Dog Allergies: Why Cytopoint shouldn’t be the end of your treatment.
Our Dog’s First Allergy Breakout
As a first-time dog mom, I knew nothing about dog allergies just four months ago. In fact, I was pretty sure that most issues could be solved with a diet change. Then summer hit, and our two-year-old Dalmatian, Wendell—who had no problems last summer—was hit hard. It started with some BAD hotspots that appeared very quickly.
After a round of antibiotics and antihistamines, things cleared up, but a week later, he broke out in hives all over his belly and back legs. We had been careful—bathing him after he rolled around outside and making sure he didn’t spend too much time exposed to allergens—but it wasn’t enough.
After a second round of the “Wendell cocktail” of drugs, as my vet called it, we got Wendell his first Cytopoint shot. We thought, "Great, he’s good now." But it’s not that simple…
When we Realized Cytopoint Wasn’t Enough
Two weeks after getting his Cytopoint shot, Wendell developed hives on the back of his legs, which turned into a larger rash. How is this possible? Well, Cytopoint doesn’t stop the allergic reaction—it just blocks the itch receptors in the brain so your pup doesn’t lick the spots and make them worse. We managed Wendell’s red areas by wiping them daily to keep them allergy-free, and while they stopped worsening, progress was slow.
We decided to take Wendell back to the vet to have those spots checked and to get his second Cytopoint shot. During the visit, our vet and I also discussed some necessary changes.
Wendell’s skin was dry, and it was clear that his skin barrier had been damaged by his outbreaks over the summer. When skin health suffers, the dermal barrier becomes thinner, making it far more susceptible to allergens and irritants. While we were treating the itch, we needed to make significant changes at home to help Wendell develop healthier skin.
Turning to Every Day, Natural Skin Care
Now, let’s rewind a bit. During Wendell’s first hot spot issue, I reached out to my Instagram community for advice, and a few people kept mentioning Manuka honey and coconut oil. That’s when I was introduced to Fur Love, a New Zealand-based company creating natural skin and coat products for dogs. But they’re not just making these products—they’re going a step further by conducting clinical studies to test and prove the effectiveness of their shampoos, balms, conditioning masks, and more.
After emailing with them, reading the scientific journals they provided, and chatting with their founder on the phone, I learned a lot about the impact of proper skin and coat care for dogs like Wendell, who suffer from allergies. In fact, when I spoke with their founder, Dr. Ineke Meredith, I was moved to hear that her inspiration for founding Fur Love came from a similar experience to mine. She, too, had a dog that suffered from allergies, and her vet focused only on treating the symptoms with medication.
Even more impactful, Ineke was actively in France when we spoke, working on a study showing how their conditioning product could reduce the frequency of Cytopoint shots, allowing dogs to go longer between injections. I loved that Ineke and Fur Love weren’t promising a magical cure-all but were instead leading with science and understanding that lifetime management will likely require a combination of medications, skincare, and diet.
Understanding Canine Atopic Dermatitis
The “aha” moment for me came when Fur Love sent me this publication co-written by founder & CEO Dr. Ineke Meredith and a KOL (Key Opinion Leader) vet specializing in dermatology. If you’re a science nerd like me, I highly recommend giving it a read. If you’re not, I’ll give you the cliff notes. Canine Atopic Dermatitis (CAD) is a common skin condition caused by allergies that affects 30% of dogs worldwide, leading to chronic itching, redness, and other symptoms.
When considering CAD, the skin barrier is what protects a dog's body from environmental irritants. In its healthy state, it is nearly impenetrable, but when weakened, it can allow increased penetration of substances, including allergens.
A dog like Wendell, who repeatedly suffers from allergic reactions, has a weakened skin barrier. The way to strengthen it is by building up the moisture barrier of the skin, using topical treatments to keep it moisturized and fortified.
At our most recent vet visit, our vet was concerned with how dry Wendell’s skin was and confirmed that improving his skin health was key to reducing his allergies.
The Next Phase in our Dog Allergy Journey
From my experience running the @dearestdalmatian social media account, I’ve noticed that many influencers promote products that overpromise and often shame the use of necessary medications like Cytopoint. Honestly, a year ago, I was firmly against it myself. But now I understand that setting Wendell up for success means using both the medicine he needs and working to make him the healthiest version of himself.
Our current goal is to help Wendell manage his allergic reactions and rebuild his skin's moisture barrier. With allergy season winding down, we’re hopeful that over the next few months, we can get ahead of things and prevent such severe reactions next spring and summer. As dog parents, I felt like we were incredibly reactive this year to the issues Wendell faced—now, I’m trying to be much more proactive about his health.
Our FurLove Lineup
We worked closely with the Fur Love team to create a plan for Wendell. Here’s what we’re using in the first month:
Lavender Moisture Balm:
This vet-recommended moisture balm is perfect for addressing dry skin, rough paws, and mild skin issues like dermatitis and eczema. Clinically shown to reduce redness and itching by up to 87%, it combines coconut oil’s anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory benefits with sweet almond oil for non-greasy coat conditioning. The beeswax base forms a protective, soothing barrier, while lavender and sweet orange extracts calm irritation and provide a subtle, dog-friendly fragrance. It also smells AMAZING.
And yes, it’s safe for your dog to lick but not recommended so it can settle into your dog’s skin.
Conditioning Fur Mask:
This luxurious fur treatment deeply conditions dry skin and promotes a healthy, nourished coat. Key ingredients like coconut and sweet almond oils provide intense moisture, softening fur to reduce tangling and external allergens, while soothing sensitive skin. With anti-inflammatory evening primrose oil, argan oil, and shea butter, this treatment also features a light, refreshing fragrance from coconut and orange oils.
Natural Dog Shampoo:
This luxurious natural dog shampoo, enriched with manuka honey and omega oils, is perfect for dogs with dry, sensitive, or itchy skin. Manuka honey's clinically proven antibacterial properties aid healing, while omega oils, borage oil, evening primrose oil, and argan oil nourish and improve skin and coat health.
This gentle formula can also be used as an everyday shampoo for a touch of indulgence, keeping your dog's coat soft, healthy, and radiant.
Initial Impressions
I have to be honest with you guys—at this point, I think Wendell has a better skincare routine than I do! These products feel and smell luxurious. They smell amazing, and all the ingredients are natural and proven to be effective.
We started with the Lavender Paw Balm, applying it directly to his paws, underbelly, and legs. Wendell currently has a few hives and irritated areas that we're treating. On the first day, I noticed the redness around his hives had already reduced, which is surprising since we've had issues with hives turning into larger rashes before.
I also want to mention that Wendell’s paws typically feel like sandpaper, which I thought was just due to calluses. But now I realize he has drier-than-usual skin, and his dry paws might be contributing to his allergies, especially since they come in contact with pollen the most.
We've done one bath with the new products, and WOW! Wendell was already a soft dog, but the conditioning mask made him the softest he’s ever been. As an added bonus, the scent of both the shampoo and the mask is delightful!
After 5 days his belly is a lot less red overall and we have less coppering going on around his hives. I can absolutely see the impact it is having. Perhaps more impressive is Wendell hasn’t had any new hives pop up while playing with his his friend Bub’s that we are watching. Typically play like this causes some type of small flare, so I’m very suprised to be seeing him having forward progress on his rashes.
I’m sincerely so impressed with both the quality of the products and people at Fur Love and we are excited to start our skin health journey with Wendell.