Dealing with Metal Allergies in Dogs

One of the posts I get the most google search hits for as well as comments on is the one I wrote two years ago about metal allergies in dogs. Because I keep getting hits on that post, I wanted to give a bit of an update, with some things I've learned to do to help Koira stay comfortable.

The biggest thing when you are dealing with a dog with a metal allergy is actually to even figure out that the allergy exists in the first place. Once you do that, you have to figure out how to deal with it, and how to prevent your dog from coming into contact with metal wherever possible.  For years, I hand made collars for Koira to wear that had hard nylon hardware instead of metal, since it was almost impossible to find any collars that were totally metal free.

I'm happy to say, about 9 months ago I found a really nice quality leather collar that Koira can wear. The hardware on it is nickel, but it has black powder coating over it that prevents the metal from coming in contact with her skin. The collar is made by Tasman's. I found it at my locally owned pet supply store in my town, called Animal Crackers. They don't have a huge selection, and only a couple of their collars have the powder coating. But it works, and that is enough for me.

Koira wearing her leather collar from Tasman. She has been wearing it 24/7 for nine months, at the beach, at home, everywhere. 

The powder coating is chipping a little bit where the D-ring hits the buckle. I called the company before purchasing the collar, and they were very honest with me and told me that the chipping was likely to happen, but that they didn't know how bad it would be or how long it would take. I'm lucky so far that the chipping has been pretty minor and doesn't seem to cause Koira any problems. The person I spoke to at Tasman's mentioned that they are hoping to develop a collar in the future that uses powder coated solid brass hardware, which I would absolutely purchase if it becomes available, since the chipped areas would be less likely to irritate. I didn't try it, but adding a coating of clear nail polish or other hard finish might help prevent the chipping. I would not attach tags to the D-ring, though, as I am sure that the ring used for the tags would cause the chipping to start sooner and be much more severe.

You can see the chipping I mentioned in the powder coating here. It is minor and, for Koira, doesn't seem to be causing any problems. 

Remember, though, that metal allergies can be cummulative. A small amount of metal contact may not cause a problem, but a small amount consistently might add up to be enough to cause a serious issue for your dog. It is something you have to monitor and keep on top of. Koira comes into very little contact with metal. Besides having a leather collar with powder coated hardware, she eats out of a ceramic bowl, doesn't eat canned food except in rare cases (for those with severe metal allergies, the metal in canned foods can cause reactions due to the cummulative nature of the allergy), our water dishes are all either ceramic or plastic, her crate is powder coated steel, and she does not wear tags on her collar. Outside of the clip on her leash and getting shots at the vet, she encounters almost no metal at all. So the small amount of contact from her leash or the chipped places on her collar hardware are not enough to set off an allergic reaction in her (though when she is on leash for abnormally long times, such as at a conference where she is leashed all day, she can have some allergy issues from the metal).

These are the bowls my dogs eat out of on a daily basis. 

These are the bowls I use for the dogs. I like ceramic bowls for being metal free, not clear glass (which looks grimy so fast when used around animals), and I like these ones specifically just because they are unique and custom for my dogs. I got them on Etsy here. That said, it is much easier to find metal-free bowls to use than collars.

The crate I use for Koira is massive, and extremely heavy duty. Standard powder coated metal folding crates work fine for most dogs with a metal allergy. For Koira, though, she has chewed on the bars of that style of crate, and learned how to break out of them. So for her, I use a ProSelect Empire Cage, powder coated in pink. The heavy construction is perfect, since she not only can't get out of it, she seems to know and doesn't even try. We do still use the lighter-weight metal folding crates while traveling, though.

Koira, wearing the Original Fleece Lined Harness, in black.

When I use a harness on Koira, I use one of two kinds. Julius K-9 makes a harness that has some small amounts of metal, but in places that the metal doesn't touch the dog. The other harness I use is an x-back style, called the Original Fleece Lined Harness. It has a metal D-ring, but it is situated in a way that it doesn't touch Koira when the harness is in use.

I think those are all the products that I have found and loved that help with successfully dealing with metal allergies in dogs. The links in the post don't benefit me in any way, by the way, they are simply examples of the products so that you can find them to purchase as easily as possible if you decide you want them or want more information.

I just wanted to share some things of what we have found that work for us. Hopefully it helps some other people dealing with the same thing as well.

Update: I have now added a biothane collar with black hardware to Koira's collar collection. Biothane is waterproof and doesn't get damaged by water the way leather can, making it a great choice for summer when we spend a lot of time swimming, or for super wet rainy days. I also picked up a biothane leash, and I really, really love it. It has brass hardware, and is super soft in my hands. And, like the collar, it is totally waterproof. I got the 6 foot long, 3/8ths inch wide leash, and I love it. The links are just to show you what we're using and give you a chance to take a look at them or buy them if you want. I get no compensation for sharing them, even if you make a purchase, and I paid full price for the collar and leash. I just love them and since it is so hard to find collars for dogs with metal allergies, I wanted to share.

You can see the new collar here. I chose the black with black hardware, and I think it looks pretty sharp.

