allergy season struggles

I am so stressed out this year. Milo is having a rough time with his skin, which we already know about, but now his eyes are getting really crusty and irritated too. It is hard to manage both at the same time without him getting agitated. I am trying to keep his environment as clean as possible, but the pollen seems to be everywhere. Does anyone have a routine that helps when the skin and eyes are flaring up together? I feel like I am just making it worse by touching his face too much.

oh no that sounds rough. Shadow has the skin stuff too, mostly on his paws. I use saline wipes for his eyes but im not sure if i am doing it too much or not enough. I work nights so its hard to be consistent. check out my log here Shadow's allergy routine to see what ive tried. it might help you figure out a schedule that works around your shifts?

Thanks Stephanie. I will look at that. My main worry is that cleaning his eyes might irritate the skin around them if I am not careful. I have been using a warm damp cloth, but I am not sure if that is enough or if I need something specific. I just want to make sure I am not causing more inflammation than I am relieving.

Hi Claire, Smudge has similar issues in the spring. I found that separating the treatments helped a lot. I would do the skin care first, let him calm down, and then do the eyes when he was relaxed. You might want to see Smudge's spring skin flare-ups for how I managed that. Also, have you looked at Milo's recent skin changes to see if there is a pattern in when the skin gets worst? That might tell you when to be extra gentle with the eyes.

That is a good point about separating them. I did not think of that. I will look at the thread you mentioned. I am going to try to be more systematic about it instead of just reacting when I see the crust. It feels better to have a plan even if it is just a slightly different order of operations.