Innovative allergy treatment changes dog's life at Veterinary Teaching Hospital

When Tamara Bates first saw Gigi on Craigslist, the 3-month-old American bully was chained to a pole, sitting in the mud, underweight, and full of worms. 

"I just felt sorry for her," Bates said. "She was the most beautiful, spirited dog I'd ever seen." 

What Bates didn't know was that rescuing Gigi would lead to a 2 1/2-year medical odyssey that would ultimately show the life-changing power of veterinary specialty care.

The Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech treated Gigi's severe allergic dermatitis using immunotherapy, transforming her case into a Veterinary Teaching Hospital success story that highlights the value of specialized veterinary medicine. 

Persistent symptoms

Gigi's troubles began at her first birthday, when she developed persistent itching. That escalated into a nightmare of infected paws, chronic ear inflammation, and painful skin lesions. 

"She had no skin right here," Bates said, pointing to areas that were once raw and bleeding. "Her feet had blisters between the toes."

For more than two years, Bates tried everything to help her dog. Expensive shots and hydrolyzed food costing hundreds of dollars every few weeks provided no relief. "We changed her food 100 times," Bates said. "There was not anything that we did not try to help Gigi." 

The situation grew desperate when medications caused internal bleeding, leading to emergency room visits.

Bates brought Gigi to a local referral practice, where staff recognized that the case required specialty expertise and referred her to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Targeted immunotherapy 

Ivan Ravera, assistant professor of dermatology at the veterinary college, and Carolina Castaño Alvarez, a dermatology intern, immediately recognized Gigi as a classic case of atopic dermatitis – an environmental allergy that affects up to 15 percent of dogs. 

"Gigi came with lesions typical of any atopic dog," Ravera said. "But she's a successful case because she's not taking any systemic drugs that can interfere with her immune system. She's undergoing immunotherapy."

The team conducted serology-based allergy testing to identify Gigi's specific triggers: house dust mites, storage mites, and various environmental pollens. Unlike the shotgun approach of previous treatments, this created a road map for targeted therapy.

Immunotherapy works by gradually training the immune system to tolerate allergens rather than overreacting to them. "Those increasing doses of house dust mites are like training the immune system to tolerate them," Ravera said. 

The treatment started with careful dose escalation during an induction phase, subsequently progressing to maintenance injections administered every two weeks. 

"The first shots are less concentrated, and you increase the concentration during what we call the induction phase," Ravera said. Patients remain at the hospital for 30 minutes after initial injections to monitor for allergic reactions, though serious adverse events are rare.

What sets immunotherapy apart is its safety profile. "It's just water or saline and little pieces of those things that she responds to," Ravera said. "It's not a drug; it's not something that contains steroids."

Life after treatment 

Ten months after beginning immunotherapy in August 2024, Gigi's transformation is remarkable.  

"Based on that, we are almost finishing spring, very close to summer, and she's looking like this – there are no big flares," Ravera said during a recent checkup. "After almost a year, she didn't have any big flares like the ones she used to have or skin infections."

The change has been life-altering for both Gigi and her owner. "This place has done just a miracle with her," Bates said. "She's cleared up, and she's normal except the little places. This team has just been absolutely a godsend for me and the dog."

Bates now administers the maintenance injections at home every two weeks. 

The case also provided valuable learning opportunities for veterinary students.  

Student Miranda Cantu found the experience particularly rewarding. "It's nice to see these success stories as well as some other cases," she said. "We're thrilled that she's doing well."

Intern Castaño said Gigi's rapid response was somewhat exceptional. "In the year I've been here, she's the one that has responded the best and also the fastest," she said. "With atopic dogs – they need a multimodal approach. What mom is doing with keeping her paws clean, her belly, bathing her more often, this also helps."

The teaching hospital environment was a new experience for Bates. "These young people change our future," she said. "Maybe they're going to discover something new about a disease."