Metal Allergies in Dogs

Edited to add: For an update on how we are doing with the metal allergies Koira has, check out my more recent post about it. It includes some products that we are using and love, such as collars without exposed metal, which can be hard to find otherwise. http://mylifewithflyballdogs.blogspot.com/2015/03/dealing-with-metal-allergies-in-dogs.html

First off, I am in no way an expert. I am not a vet, dermatologist, or anything else like that. What I am is the owner of a dog with an allergy to metal. If you suspect your dog has an allergy to metal or anything else, you should bring it up with your vet.

Long time readers will recall that Koira has some metal allergies that cause issues with collars, other dog equipment, vet appointments, and other sorts of fun stuff. Most likely this allergy is not to metal in general but to nickel. Nickel is the most common source of metal allergy in humans, though it is more common in women than in men. Exposure to nickel, such as by having your ears pierced, can increase your chances of becoming allergic to nickel (which is possibly why this allergy is more common in women). Once you have the allergy, you are likely affected for life, though you may go through periods of increased sensitivity, most often due to exposure.

Most of the information I have found while doing research is about nickel allergies in humans. However, there is no reason to believe that dogs have any lower rates than humans. It is possible that many dogs with this allergy go un-diagnosed because their fur prevents contact with nickel, prevents their owners from seeing the rash that occurs, or because they simply aren't taken to a vet.

I am 100% positive that Koira has an allergy to metal. I am relatively positive that this allergy is specifically to nickel, though this is a theory based on my research into human metal allergies, so may be erroneous.

When Koira was younger, she developed a really nasty rash on her neck and chest. The rash was red and very obvious due to both her fur in the area being both very thin and white. Thickening of the skin and oozing blisters came and went, occasionally getting a bit better, and sometimes getting very bad indeed. At one of the bad turns, someone even asked me if I fought my dog (as in organized dog fighting) because her neck looked so ravaged. In addition to the sores and rash on her neck, Koira's ears were affected. The tips of her ears were literally falling off in chunks. The fur and dead chunks of skin would come off in my hands when I pet her or investigated the funky looking areas on her ears. Though the ears improved and regressed as much as the rest of the rash, they were bad enough at times that I seriously thought about having her ears cropped.

As you can imagine, I tried a lot of things to help her. I put her onto an allergy formula food (Natural Balance). No improvement. I started home cooking meals for her so I could carefully control every ingredient added. No improvement. I bought her a leather collar, thinking it might be irritation from the nylon collar she was wearing. No improvement. I even took to putting a bandanna on Koira instead of a collar, but since I dangled her tags from that, there was still very little improvement. During this time, Koira also got a staph infection on her neck, chest, and belly. The theory of my vet at the time was that she had cut herself on grass and developed a staph infection from those cuts. Koira also had bad dandruff, especially on her neck and shoulders, but pretty much all down her back.

Finally, one day, completely out of the blue, a friend of mine suggested that Koira might be allergic to metal. It was like a light bulb going off. I pulled off Koira's collar and tags. I purchased plastic and ceramic bowls to replace the metal food and water bowls. I coated the hook snaps on my leashes with clear nail polish. And Koira's horrible running sores and rashes went away. Her ears (which I can only assume were coming into contact with her tags when she shook her head) improved immediately. Within days, my beautiful girl had clear skin, with nothing but a few healing scabs left over.

Since that time, I have made Koira's collars myself using heavy duty nylon hardware instead of metal. I do not put tags on her. For a while, I did try using fabric bags to hold her tags, but I never found one that kept them secure and prevented them from touching her completely. Since she is micro chipped (she did have a serious neck and face swelling in reaction to being micro chipped, but has not had any continued problems with the chip after the first couple of weeks), I have decided that her well being and comfort is more important than her wearing her tags.

When we have to go to the vet for shots or other procedures that might involve contact with metal, I make sure to dose Koira with Benadryl before we go and again later in the day. It mostly prevents site reactions. (And, yes, stainless steel DOES contain nickel.) I honestly do not know what I would do if Koira were to require something like pins to hold together a broken bone. I just hope we never have to find out.

I am bringing up all of this because I have been looking longingly at some leather collars. I really wish I could get Koira and Pallo nice matching supple leather collars to wear. But leather collars come with metal hardware. Brass does not always contain nickel. But, since I don't know how to find out if the hardware being used contains nickel or not, and I don't know for sure that it is only nickel that Koira is allergic to, I don't know what to do. Do I buy a couple of really nice dog collars, test the hardware with this nickel testing kit and then just not use them if the test is positive? It would certainly be a lot of money to spend on the collars and the test kit only to find out I can't use them.

I will admit that in the past few weeks Koira has been occasionally wearing a new collar that has a stainless steel D ring on it. The collar is an LED light up collar that she only wears out to the park and so far I have not seen any reactions. I am not, however, so foolish as to hope she is "over" this allergy- that doesn't happen. I am sure that if she were to be exposed to more metal, the full reaction would come back relatively quickly. And I don't really want to risk that.

In any case, I didn't really write this post just because I want a nice collar for my dog. I wrote it more because, while doing all of the reading and research about metal allergies this evening in an attempt to find some kind of hardware that might be safe for my dog to wear, I came across almost no mention of metal allergies in dogs. And those that I did see were mostly passing mention of it in a forum thread.

So, if anyone has a dog they think or know has a metal allergy and wants to ask any questions or share any knowledge, I would love to hear from you. If you stumble on this blog post by searching the web for what could be causing the oozing rashes your dog has, I hope this can give you something to try out to help your dog.