FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FAQ'S
See if you can find the answers you need below, otherwise you’re more than welcome to get in touch with us and we’ll do our best to help you with your inquiry.

What exactly are allergies?
An allergic reaction is one in which an individual reacts to a normal substance in the environment. These substances are called allergens and include pollens, molds, animal hair, house dust, fleas, foods and many more. Allergens cause reactions through skin contact, inhalation or ingestion. Allergic animals possess IgE antibodies to the specific allergens. These antibodies cause biochemical changes in the body which produce allergy symptoms.
What are the symptoms of allergies?
Dogs and cats, just like humans, can have allergies. More than 30% of all skin irritations in these animals can be attributed to allergies. The right approach (i.e. diagnostic tool and hyposensitization methodology) can set you on the best path towards happy, symptom-free (or greatly reduced) patients and satisfied pet parents. For a comprehensive look at common symptoms please click here.
Why are my patient's symptoms worse some times than other times?
Allergens are cumulative in their effect on animals. The more allergens an animal is exposed to at any one time increases the chance of allergy symptoms, as well as the extent of the reaction. The easiest way to picture this “threshold” phenomenon is to think of drops of water in a bucket, sooner or later the bucket will overflow, much as the immune system “overflows” beyond it’s threshold. For this reason, time of a symptom’s onset is not necessarily an indication of what the animal is allergic to. An animal with food and pollen allergies may only show symptoms in the summer (pollen count at its highest) because the pollens push it over the threshold.
How do we treat allergies?
The best form of treatment for allergies is avoidance of the offending allergens. In most cases, however, this is not possible. Steroid drugs are often used for short-term relief of symptoms, but prolonged use of steroids can have serious side effects. Hyposensitization (allergy shots or drops) is another alternative. In this case, treatment sets are formulated specifically for your patients based on their allergy test results. We have two different types of treatment and it is important that you consider all aspects when deciding which delivery method you’d prefer. Read more about our treatment options here.
How do we treat food allergies?
Since dogs and cats cannot be hyposensitized to foods, elimination is the only form of treatment in the case of food allergies. We have been successful in treating food allergies by recommending the avoidance of anything that has a reaction when tested. Should your patient test positive to foods, Spectrum Labs will supply you with a list of commercially available foods free from the ingredients to which your pet tested positive.
What is the dillution of your treatment sets?
Vial A 1:720w/v, Vial B 1:180w/v, Vial C 1:60w/v
Is this type of treatment dangerous?
Adverse reactions are extremely rare, and any reactions if they do occur, should only be temporary and non-life threatening.
I left my treatment sets out at room temperature, can I still use them?
If left unrefrigerated at room temperature, contact us at 480-464-8971.
Can I use my treatment set if it was frozen?
Unfortunately, you will need to reorder to ensure quality of reagents.
What size needle do you use for injections?
1/2″ 27 gauge.
Can I allergy test/treat an animal that is pregnant or lactating?
*If they are already on the refill and doing well they are able to breed and continue on with the refill. **If on sublingual and wanting to breed they would need to be at least in the 4th refill to be able to continue on. If on 3 or less refills they would need to stop the sublingual all together till babies are born and weaned off and then start up again.
I still have a question that isn't here, what do I do?
If you still have questions, please fill out the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible! Thank you!