Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic relapsing pruritic skin disease of dogs for which treatment has varied over time and geographical location. Recent high quality randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews have established which drugs are likely to offer consistent benefit. The International Task Force for Canine AD currently recommends a multifaceted approach to treat dogs with AD. Acute flares should be treated with a combination of nonirritating baths and topical glucocorticoids, once an attempt has been made to identify and remove the suspected causes of the flare. Oral glucocorticoids and antimicrobial therapy must be added when needed. In dogs with chronic AD, a combination of interventions should be considered. Again, factors that trigger flares of AD must be identified and, if possible, avoided. Currently recognized flare factors include food, flea and environmental allergens, Staphylococcus bacteria and Malassezia yeast. Skin and coat hygiene and care must be improved by bathing with nonirritating shampoos and dietary supplementation with essential fatty acids. The severity of pruritus and skin lesions can be reduced with a combination of anti-inflammatory drugs. Currently, medications with good evidence of high efficacy include topical and oral glucocorticoids, and calcineurin inhibitors such as oral ciclosporin and topical tacrolimus. The dose and frequency of administration of these drugs should be tailored to each patient considering each drug's efficacy, adverse effects and cost. Allergenspecific immunotherapy should be offered, whenever feasible, in an attempt to prevent recurrence of clinical signs upon further exposure to environmental allergens to which the patient is hypersensitive.

BackgroundIn 2010, the International Task Force on Canine Atopic Dermatitis (now International Committee on Allergic Diseases of Animals, ICADA) published the first consensus guidelines for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD) in dogs. This is the first 5-year minor update of this document.ResultsThe treatment of acute flares of AD should involve the search for, and then elimination of, the cause of the flares, bathing with mild shampoos, and controlling pruritus and skin lesions with interventions that include topical and/or oral glucocorticoids or oclacitinib. For chronic canine AD, the first steps in management are the identification and avoidance of flare factors, as well as ensuring that there is adequate skin and coat hygiene and care; this might include more frequent bathing and possibly increasing essential fatty acid intake. The medications currently most effective in reducing chronic pruritus and skin lesions are topical and oral glucocorticoids, oral ciclosporin, oral oclacitinib, and, where available, injectable recombinant interferons. Allergen-specific immunotherapy and proactive intermittent topical glucocorticoid applications are the only interventions likely to prevent or delay the recurrence of flares of AD.ConclusionsThis first 5-year minor update of the international consensus guidelines for treatment of AD in dogs further establishes that the treatment of this disease is multifaceted, and that interventions should be combined for a proven (or likely) optimal benefit. Importantly, treatment plans are likely to vary between dogs and, for the same dog, between times when the disease is at different stages.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0514-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Results suggest that oral administration of cyclosporine at a dosage of 5.0 mg/kg once daily is effective in reducing severity of pruritus and skin lesions in dogs with AD, especially those with nonseasonal disease.

Background: To diagnose cutaneous adverse food reactions (CAFRs) in dogs and cats, dietary restriction-provocation trials are performed. Knowing the most common offending food allergens for these species would help determining the order of food challenges to optimize the time to diagnosis. Results: The search for, and review and analysis of the best evidence available as of January 16, 2015 suggests that the most likely food allergens contributing to canine CAFRs are beef, dairy products, chicken, and wheat. The most common food allergens in cats are beef, fish and chicken. Conclusions: In dogs and cats, after a period of dietary restriction leading to the complete remission of clinical signs, food challenges to diagnose CAFR should begin with beef and dairy products, the most commonly recognized food allergens in these two species.

Determination of CADESI-03 thresholds for increasing severity levels of canine atopic dermatitis Olivry, T; Mueller, R; Nuttall, T; Favrot, C; Prélaud, P Mueller, R; Nuttall, T; Favrot, C; Prélaud, P (2008 Determination of CADESI-03 thresholds for increasing severity levels of canine atopic dermatitis AbstractTo evaluate the extent and severity of skin lesions in clinical trials enrolling dogs with atopic dermatitis (AD), the International Task Force on Canine Atopic Dermatitis recently recommended the use of the third version of the CADESI. This version of the CADESI was found to exhibit acceptable content, construct, criterion, inter-and intraobserver reliability and sensitivity to change. The current study was aimed at determining optimal CADESI-03 cut-off points to separate AD severity categories for future clinical trials. One hundred and eight dogs with AD were selected based on current diagnosis standards. At one or more visits, clinicians subjectively rated the severity of AD as 'in remission', 'mild', 'moderate' or 'severe', and a CADESI-03 score was then determined. In all, 158 CADESI-03 values were recorded and divided among the four disease severity categories. Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves were generated at increasing cut-off values to determine the benchmark that would offer optimal sensitivity and specificity between adjacent categories. Cut-offs of 16, 60 and 120 are proposed at the interface of remission, mild, moderate and severe categories, respectively. Proposed intervals therefore are: remission: 0-15; mild AD: 16-59; moderate AD: 60-119; and severe AD: >/= 120. This Task Force recommends that, whenever applicable and relevant, subgroup analyses of outcome measures, based on disease severity as determined with these cut-off CADESI-03 values, be preplanned for clinical trials enrolling dogs with AD. Such subgroup analyses could help determine whether specific interventions might be more effective in a particular subset of atopic dogs.