Included in this article:
Food intolerance or allergy in cats
Nutrition needs harmony – a balanced cat diet is vital for our furry friends. To stay healthy and vital, your pet needs:
- ingredients that are coordinated with each other
- in addition to muscle meat and offal, also plant-based food (crude fiber), animal and vegetable fat, minerals, trace elements and vitamins
A good dry and wet food covers these areas and provides your cat with optimal nutrition. But what should you do if your cat has the following symptoms despite a balanced diet: coughing, wheezing or sneezing, flatulence or inflamed skin?
These could be signs of an allergy or food intolerance. For you as a cat owner, it is a challenge to interpret the signs correctly, because the symptoms can also occur with other diseases or parasite infestation.
In this article you will learn how to correctly interpret the symptoms, which tests you should perform and how you can help your animal.
Symptoms of food intolerance or allergy in cats
Food intolerance or allergies are the third most common causes of discomfort in cats. They manifest themselves in the same way externally - these include:
- vomiting or diarrhea
- Red or inflamed skin
- flatulence
- Chronic ear problems
- Frequent scratching
- Poor growth in young cats
- Severe hair loss
- coughing, wheezing or sneezing
- Asthma can also be a sign of a food allergy in cats.
Most symptoms often do not appear until a few days later. These so-called delayed reactions make it difficult to determine what caused them.
Questions about food intolerance?
Are you unsure whether your cat has a food intolerance or do you have a question about our products? Our nutritional advice team will be happy to help you.
Intolerance or food allergy: what is the difference?
Clinical symptoms such as frequent scratching, diarrhea or severe hair loss are not sufficient to clearly distinguish a food allergy from an intolerance, as they have the same symptoms.
intolerances in cats
Real food allergies are less common in cats than intolerances. A food intolerance or intolerance is a hypersensitivity reaction in which the cat's own immune system is not involved. The reasons can be of a different nature - for example, a lack of enzymes can trigger a hypersensitivity reaction. In this case, the organism is unable to digest certain components of the food. Lactose intolerance, for example, is widespread among adult cats: the activity of the enzyme lactase continues to decrease in the body of the growing cat. However, the cat's organism needs lactase to break down the milk sugar in cow's milk, etc. Undigested milk sugar typically results in digestive problems.
What is a cross allergy?
If a cat suffers from an allergy, the antibodies formed can recognize so-called epitopes - structures made of proteins and sugar compounds - on the allergen. If, for example, a vegetable to which the cat is allergic contains a molecule that has similar epitopes to the actual allergen, the antibodies can also dock onto these similar epitopes and cause an allergic reaction.
Food Allergies in Cats
A real food allergy is a violent reaction caused by the immune system to actually harmless components of the food. The organism forms antibodies to certain protein structures in the food. The vet can detect these with a blood test. The reaction will then always occur when your cat comes into contact with this food: even the smallest doses of the allergen are enough to trigger an immune response.
Triggers for food allergies and intolerances in cats
Cats often develop a food allergy between the ages of two and six and then suddenly react to certain food ingredients - this can also affect food that they previously tolerated without any problems. Food allergies or intolerances are triggered by proteins of plant or animal origin, i.e. protein components in the food. In rare cases, a carbohydrate source can also be the cause. Any protein in the food has the potential to trigger an allergic reaction, a subsequent cross-allergy or an intolerance.
The most common food allergens in cats include:
- beef
- Chicken
- dairy products
- eggs
- Fish
- Less common: soy
Diagnosis: Elimination and subsequent provocation diet
Food allergies or food intolerances can last a lifetime in cats. The main goal in treating allergies or adverse reactions to food is to find and avoid the food component that is responsible for the development of the skin or gastrointestinal symptoms. But which components are these and how can you identify them? The method of an elimination and subsequent provocation diet has been established for diagnosis.
Important in advance: The veterinary clinic must rule out other forms of allergy such as flea bite allergy, environmental allergy, infections, parasite infestation or a specific deficiency as the trigger for the symptoms.
Procedure of the elimination and subsequent provocation diet:
- Feeding a hypoallergenic food (prescribed by a veterinarian) – usually based on hydrolysed proteins – this means that a protein is partially broken down to make it more digestible.
- During the period of 10-12 weeks, your cat will only receive this food.
- Be consistent: During the diet, you must not feed any treats or anything “foreign”.
- Medical assessment: The effectiveness of the diet can only be determined after approximately 12 weeks. During this time, the veterinarian must rule out a new infestation or infection. If the symptoms subside, the cause is an allergy or intolerance.
- After 12 weeks, you feed your cat the old food again - if the same symptoms appear again after about 2 weeks, it is a food allergy or intolerance. It is therefore important to avoid the identified allergens in the future and to remove triggering food components from the cat's menu.
How to help your allergic cat
If your cat has an allergy, choosing the best specialty food is crucial. Food allergies, like other allergies, are incurable. Instead, they are treated by avoiding foods that trigger allergic outbreaks. So use special allergy food for your cat that is balanced and contains as few additives as possible. If your cat is allergic to a certain meat, try a food with an alternative protein source. If this doesn't help, your cat may need a food with specially broken down proteins (hydrolyzed proteins). Some cats can react dramatically to traces of an offending allergen, requiring carefully controlled hypoallergenic foods , while other cats have a higher tolerance and are suited to an adapted version of a typical cat food.
You should definitely involve the treating veterinary clinic when it comes to the question of the right food.
You should remember this
You should remember this
Dr.Clauder's for sensitive stomachs and allergy sufferers
If your cat is showing allergy symptoms or food intolerance, a long-term change in its diet is necessary. Use allergy food with hypoallergenic properties for your cat to quickly relieve symptoms and prevent them from recurring.
With careful dietary control, the prognosis for cats with food allergies is generally good.
Food emergency? The nutrition hotline helps
If you have any questions about animal nutrition, we will be happy to help you. Call us during our service hours or send us an email with your request:
- Telephone: 0800 / 474 476 0
- Email: hotline@dr-clauder.com
These are our service times:
- Monday and Wednesday 3 - 9 pm
- Tuesday and Thursday 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Friday 3 - 7 pm
- Sunday 3 - 5 pm (every 1st Sunday of the month)
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