Allergies

* This is a long post - if you don't really want to read about my allergies and how they will be prevented and treated, you can skip on down to a picture of me from yesterday. :)


I went for allergy testing a few weeks ago, which was kind of expensive, but my parents think it was worth it to have some answers!! The test checked my sensitivity to 21 common food ingredients, so we still don't know all the foods I am sensitive to, but at least the common ones. And it tested a bunch of indoor and outdoor allergens too. Ready for the list?

The Big Ones (very sensitive to these things):
- Fish
- Soy Beans
- Grass (all 9 types that were tested)
- Mold
- Black ants (??)

Borderline Positive (my blood had what they call a borderline positive reaction to these):
- Beef
- Oats
- Potato
- Sweet Potato
- Elm tree
- Hickory tree
- Weeds: Dock Mix, Sheep Sorrel & Russian Thistle

Borderline (these ones were almost "borderline positive" which means I am sensitive to them, so I should avoid them, but they may not necessarily cause strong reactions like the items above):
- Corn
- Egg
- Peanuts (noooooo peanut butter!!)
- Birch tree
- Poplar tree
- More weeds: Lambsquarters, Marsh Elder
- More types of mold
- House fly
- Cotton linters
- House dust
- Wool

And my mom wants to point out that I did not have normal "neutral" numbers when it came to human skin and cats... the numbers were elevated but not high enough to be "borderline". My dad always used to joke that maybe I am allergic to humans - he wasn't too far off!!

Anyway, what does that all mean? Well, we can control the food allergies (hopefully) and some of the other things too by staying away from them. But some things like grasses and molds are not very easy to stay away from. (Horray for moving from a yard with no grass or trees to a yard with 7 acres with lots of grass, trees and weeds! Haha!!)

We can take extra steps to keep my allergies at bay, like a weekly bath (perfect, right?) and we have medicated shampoo for when my skin is inflamed; getting my paws and belly wiped off when I come in from walks; walking in less grassy areas (we can go up the dirt road, or through the trails in the back - not too much grass in there); keeping the house clean and dust free (my parents probably wanted to do that one anyway, BOL!); etc. So in the summer time and during typical allergy season, I might need some medication to keep my allergies under control. Hopefully we can stick with low doses of benedryl for that. I am currently taking a low-dose of a steroid medication which is just bringing my allergies under control right now, since I had a big flare up that wouldn't calm down. But steroids can have long-term effects that are not good, so hopefully I will be getting off those soon and then not going back on them!

Ok, I think I will stop there for now. If you have any questions about any of these things, or if you want to share any allergy stories or tips, please feel free to leave me a message here, or get in touch with my mom! :)

I will leave you a picture of me with my bone caught in my cone. That is definitely the worst part about wearing this silly thing...