Monday, January 3, 2011
Pup Prompted Pondering
I took my two dogs to the veterinarian to find out why they both have been scratching themselves senseless this past week. After telling the vet about my recent road trip to Georgia, he suggested the dogs may have been exposed to something that caused an allergic reaction and then administered a shot for allergies. Since I now see everything through the lens of the Hygiene Hypothesis, I began to wonder if there is a higher rate of allergies with dogs kept indoors, who are more likely to be de-wormed. What if helminthic therapy worked for dogs and cats who have developed allergies? Of course, it gets a little more difficult to control the risk of reinfection with pets since they don't wear shoes or use the bathroom in the toilet. I also don't know which dog and cat parasites play nice like Necator Americanus (no population increase or transmigration). Would a study to find a cure for a dog's allergies using helminthic therapy be a way to also provide research for helminthic therapy for humans? I'm not talking about testing a drug on animals. I mean finding the cure for allergies, for both dogs and people, that is based on the same hypothesis. Anyone friends with someone in Veterinary Research at Texas A&M?
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Great post. A friend of mine has a cat and was recently told that it had irritable bowel syndrome because it has been having bloody diarrhea for quite some time. It is an indoor cat. She had to put the cat on a prednisone regimen. Perhaps both humans and cats are suffering from too much hygiene, and need some of our 'little friends' back. Wishing you a healthy 2011!
ReplyDelete- Mike
I don't think dog hookworms are good for the dog? Not sure, though. It seems like so many pets I know have allergies. My mom's dog chews her paws, which they said was an allergic reaction.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is a safe worm that doesn't reproduce in the soil for animals?
A change of diet might help too. My cat has to be on a special prescription diet or she forms urine crystals. I always joke that of course my pet has to have a special diet too!
How are you feeling these days? Did you ever confirm if you have a large enough hookworm population?
@Debora, I'm not on any meds and only going to bathroom once or twice a day, so it would seem I have improved. I occasionally have a pain in my side, but am still not sure if it's the Crohn's or if it's the tight turn that is now in my gut where they sewed me back together. Obviously, my improvement may have to do with the surgery more than the hookworms at this point. It's hard to say. My post-op stool sample said I still had hookworms, so they should be doing their thing now. It's been 7 months since my last infection.
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