Retrospective study of clinical observations on insect hypersensitivity and response to immunotherapy in allergic dogs

A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the importance of insect hy persensitivity in atopic dogs in the northeastern United States. Fifty (63% ) of 79 dogs tested with 7 insect allergens, other than flea, had positive reactions to one or more insects. No dog had positive reactions to insects only. Forty-four dogs underwent immunotherapy. Thirty-one had insect antige ns in their prescription mixture and 13 had only conventional environmental allergens. There was no statistical difference in the response rate betwee n the 2 groups. Thus, testing with insect allergens did not decrease the nu mber of dogs with negative skin tests, and including insect allergens in im munotherapy mixtures did not improve the response rate.