IS MY PET ALLERGIC?

HOW DO I FIND OUT?

Sudden scratching, vomit, break out in hives, diarrhea, limp, wheeze, shake, drool, fatigue right after eating, can all be signs that your pet is having an allergic reaction. More often than not, food is responsible for these allergies in pets. Though chemicals, food additives, mold, and contaminated drinking water also cause allergic reactions.

In most cases, allergic reaction is rapid, obvious and dramatic; however, sometimes it takes up to 24 hours for the symptoms to manifest. It would be great if a simple blood test or skin test would reveal everything you want to know about your pet’s food sensitivities, but most vets and researchers find blood tests and skin patches to be inconclusive or too inaccurate to provide useful guidance.

THE MOST EFFECTIVE & CHEAPEST OPTION

The most accurate way to test your pet for allergies is at home using food rotation diet, the same way you would test yourself or your child. Here are the steps you would need to use to determine whether your pet is having an allergic reaction.

1. Give your pet’s digestive tract a complete rest: Don’t give them anything they have eaten in the near past. Instead choose proteins they have not eaten in the last few weeks or more (such as lamb, venison or salmon); raw, steamed or boiled vegetables (carrot, parsnip, potato etc.). Some vets even recommend just feeding them boiled rice since it is easy to digest.You can’t feed your animal any packaged or cooked food during this trial period.Sure, it is an unbalanced diet, and sure it is going to be very stressful for the animal initially but you have to remain firm. Nothing but hypoallergenic food and pure water should be given during this time. This includes no treats, vitamins, snacks, chew toys and heartworm preventive tablets.
2. After two to three weeks of this rigid diet begin testing your pet for food sensitivities through rotation diet.
3. The basic rule of rotation diet is to wait four days before repeating an ingredient. So basically, you make a weekly food schedule and make sure that you don’t serve a meat or vegetable again for next four days. Here is a sample schedule:

4. Each week, add a few more ingredients until you are serving a variety of meats, grains, vegetables, fruits, and supplements.
5. Don’t serve two types of meat the same day, or two types of grains. Keep each category separate, and serve only one food in each category per day.
6. Always wait four days before repeating any food.
7. Allergy work requires detective work and rigorous record keeping. Write down what you fed your pet and when so you can trace the allergic reaction to a food. Ex. If you feed your cat salmon and she keeps scratching herself, then it is something you need to take a note of. Remove salmon from her diet for several weeks. If you want to verify your observation, re-introduce salmon but a small quantity and after a few weeks or even months.
8. The point is to be able to see what reaction each food is having on your pet. Most pet foods contain so many ingredients that it is impossible to trace an allergen.

Once you have discovered your pet’s food sensitivities, you can create a long-term balanced feeding plan for them which will ensure their well-being and won’t break your bank.