It's a free daily dog allergy forecast for any US ZIP code. Itch Risk is a 0 to 10 score that starts from the highest of the tree, grass and weed pollen counts, then adjusts for wind, rain, humidity and heat. It describes the conditions outside, not any one dog. On a high day, wiping your dog's paws and belly after walks is cheap and takes about 30 seconds.

Type your ZIP code into the Itch Forecast on itchydog.vet to see today's tree, grass and weed pollen where you live, plus mold risk, rolled into one Itch Risk score from 0 to 10. The pollen counts use Google's Universal Pollen Index, which runs from 0 to 5. Dogs don't get a pollen count of their own, but in allergic dogs the paws and face are where pollen slips in through the skin.

Around Houston, allergy season runs most of the year. Tree pollen starts in late winter, grasses carry on through much of the warm season, and fall belongs to weed pollen and mold spores, often until the first real cold front. Summer heat and humidity bring yeast and ear infections. Our short, mild winters barely give a break, and fleas don't take winter off in Texas, so I recommend flea control all year.

Yes, mold can make an allergic dog itchy. Mold spores are one of the environmental allergens behind atopic dermatitis, along with pollen and dust mites, and mold loves damp air. The Itch Forecast rates mold risk high when it rained the day before and the humidity stays above 75%, and moderate after rain or when the humidity is above 65%. Many allergic dogs react to more than one of these, which is one reason the itch can spread across more of the calendar.

I'm Dr. Steve Pelton, DVM, a small-animal vet and the owner of Hearthstone Animal Clinic in Cypress, Texas, and I see itchy, allergic dogs every day. I built itchydog.vet to say what I'd tell you in the exam room. Every dose, statistic and medical claim here is signed off by me before it counts as reviewed. It's general education, not veterinary advice: if your dog is miserable, see your vet.

Yes, two. The Itchy Dog Quick Guide is the short version, mostly pictures: what to watch, what to do, and when to call your vet. The full book, The Itchy Dog: Why Is My Dog So Itchy?, walks through it the way I would in the exam room, including what the treatments really cost and do. Both are on Kindle, and the explainers on itchydog.vet, like the itch ladder, are pages from them.