AUSTIN (AP) -- It's ragweed season again in Austin, and for years, Jodie Gordon and her dog, Daisy, suffered together.

Gordon wheezed and sneezed while Daisy, a West Highland white terrier, licked her paws raw, broke out in sores and scratched her infected ears. She lay around the house, a shadow of her playful self. One night, Daisy was so sick her whole body trembled.

"I said to my husband, 'What is going on with her?'"

That was before Gordon, like a lot of pet owners, had a clue that dogs and cats get the same allergies as humans.

No one knows exactly how many dogs and cats are allergic to trees, grasses, dust, food and insect bites, said Bonnie Beaver, a professor at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Beaver estimated that 10 percent to 15 percent of dogs and probably less than 5 percent of cats have allergies, although, she added, "it's probably underdiagnosed in cats."

Most pet owners are blissfully unaware of pet allergies, unless their dog or cat is stricken, Beaver said.