Nylon Allergy

[ironmandy]

Has anyone ever heard of a dog being allergic to nylon? I have had my mixed breed since May 2010. Of course, nylon collars are so "routine" that that was the first thing I put on him as a puppy. My parents and I noticed that he frequently scratched at his neck and shook his head, but we attributed that to being dry skin or fleas. He would get an oatmeal bath and flea/tick treatment on a regular basis. I saw that the fur around his collar was shorter than the rest of his coat and it was getting very wavy. A week ago, he was scratching especially hard at his neck so I started feeling around his neck to see what the problem was. I found several large scabs. When I took his collar off (which was fairly wide- wide enough to cover any wounds), I found small patches of hair missing with some old scars. He also had a very large bleeding welt on his neck. I immediately switched him over to a leather collar and gave him an oatmeal bath. Since then, he has not been scratching his neck and shaking like a mad man. I have never heard of a dog being allergic to nylon before! He had gone through several nylon collars from different stores and brands at that point, so it wasn't a specific nylon collar. Is this possible or am I just being paranoid?

I feel terrible that he has had this problem with his neck the entire time and I never noticed. I can't imagine how that must have annoyed him!

[Nettle]

It might be the dye in the collar rather than the nylon itself, or it might be that the collar is very hard and scratchy on a soft puppy neck.

I always use leather on mine.

[runlikethewind]

I've just recently had a similar discussion with a canine dermatologist and like Nettle, I think it could be the dye rather than the nylon - because, according to the dermatologist, a dog cannot develop an allergy to a man-made material, like we cannot. It's just impossible, apparently. All allergies have their source from natural elements. I have just found this article which does indeed support this:

http://allergies.ygoy.com/2010/06/08/ny ... treatment/