World Veterinary Day: The vet who is allergic to animals (2025)

SINGAPORE – He has been suffering from eczema since he was a child. But little did Dr Brian Loon know his allergy to animals aggravates his skin condition.

“It is an irony, but the allergy is not to the point where I cannot manage my health and job,” says the animal lover, whose childhood ambition was to be a vet.

Dr Loon co-founded Amber Vet in 2011, and has been a practising veterinarian since attaining his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Murdoch University in Australia in 2007.

He learnt about his allergy after starting work as a vet when, on a whim, he decided to undergo a test to find out what was triggering his eczema flare-ups. The diagnosis did not dash his dream, as there was “no turning back”.

While Dr Loon is on medication for his eczema, the allergens can cause asthma-like symptoms. “But I’m masked on the job, so I’m fine,” says the 43-year-old bachelor, who has no pets.

Over the years, his areas of special interests have expanded to include diagnostic ultrasonography, endoscopy, laparoscopy, acupuncture and even advanced dentistry.

“While it’s common to extract rotten teeth, there are more owners now who ask to preserve their dogs’ teeth,” he says. “That is important as they are needed for chewing, biting and eating.”

Dr Loon says there are many options such as root canal treatments, orthodontics and prosthodontics.

The patients that go to Amber Vet for dental issues are mostly younger dogs. “They tend to bite treats and toys aggressively and intensively, which result in them breaking their teeth.”

He adds: “Sometimes, the fangs are ingrown or not in the right position, which causes a lot of problems, such as not being able to bite and chew.”

Dr Loon says owners have a big part to play in their pets’ dental hygiene. To prevent periodontal disease, daily brushing is ideal, and pet owners should check for fractures.

“The animals cannot vocalise if they have any pain, so sometimes when they come to us, their teeth can be in quite a bad state,” he says. “The dogs will still eat because they have to eat, but you don’t know what kind of pain they are in.”

If the situation is severe, he may end up having to extract a bunch of teeth to remove the source of infection.

“I had a pet owner who thought his dog was no longer active because it was in its senior years.” Dr Loon recalls.However, it turned out that the dog needed to have some teeth extracted. “The owner was surprised that the dog became happier and active again because its source of pain was gone.”

He advises pet owners to take their furry companions to a vet for a health check every year.“Such procedures will include dental checks to see if dental scaling, polishing, full mouth and dental X-rays are needed.”

One of Dr Loon’s pet peeves is dog groomers offering dental services such as scaling. He says: “Dental scaling is a medical procedure that only vets should do.”

He adds: “Some pet groomers offer anaesthesia-free dental scaling which, at best, iscosmetic. They may injure the gums or cause other issues like dental infections.”

He says such scaling may remove signs of inherent diseases that only vets can recognise.

Pet owners are increasingly well-informed about pet issues and trends because of the deluge of information on social media, but he also warns of misinformation.

He cites the popular raw food diet trend as an example, which is a health hazard to pets due to bacteria contamination from uncooked meats. The diet is said to mimic the natural diet of dogs’ wild ancestors – wolves – that consists of uncooked meat, bones, fruits and vegetables.

“Stomach infections or vomiting and diarrhoea have become quite commonplace nowadays because of the raw food diet,” says Dr Loon, adding that he has seen pets with intestinal obstruction from consuming bones. Some cases were even life-threatening.

“At the end of the day, dogs are not wolves, just as humans are not apes.”

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