Pet Article

DOGS, CATS AND FOOD ALLERGIES

In humans, food allergies can be diagnosed via skin tests and blood test. Unfortunately these tests prove to be unreliable in dogs and cats. Most veterinarians will do a restrictive diet trial which consists of taking away your pets normal diet, including any treats, cheqbles and flavored vitamins, they will switch your pet to a diet containing proteins and carbohydrates, or have the pet owner cook food at home so that the diet does not have any additives or preservatives in it, they can then be sure that it's not gone through a foodmill or processing plant that can sometimes contaminate food, it won't take very much to set off your pets allergy.
,br> Some food allergy cases have symptoms of gastrointestinal upset diarrhea, vomitting or increased bowel movements per day, but in some cases the only signs is itching. When your cat or dog itches there may be a variety of causes.

Veterinarians first have the pet owner wean their pet from their normal diet to start the elimination diet with an overlap of around 4 days, with feeding of both diets at the same time. Once the home cooked diet is fed exclusively, pets are monitored for any improvements. If in around 8 - 10 weeks your dog or cat has not shown any improvement at all, the itching is probably not caused by a food allergen. Veterinarians used to recommend lamb and rice a lot for restrictive food trials because it was a food source not found in normal mixes. Lamb and rice was recommended for food allergy testing for so many years that the public got the impression that it was good for the skin. These lamb and rice mixes do provide a complete diet, however a lamb and rice diet is not inherently better than a normal diet. The popularity of the mixes has made them undesirable for restrictive diet trials unless owners know that their pet has never eaten a lamb and rice mix and unless there are no other protein or carbohydrate sources in the lamb and rice mix. During the diet period, it also very important that pet owners ensure that their dog or cat remains inside to prvent hunting of wildlife or foraging for garbage.

If your dog or cat begins to improve on the home cooked diet, then your veterinarian may re-challenge your pets system by re-introducing the original diet. When food trails are initiated, veterinarians may prescribe a new shampoo, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. The re-introduction of the original diet will let veterinarians know if the new diet, or if prescriptions caused the improvement. Re-introduction takes around 5 to 7 days, if your pet does not get worse during re-introduction, a food in the original diet did not cause the itching. The itching may be from an environmental or parasitic source. Should this be the case, then skin tests may need to be done. If itching does resume during re-introduction, the food test trial is continued to determine which food component causes allergic reaction in your pets.

Your veterinarian will suggest going back to the ingredient list on the original diet and check through the ingredients, exposing your dog or cat to them with the home cooked diet. After any harmful ingredients are pinpointed, your veterinarian can recommend a diet that does not contain those ingredients. There are many commerical diets available which will fulfill all of your pets needs.

If pet owners try to do food trial without the help of their veterinarian, the diagnosis can become more difficult. If your dog or cat is itching, switching them randomly from food to food can expose your pet a any number of protein sources. This will make it hard for your veterinarian to find a new protein source to suggest for the home cooking. It's also been noted that some pet owners find food trials tedious or may not like the fact that their pet cannot have a treat from time to time. They may quit halfway through, then your veterinarian faces the dilema of how then to convince the pet owner to do the trial again for their pets sake.

In us humans, food allergies can be associated with behavioral and emotial manifestations. Food allergies probably have manifestations in your cat or dog which we cannot see. Dogs may be feeling extremely lousy as well as being itchy. In some cases, dogs with food allergies have been known to have seizures.

Veterinarians along with researches are still debating on what causes food allergies. One of the theories is that exposure to intestinal parasites might predispose your pet to developing a food allergy. the exact mechanisms of the reaction remain undefined. If it were known exactly why cats and dogs get food allergies, they could be avoided. Unfortunately for pet owners it is a complicated disease, however, once you can eliminate the food causing the problem, your dog or cat will become more confortable.
,br> If your dog experiences extreme itching with or without gastrointestinal problems, contact your local veterinarian.

Mark Woodcock
1 Flea Control