Whether your cat has made a mess in the litter box or is always scratch her own skin , any sign of discomfort in a beloved pet is alarming . Cats ca n’t tell us why they do n’t feel well , and worse , they are skilled at hiding their illness until it becomes severe .
If your cat is itchy and hasdiarrheaor other unpleasant GI symptom , a dietetical problem could be to blame . Let ’s explore whether certain food can cause allergies in cats and if so , how you could help provide reliever for your darling .
Can Cats Have Allergies to Food?
Yes , cats can be sensitised to ingredients in their intellectual nourishment . However , these food allergies are actually uncommon in cats . They are much more likely to have allergies to things in their environs , such as mold and grasses . When computed tomography do have food allergies , they are typically direct at a specific protein origin . coarse solid food allergens in cat include chicken , squawk , pork barrel , lamb , turkey , egg , dairy , and fish . They can also be supersensitized to less vulgar meat source , such as venison or duck’s egg .
Cats are very improbable to be allergic to grain or gluten . In fact , although Caterpillar are carnivore , caryopsis - costless or gluten - complimentary foods are no more healthy for them than foods with grains and gluten . Most hombre foods contain carbohydrates , such as wheat , corn , or potato , because they are an important root of vitamins and mineral . The total amount of carbohydrates in the food is a much more utilitarian metric of healthfulness than whether it is grain - free . This is because foods higher in entire carbohydrate content are assort with weight gain in cat .
What Causes Cat Food Allergies?
We do n’t really know why food allergies exist . But we do know what happens in the body when a cat has allergies . allergy pass off when the immune system mistakenly name a protein from a food as a cause for alarm instead of a benign reservoir of nutrition . This causes the cat ’s body to mount an immune response , attacking the “ encroacher . ” Immune response stimulate inflammation , and it is this rubor that we see as allergy symptom , such as itching ( inflammation of the skin ) and diarrhea ( redness of the intestines ) .
Cat food allergy ordinarily emerge in new cats but they can grow at any time in a true cat ’s aliveness . allergic reaction may also get worse over time . Neither sexuality nor strain are specific endangerment component , although there is former grounds that Siamese cats and their crossbreeding - breed may have increased risk ( 1 ) . About 25 pct of cats who have a food allergy also have an environmental or flea allergy ( 2 ) .
Cat Food Allergy Symptoms
Unfortunately , cat food allergic reaction symptoms are common to many other consideration and can vary widely between cat .
When world have allergic reaction to something in the environment , such as weed or pollen , they may cough and sneeze . While cats with environmental allergies can have respiratory signs , they frequently will lick their foot and bellies . Cats with environmental allergies may also get ear infections . Some veterinary surgeon also believe thatfeline acneis also associated with allergy . Feline acne occurs on the Kuki and has various appearance , from black dirt to zits to swelling of the whole chin sphere .
To make thing complicated , big cat solid food allergies can also cause excessive defeat and ear infections just like environmental allergy . But typically , food for thought hypersensitised cats will also have GI signs , such as vomiting , diarrhoea , or decreased appetite . Unfortunately , there is no specific set of cat intellectual nourishment allergy symptoms . The gastrointestinal sign of CT nutrient allergies are mutual to many other ill in quat , including most type of gastrointestinal disease ( parasite , inflammatory bowel disease , Crab , etc . ) , pancreatitis , liver disease , kidney disease , thyroid gland disease , and others . Although many hoi polloi suppose it is normal for cats tovomitoccasionally , in fact this could be the first sign that your cat has an allergic reaction or other trouble . Therefore , if you comment any of these signs , it is important to have your cat-o'-nine-tails try by a veterinary surgeon .
sign of the zodiac of food allergies in cats can include :
Diagnosing Cat Food Allergies
The good way to diagnose a intellectual nourishment allergy in a cat is through an elimination diet trial . The mind is that if you’re able to totally shut the source of allergen from your pet ’s environment , then the symptoms should resolve .
