That would depend a lot on the individual dog. Every dog is going to act a little bit differently. Typically, or traditionally, if they're younger and have no underlying health concerns, they're going to recover faster than our pets that might have some underlying conditions or are a little older. But in general, I tell most people that the next 12 to 24 hours, they might not quite be themselves, and then after that, they usually bounce back pretty quickly.

The key thing with allergies is keeping it as dust-free as possible because we see many people with household issues with house dust, dust mites, molds, and mildews, so cleanliness can make a huge difference. If you're a smoker, it's a tougher issue because we see dogs with cigarette smoke issues. If you're a smoker, start smoking outside, but you have to clean up your house. Wash your furniture best. You can wash the curtains and try to eliminate that smokiness in your house to minimize that problem. As far as the environment goes, there are other things that you can do. One other thing I'm going to suggest is that you can also get what's called ionizers. They will help better filter the air to get these particulates of house dust out of the air. That could really help a lot of people who might suffer from all household allergens from dust mites, molds, and mildews. They can also work well for your pets, but lots of vacuuming, dusting, and cleaning will help.

I have to be honest. I don't know about holistic products. Although, I will say that we have had clients come to us who mention they have tried things that were holistic with very limited success or benefits. I still think the basic things like bathing them are better. If you want to try an over-the-counter antihistamine in a pinch, those will always be available. Keep your expectations low with the antihistamines like Benadryl, but it's better than nothing. As far as holistic medications go, I don't have much experience, and what I hear from the feedback is that clients don't get many results.

The ones that I've just mentioned. Cortisone is safe, but I have to admit, we cannot use it regularly. It's a powerful drug, but it's a great drug, but it does come with some side effects, so we do have to use it cautiously. The second is Apoquel. The Apoquel tablets that I mentioned are great for managing allergies. It doesn't work with every dog, but it can be a great resource. And third is Cytopoint. Cytopoint is an injection. We do have to see them for the injection, but it works with a vast majority of dogs. I love the way it works with virtually no side effects. Those are the first three things I'm going to at least consider depending on what I see with the pet in front of me. At home, if you don't have anything else and you want to try one of the over-the-counter antihistamines, you can try Benadryl, Allegra, Claratin, or Zyrtec. They are safe. Obviously, safety is the issue here, but they just don't work well. If you want to try them, I have dosages on one of our handouts. Keep your expectations low. But the bare-bones minimum is to bathe them. If you have nothing else that you can start with, get them in the tub. If you're not able to bathe your dog, take a wet towel or wet cloth and hold it onto your dog in those itchy areas. It's only going to last for a short while, but it's better than nothing. Hopefully, that'll give you some tips on things you can try before you get them to us. Anything to keep your dog from being uncomfortable because these dogs are really miserable when they have allergies.