratory issues with atopy, right, you know, runny nose, itchy eyes, Dogs, it manifests mainly in their skin and their ears, you know.

Speaker 2:

Hmm, and I guess if you see a dog scratching their ear pretty hard, that is that a pretty good sign that they've got something going on, yeah, shaking the head, you know, scratching the ears, rubbing the ear on the ground, ground sensitivity.

Speaker 3:

When you're petting them around, the ears might want to kind of be looked at. You know this, the ears, they're kind of part of the whole integument in the skin right, so oftentimes dogs with itchy allergies have ear problems as well gotcha all right.

Speaker 2:

Well, dr o'ara, thank you so much. It's been eye-opening for me and this is incredibly helpful for pet parents dealing with skin conditions. So, thank you so much, and we'll get you. We got something else you want to.

Speaker 3:

No, I was saying thanks. I try to keep it really simple there. I mean because you know if you get too in-depth with it like being the number one presenting complaint in dogs you will go down a rabbit hole. So I try to keep it pretty simple.

Speaker 2:

Keep it simple. What is it? The KISS method? Keep it simple, stupid. We're not stupid, but anyway, all right. Well, dr Ahern, thanks so much. Appreciate it again, and we'll see you in the next episode.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Steve.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us on Tail Talk with Dr O'Hara. If your four-legged family member needs a checkup, a stylish groom or just a cozy place to stay, give us a call or text at 276-628-9655 or visit myabingdonvetcom to book your appointment. Abingdon Animal Medical Center a small town feel with state-of-the-art care and plenty of belly rubs.