Puppy Paws

Canine allergies can be a bear to contend with! Here is our story of the sweetest and cutest baby boy greyhound named Aquinnah (that was his track name, pronounced Ahh-keen-ahh, we kept it as he had that unique name his whole life). He picked us out about 4 years ago and we have been loving every moment with him and are so lucky to have him in our life! We have discovered that he has pretty bad allergies that effect his poor little paws, sometimes very severely (namely in the summertime, although his paws get sensitive in the winter time as well due to the salt and chemicals used on the sidewalks and driveways).

In the past we have tried to use a certain dog allergy medication. He was on that for a couple allergy seasons and this past year we noticed that he was getting some of the negative side effects from it. At the time we had him placed on that medication, we had not done all the research that we should have and it turned out that was somewhat of an immune system suppressor. In addition, like all medications, that particular one has some side effects that can deter from the benefits. We decided to take him off that medication and since attempted to just be diligent with washing his paws when we come in from long walks, namely those walks in and around the park behind us which has some tall/wild grassy areas where his allergies may be more severely triggered. Well the past few weeks his paws must have come in contact with some pretty severe allergy triggers as they had got really very sore, red, and raw.
Last week we got an antibiotic for him since the sensitive areas had turned into infected areas and that brings us to today, when we got him in for the allergy shot called Cytopoint. This time we did due diligence with researching the possible side effects and information on that medication. In researching, we found that it is not exactly a medication, but a protein antibody that helps their system from triggering the itchy experiences from his allergies. The product is said to last from 4-8 weeks and we wanted to put the word out there and share our experience with sweet Mr. Aquinnah. We will update our blog on how things go over the course of the next couple months!