A cat’s food allergy is a difficult thing to assess. Once it has been determined that a food allergy is the problem, the diet of the cat needs to be examined. Cats can be irritated by sarcoptic mange (scabies), fleas, and inhalation allergies (seasonal pollens for example) but a food allergy has been cited as one of the itchiest afflictions for a cat. Store-bought cat food tends to be seriously processed. Food colorings and a general lower quality of ingredients can play into this. A recent diet change can be also be the culprit. Most interesting however, is the fact that the determination of a food allergy can only really take place if all fleas are eradicated from the pet. A flea bite can at times produce a similar allergic reaction that of a food allergy.
There are several other factors that need to be discerned before a food allergy can be the “arrived upon” diagnosis. Cats will display their discomfort through unkempt hair, continual scratching of infected, crusty skin and possibly even recurring ear infections. Food allergies produce similar results to sarcoptic mange, and flea reactions, but they are a form of atopy. Atopy is characterized by irritation to areas of the body that hasn’t been in direct contact with the allergen. This is why it is very important to determine if the atopy is food related or inhalation related. Pollens, dust, and dust mites can all provide atopic dermatitis similar to that of a food allergy.
After eliminating the other potential irritants, the diet cat’s can now be adjusted. The next step is a hypoallergenic food trial. This is a four to eight week period of time where foods are fed to the cat in order to determine which produces the allergic reaction. During this period of time, if a food doesn’t bring about an adverse reaction, it is a good idea to adopt that food to the pet’s regular diet. Some suggest home cooking as a solution. The test diet can have home-cooked servings of chicken, fish and even tofu added as part of the attempt to determine the food allergy of a cat. There are also specialized foods available for purchase that help a cat owner determine food allergies. A cursory search of the Internet shows that there are specialized cat foods available in order to “mix-up” your cat’s diet and determine what works and what doesn’t work. Common meat products such as herring, turkey and chicken are available.
Sometimes a longer diet trial is needed. The ideas of a continuing inhalant allergy or a fresh round of scabies still being the culprit are things to consider. Furthermore, one has to be completely sure that the food that they are feeding to the cat is the only food that the cat is taking in. A cat’s food allergy is hard to determine, but with patience, and proper trial and error, it can be determined and your pet can be healthy in a relatively short amount of time.
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The life you save may be your pet’s!
There’s always been lots of information about second hand smoke and people but did you know there is considerable research proving secondhand smoke is harmful for pets too?
Think about this everytime you light up in your house with Fido on your lap, or when you’re taking Spot to his favorite park.
The American Lung Association of New Hampshire provides some stunning facts on why you should consider your pets when you smoke around them.
DOGS
• Dogs that inhale secondhand smoke are three times more likely to develop lung or nasal cancer than dogs living in smoke-free homes.
• Dogs can experience allergic reactions to secondhand smoke. Common symptoms of this allergic reaction are the scratching, biting, and chewing of their skin. Owners often confuse this reaction with fleas or food allergies.
• Cigarette butts can also be deadly. Two butts, if eaten by a puppy, can cause death in a relatively short period of time.
BIRDS
• Birds can react badly to secondhand smoke and may develop eye problems, as well as other respiratory problems like coughing and wheezing.
• Birds that sit on a smoker’s hand can experience contact dermatitis from the nicotine that remains on the smoker’s hand. This can cause them to pull out their feathers.
CATS
• Cats exposed to secondhand smoke in the home have a higher rate of an oral cancer called squamous cell carcinoma, which may be due to the way cats groom themselves. When cats groom themselves they eat the poisons from secondhand smoke that have settled on their fur.
• Cats exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher rate of feline lymphoma, a deadly form of cancer, than cats not exposed to secondhand smoke.
• Cats can develop respiratory problems, lung inflammation, and asthma as a result of secondhand smoke. There are 4,000 chemicals in secondhand smoke, and 43 are known to cause cancer.
Other dangerous issues can occur……
By ingestion of cigarette or cigar butts which contain toxins. Death- From 1-5 cigarettes and from 1/3-1 cigar can be fatal if ingested.
By drinking water that contains cigar or cigarette butts (which can have high concentrations of nicotine)
By ingestion of nicotine replacement gum and patches.
Think again of the health effects:
Breathing problems in dogs and asthmatic-like symptoms in cats
Salivation
Diarrhea
Vomiting
Cardiac abnormalities
Respiratory difficulties and respiratory paralysis
Feline lymphoma in cats
Lung cancer in dogs
Nasal cancer in dogs
Prevention:
As in the case of children and others in the home, don’t smoke.
If you must smoke take it outside- Don’t expose others to your smoke
Don’t allow others to smoke around your pets.
Keep ashtrays clean- Don’t leave butts in them for pets to find.
Dispose of nicotine gum and patches in receptacles that can’t be accessed by pets.
