Are Allergies a Common Problem for Yorkies??
 

I was surprised to see so many discussing allergy problems with their Yorkies. Is this common? If neither parent has allergies, is there still a good chance the puppies will have allergies? We just lost our Maltese due to severe allergies, and I don't want to go through that again. We are planning to get a Yorkie.

Cali is my first Yorkie out of 5 that had allergies, I had heard that white dogs had more allergy problems but I don't know if that's true or not. I know what you mean about not wanting that again.

mine has severe allergies and i have two yorkies - i have been working with holistic, nutritionist, vet and dermatologist and food is your best medicine i am starting to see. If you want one with no allergies then get one over 3 years old from a rescue as allergies occur from 6mos - 3 years of age

Given all the posts about allergies, I'd say it's getting too darn common. And, no, the parents can't guarantee anything. Just like us, they can develop allergies anytime.

my yorkie has allergies

Maybe I am lucky . My Yorkies don't have allergies .

Allergies can be environmental or food allergies. Sometimes it is hard to figure out which is the case. In severe cases, they can be allergic to almost everything.
Finding the allergen can be of great help in treatment. I have seen severe allergies pretty much cleared up once the allergen was removed. For example a friend got a rescue Minpin that was severely allergic to corn. Once she was switched to a food without corn, she was fine. the original owner surrendered it because she couldn't be bothered with it anymore and unfortunately, her Vet was only treating the symptoms with pretty heavy duty drugs instead of investigating the cause.
A pup I sold now about 5 or 6 years old had a problem in winter. THe owners had some allergy tests done for the 5 most common allergens and found he was allergic to wool. Their comforter on their bed in winter is wool and of course that is where he slept so once they got rid of the comforter he has been fine ever since.
A pup with some sort of allergy problem cannot be predicted and can come from a line with no allergy problems.
In my opinion, I also think some of the problem could be the vaccination protocol of annual vacc's which is slowly changing. Challenging the immune system with vacc's every year I believe can compromise many things including contributing to more allergic reactions to other things.
Also, I am not sure if there aren't environmental influences with pollution levels etc as it seems a lot more people both adults and children are having a lot more allergy problems than the numbers of problems of 20 years ago.

I'm starting to get nervous about getting another dog. After the very painful experience of having to put my dog to sleep due to severe allergies, I can't imagine going through that pain again.

It's disturbing to see so many dogs of all breeds developing allergies. I think it's due to poor breeding. Dogs with severe allergies should not be bred!

I agree that vaccinations may be a part of the problem. My dog had severe allergic reactions to his vaccines. I believe I noticed a correlation between his vaccines and worsening allergies. He also lost a patch of hair after each allergic reaction. I did find out that the vaccination protocol recently changed, and dogs do not have to get them that often (except for rabbies...here it is still an annual vaccine).

I am so sorry about your baby.

I could not agree more about how odd it is that SO many dogs now have allergies.

I read an article about the correlation btwn vaccines and acute and chronic allergies - disturbing again.

My shih poo had an area of hairloss and darkening skin. After a spray and 2 seperate painful skin scrapings (vet was sure it was mange- it wasn't) She determined it was a reaction to his rabies vaccine. A short course of prednisone and gent spray finally fixed the problem. It was expensive and painful for my baby. The second scrape hurt him so bad he pee'd on me. That was 1 1/2 yrs ago. Neither of my dogs have had shots since.

My Maltese had a reaction to his rabies vaccine, which resulted in a bald spot with dark skin! I have read articles that claim vaccines are killing our dogs. But the rabies vaccine is required by law.

Is there are article on this topic you can point me to?

I do titers every year as to not over vaccinate. They pull blood and have it tested to see if enough of the vaccine is still there to fight off disease.