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.

First, get rid of the fleas. It's pretty simple. It's so easy nowadays, but please don't run over to Walmart, Costco, Sam's club, or pet stores to buy your flea products. What most pet stores are using is either Frontline, which you probably heard of before, which is now a 30-year-old product, or a generic version of Frontline. We have products that do a beautiful job of taking care of fleas. They're much safer and light years more effective. The two that we generally reach for dogs are Bravecto, which is a three-month or one-month product, and Simparica, which is a one-month product. We also have two heartworm medications that also incorporate flea protection. One of those is the Simparica trio. It's for heartworm, fleas, and ticks. Then we have Trifexus, which is for heartworms and fleas. We have another one called Advantage Multi, which is a topical product for heartworms and fleas. As far as what we can do to try to help treat your pets goes, once they have them, first get rid of them. That's crucial. It will be an ongoing issue if you don't get rid of the problem. What you can do in a pinch is give them a bath, and please don't use Dawn. Although if you don't have anything else and want to try it, that's fine. Just don't make a habit of using Dawn. It's for your dishes. It's not for your pets. You do not need to go out and even get a flea shampoo. Simply bathe your dog. Any shampoo will be able to wash off some of the fleas. That's definitely going to make a big difference. But first, at least take the fleas out of the environment, and give them some relief with a bath. Sometimes, if they're really itchy, you can go to the local pharmacy and get a cortisone spray for itching that can work in a pinch. Otherwise, a lot of these dogs come in and are absolutely miserable. They've ripped all or a lot of the hair out, their skin is raw and oozing, and we definitely need to see them. We will typically reach for a cortisone injection, or we can use Cytopoint or Apoquel. I like to use cortisone because it works effectively. It works for about three to five weeks, allowing that skin to start healing. Those are the best ways to try to treat or manage those dogs with flea problems.

First, let's identify. There are four different types of allergies we see. In order, the most common ones we see are seasonal allergies followed by indoor or what we call environmental allergies. The third would be food allergies, and the least common, surprisingly to most people, are flea allergies. The treatments depend on what the allergy is. If it's fleas, we have to get the appropriate flea medication. If it's food, we're going to try to identify what the source of the food is and then change the diet and get away from that ingredient. When it comes to seasonal and indoor allergens, it becomes a lot more complex mainly because we want to identify the season or seasons of the year causing the problem or if it's a year-round problem. There are lots of ways we can try to manage those problems. We generally have three different medications we'll commonly reach for. One is cortisone, or what we call Kenalog. That's an injection that we commonly give. Many veterinarians use prednisone tablets. Perhaps you've had an experience with prednisone or prednisolone to manage allergies. The newer products we've had for 6, 7, 8 years now. One is called Apoquel, and the other's called Cytopoint. Apoquel is a tablet, and Cytopoint is an injection. They don't have the side effects that cortisone does, so it makes them a great choice. We have to see the pets in order to decide what's going to be the best course of action to try to manage or treat the allergies.

It depends on your groomer, and I mean that sincerely. In most cases, depending on the degree or the nature of the behavior problem, if it's an aggression problem, then yes. That's going to be a huge challenge for groomers. They are not trained for that. They're groomers. What I would suggest, however, is some veterinary clinics that do have some in-house grooming and would be the best resource. The reason is that at those veterinary clinics, they can provide some supervised sedation for those pets. Whereas that's not the case at your typical grooming facility, veterinary clinics can do it. Trying to find a veterinary clinic that also offers grooming might be a little bit of a challenge, but that would be a discussion to have with your groomer prior to bringing a new dog. Don't let them discover that your dog is aggressive the hard way.