Consider quitting- The health effects of your smoking on pets is just one more good reason to quit.
If you can’t or won’t quit, consider a safer alternative……electric cigarettes. Products like Green Smoke are devices shaped like a cigarette but they contain a battery, water and nicotine. You’ll still get your nicotine fix but you and the people and pets around you won’t be inhaling the 4000 toxic chemicals that cause major health issues every day.
Allergies in dogs seem to have become more and more common over the years. Whether this is just because we are getting better at diagnosing them is debatable, but certainly the pet food manufacturers have had an important role to play in dealing with this phenomenon. Although a food allergy is thought to be non curable, the good news is that with proper diagnosis and management it can be well controlled in virtually 100% of cases.
What is a food allergy?
A more appropriate term for a food allergy is an adverse food reaction. It is where ingestion of a certain ingredient in the diet causes itchiness anywhere on the body and recurring skin or ear infections with Malassezia yeast and bacteria. Food allergies can also cause digestive tract signs too, such as fecal mucus, blood in the stools and increased frequency of defecation. They have also been associated with increased flatulence.
The root cause of these adverse food reactions is unknown, but research points towards an increase in permeability of the gut wall, or a failure of the gut associated immune system. Though it has never been proven that certain breeds are affected worse than others, some breeds do seem to be over represented. The age of onset can range from a few months to 12 years old.
What are the ingredients that dogs are most commonly allergic to?
There are 7 ingredients that are frequently responsible for adverse food reactions:
1. Beef
2. Milk
3. Eggs
4. Chicken
5. Soy
6. Wheat
7. Corn
Statistically, beef and soy are the biggest offenders. Many dogs will be allergic to more than one of these ingredients, and may also be allergic to things in their environment, such as pollen, certain grasses or fleas.
How can a food allergy be diagnosed?
If a dog has had general itchiness that does not lessen in the winter months, recurrent skin and ear infections or intermittent soft stools, it is worth investigating for a food allergy.
There are 3 recognised diagnostic methods:
1. A blood test to measure antibodies to various ingredients.
2. An intradermal skin test where allergens are injected at various points on the skin and the reaction is measured.
3. An elimination diet.
The intradermal skin test is thought to be very inaccurate, and the jury is still out on the blood test. The elimination diet is seen as the most reliable, and the cheapest of the three options. It does however require a motivated and disciplined owner in order to achieve meaningful results.
Elimination Diet
There are three basic elimination diet choices:
1. Home cooked food
This is not generally recommended as it is time consuming for the owner and can also provide an unnatural and nutritionally unbalanced diet. However, if the dog is incredibly fussy and the owner cannot bear to force it to eat a commercial diet, the best ingredients are one of either lamb, fish, duck or turkey, plus one of either rice or potatoes. The two ingredients selected (the former high in protein, the latter a carbohydrate source) should be ones that the dog has preferably never eaten before.
2. A commercial, limited antigen diet
If one of these diets is to be recommended, suitable ingredients would be venison, rabbit or oatmeal. Remember, we are looking for ingredients that your dog has never eaten before, so cannot possibly already be allergic to.
3. A commercial, hydrolysed protein hypoallergenic diet
These contain proteins that have been broken down to the extent that they are no longer capable of causing an allergic reaction. They are often referred to as prescription diets because they are usually purchased via a veterinarian, although they can be obtained over the counter without a prescription. They are significantly more expensive than limited antigen diets, so it is wiser to try a limited antigen diet first as if the elimination diet is successful, the dog will remain on that food for life.
The elimination diet must be given for a minimum of 6 weeks, and possibly up to 10, in order to observe the maximum response. Owners must not give their dog ANYTHING else during the trial period, meaning no titbits, treats or vitamin supplements. For example, many owners do not realize that rawhide chews are made from cow derivatives and that with beef being the most common culprit in allergies, these chews could be the root of the problem. During the trial period, nothing must enter the dogs mouth apart from the chosen diet and water.
If the symptoms in question are intense itchiness, many vets will prescribe antihistamines or steroids during the first few weeks of the trial in order to make the dog more comfortable. If the dog gets better as the trial goes on, and the initial drugs to provide temporary comfort have worn off, then it is suggestive of a food allergy. If this occurs, the dog is then challenged with its former diet to see if the symptoms return and therefore confirm the diagnosis. It usually takes between 3 and 7 days for the symptoms to return after initiating the challenge.
If there is a partial improvement in the dogs condition, it is likely that the dog indeed has a food allergy but also has other allergies at the same time. The dog will then be kept on the elimination diet while other potential allergies are investigated, such as flea bite sensitivity and atopy. These can be checked for via intradermal testing or blood tests.
If a food allergy is confirmed, the owner can either continue to feed the same food given during the elimination trial indefinitely, or can persevere with dietary trials by introducing the 7 most common allergic ingredients (see above) one by one until it is ascertained exactly what the dog is allergic to.