Allergies can be frustrating for the patient, owner and the veterinarian. Some dogs respond well to very minimal therapy. Others require much more.

For those patients who show minimal to no response to conventional therapy, "allergy shots" (hyposensitization) may be of benefit. Testing is a simple blood draw that is sent to an outside lab. The lab tests the sample to find out what your dog is most allergic to. The Laboratory can then design a serum for hyposensitization that will be most benificial to your pet. If you have any questions or you think your dog is a candidate, please call us. Sorry, the test is unreliable in kitties.

Is your pet itching and digging at their ears, shaking their head, crying out to touch, or can you see debris? These are common signs of ear infections in dogs and mites in cats. It can also be the signs of allergies. Diagnostics for ears include in house cytology and the use of an otoscope to view the ear canal and ear drum. Usually within a half hour we can diagnose an infection or mites and begin treatment. For clients with re-occurring ear issues we offer ear cleaners to stay on top of those patients prone to ear infections.

Skin scraping is a useful diagnostic tool for skin infections. For dogs and cats that come in with red irritated skin, scabs or scaly, itchy skin it's often our first step to determining a diagnosis. A small scalpel blade will be lightly scratched across the surface of the skin removing just the superficial layer that may harbor bacteria, yeast or parasites. This is then transferred onto a slide and read in our lab.

Ear and Skin Cytology is often how we diagnose skin and ear infections. We also conduct cytologies to rule out infection before treating allergies. Cytology simply means the study of cells. We look at the samples collected from ear swabs and skin scrapings for evidence of bacteria, yeast and mites through a microscope.  In the image to the left the small black circles are cocci a common morphology of bacteria in ear infections.

Tape prep is a diagnostic tool used to look for an overgrowth of yeast on your pet's skin.  If your pet is excessively itching, the skin is red, irritated or waxy they may have a yeast infection. To do a tape prep we simply apply a piece of scotch tape to the skin of the animal and peel it off.   We then stain it to evaluate with a microscope.

For pets with persistent skin infections or suspicious growths, skin biopsies are the next logical step.  A punch biopsy can be taken with minimal discomfort from a sedated pet. It leaves a small 1 cm cut and is minimally invasive.

 We often send the samples to an outside lab that specializes in determining the specific species of pathogen causing the infection. In the case of suspect malignant growths, diagnostic labs can inform us of the specific cell type and whether or not it is benign.