Importantly , since the signs of solid food allergic reaction are common to other diseases in cats , your veterinary is likely to originate with examination for and treating other more rough-cut cause of your cat ’s symptoms . These include various causa of gastrointestinal excitement , flea allergic reaction , and environmental allergic reaction . Once these causes of your big cat ’s symptoms are excluded , then it is time to start a dieting trial . While any veterinarian can conduct a food trial , veterinary dermatologists are specialists who focus on pelt and allergies and are often the best resource for diagnosing and treating allergic disease .
Although it sounds elementary , an elimination dieting trial is difficult to do properly . First , your veterinary will select a novel protein or hydrolyzed food . Hydrolyzed means that the protein reservoir in the food has been broken down into short concatenation of amino acids . ( aminic battery-acid are the building blocks of proteins . protein can be thousand of aminic acids long . ) These short irons are not recognized by the body as contain an allergen . For some guy , a novel protein dieting is also an appropriate option for an elimination diet . Novel protein are those your cat has never been exposed to , such as venison , hare , or kangaroo . However , some foods may cross - react , such as poulet and turkey or gripe and bison , and therefore diets with alike proteins may not be appropriate as novel diets .
Selection of the nutrient is the easy part . The hard part is remember to not give your cat any treats , snacks , medications , or add-on that contain anything edible other than the excretion diet . This intend other cats in the theatre will require to be fed separately or else everyone needs to be on the same evacuation dieting . If you accidentally permit your cat to eat anything other than the official diet , you have to set out the whole trial timeline over again .
Diet trials last from 4 - 12 weeks . Every 2 - 4 hebdomad , your cat will be evaluated by your veterinarian and you will discourse how she is doing . It is important for you to keep a record of her symptoms at home . The reasonableness that diet visitation have a across-the-board timeline is that some hombre respond to their elimination diet quickly , while for others it takes more time . An voiding diet trial is not look at over until your cat improves OR at least 12 weeks have passed without improvement . If a cat react , gastrointestinal signs will ordinarily amend before tegument mark . This is because cells turn over more quickly in the GI piece of ground than they do in the tegument .
grant to recent enquiry , “ alternative tests of rip , blood serum , spit and haircloth have been found to be unsatisfactory ” in the diagnosis of food allergy in cats ( 3 ) .
How to Treat Cat Food Allergies
The best discourse for cat food allergies is to eliminate the allergen from your cat ’s environs altogether . This mean that none of the element in your cat ’s food can add up from the source of your animal ’s allergic reaction . These are commonly called “ limited ingredient ” or “ new protein ” diets .
But more than just looking at primary ingredients , an allergen - free diet means there should be no risk of contamination with the allergen . It is exchangeable to how some human food for thought that do n’t contain peanuts are made in facilities that also process peanuts , so are not secure for those with peanut allergy . Human food is require to state any possible allergen contaminant on the corner , but there is no such requisite for cat food . In fact , very few preferent intellectual nourishment companies can vouch no contamination . It is expensive to all shut down machinery and deep clean it between making dissimilar foods , and most nutrient companies are not designing food to be truly sanative . The few companies that do make this guarantee for their circumscribed - constituent diets include Royal Canin , Hill ’s , and Purina . These guaranteed diet are usually the prescription drug diet , so they can specifically be labeled as a therapy or treatment for your cat ’s disease ( allergies ) . If you want to habituate a dissimilar brand of nutrient for your computerized tomography ’s allergen - spare food , talk to your veterinarian .
In addition to allergen - costless food , all dainty , dental chews , medicament , and toys should be allergen - free . It is okay foryouto eat the food your cat is allergic to , as long as you do n’t give her table scrap or let her lick the dishes .
medicament is unlikely to be require for food allergic reaction in computerized axial tomography as long as your quat is maintained on an allergen - devoid diet . However , if a flare - up of symptom occur , then your veterinarian may dictate a brusk course of medicine to get her feel well faster .
Food allergy is just one of the many movement of your khat ’s itchy pelt or GI discomfort , and in fact one of the less common unity . Therefore , it is important to have your cat picture by your veterinarian before you change her diet or seek to do an elimination dieting on your own .
