Allergies are one of the most common reasons that we take our dogs to the vet. More and more I am seeing dogs that have some type of allergy related issue including gut, skin and upper respiratory problems. When it comes to autoimmune disease, we are also seeing a huge rise in cases of these too. Both of these indicate some type of immune dysfunction in your dog. But what causes both allergy and autoimmune disease. While there are a number of factors to think about (and some we don’t; even understand fully yet), in my mind, the most important thing to look at is the health of your dogs gut. Todays lets take a look at how gut health can be at the root of both of these immune issues so stay tuned to learn more.
Does your dog suffer from allergies of some kind?? This might be to foods, or environmental things like grasses, pollens, dust etc. Of maybe they have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease where the immune system is attacking some part of their body. Either way, Both of these health conditions are complex and can be difficult to treat with conventional treatments where suppressive drugs such as steroids are often one of the only methods of treatment. And unfortunately too, some dogs actually have both going on at once due to factors such as genetic tendency. Lets take a look for a moment at your dogs immune system. The immune system is a very complex network of organs, cells and proteins located throughout your dogs body. The immune system defends against infections from germs (such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites), and other invaders (such as cancer cells), while protecting the body’s own cells. In most dogs, their immune system is an effective network that responds and adapts to defend the body against infections and cancers etc. However, for some dogs there are immune system disorders which interrupt this protective process.This can be those that are caused by dysfunction which can result in overactive immune responses such as allergy or autoimmunity.
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