Flea Allergies

One of the most common allergies found in Japanese chins is flea allergies. The saliva that fleas pass into a sensitive dog's skin causes the allergic reaction. A normal animal will merely bite at the flea and stop once the itching goes away. The skin of a sensitive dog will swell, become irritated and itchy. This drives your pet to excessive biting and scratching which only worsens the problem by causing hair loss, hot spots, and lesions. Flea allergies are often characterized by hair loss around the base of the tail.

Flea allergies are diagnosed by the constant presence of fleas and flea feces on the dog. When wet the flea feces will turn into a red color because the flea's diet is blood. An intradermal skin test is often used to diagnose flea allergies. This test done by inserting an agent into the skin to test the skin's reaction to it. Some false negative results can occur, but mostly this is an effective test. Itchy skin as a result of food or skin allergies also needs to be ruled out.

Proper treatment of this allergy is getting rid of all fleas around your dog. Until you have accomplished this, your vet may give you medicated shampoos, fatty acid supplements and antihistamines to relieve your canine's pain. These supplements are only necessary for severe cases, and you will need to have your chin's hair cut short if the damage to the skin is severe. Topical flea treatment is a very effective way to stop fleas from coming in contact with your pet. The product you choose should not only kill fleas but also repel them. Don't use a flea control product that only kills the eggs. A flea can live for months and will certainly thrive on your pet if you do not use a product that kills adults.

The sleeping, eating and living area of your pet also needs to be treated for fleas. Stopping fleas from coming in contact with your dog is the most effective flea allergy treatment. Treat your other pets as well to prevent them from passing fleas onto your allergic pet.

Contact Allergies

This allergy is the least common of all canine allergies. The symptoms include redness, swelling and itchy skin. Similar to inhalant allergies in that the dog is allergic to certain things in it's environment, however the reaction to contact allergies is not so severe. The common causes of this allergy are bedding, plants, flea collars, plastic food bowls and pet sweaters.

To diagnose contact allergies, all other allergies need to be ruled out. If the symptoms continue you vet will take your pet through a series of test to determine what is causing the reaction. The best way to treat the allergy is to then remove all causes of it from the dog's environment. If this cannot be done totally, fatty acids, shampoos and antihistamines can be used to control the itching and swelling.

Bacterial Allergies

Bacterial allergies are one of the least common of all dog allergies. This allergy also causes skin problems. One of the most common signs of bacterial allergies is hair loss that looks very much like ringworm.

All dogs have Staph bacteria on their skin. Several difference species are normally found on a dog's skin and do not cause any problems. Abnormal skin or immune system reactions to this bacteria cause bacterial allergies. The most common symptom of this allergy is hair loss and areas of the skin crusting over.

Antibiotic treatment will often clear up the skin and stop the hair loss. As soon as the antibiotics are discontinued the skin lesions return. Usually this is an indicator that your pet's problem is more than just a normal skin infection. For long term relief of bacterial allergies Intradermal Skin Testing is normally done.

Chin puppies

Just an update for those of you who are interested in available puppies. Our last litter did not work out as planned so as of now we do not have any puppies. When we do have puppies available it will be posted here.

Thanks, Jason

Chin pictures and puppies

Hi, just an update on available puppies. Right now we do not have puppies but we are expecting a litter the beginning of January. When they are born I will post it here and if you're on our email list you'll receive an email.

If you have adopted a puppy from us and want to show them off, :-) send us your pictures, your name and any additional information you want us to post. Our email address is jb[at]wifi7.com. Replace the [at] with @.