How do vets tell what cats are allergic to?
December 29th, 2003 by admin
OneChance,OneLife! asked:
Hello,
someone brought to my attention that my kitten may be allergic to corn? She’s a bengal with some bowel issues.. her bengal had the same problem.. corn was the issue. i was just wondering how vets actually tell?
thanks muchly!
right now i feed her Royal Canin Sensitivity Dry and wet ID every couple of days. She loves water, so no worries about the dehydration!
Hello,
someone brought to my attention that my kitten may be allergic to corn? She’s a bengal with some bowel issues.. her bengal had the same problem.. corn was the issue. i was just wondering how vets actually tell?
thanks muchly!
right now i feed her Royal Canin Sensitivity Dry and wet ID every couple of days. She loves water, so no worries about the dehydration!
- Posted in Allergies
December 31st, 2003 at 7:47 am
they usually have to do it by eliminating suspect allergens one by one.
in reference to what the person told you, it is very true. but cats can be allergic to a lot of things. (corn, wheat, soy, certain proteins, and always remember, they are lactose intolerant)
my suggestion is to switch to a premium cat food (i reccomend Spa Select by Blue Buffalo) and give it a few weeks to see if there is a difference.
also, try to limit the amount of wet food (enough to keep her hydrated though)
***just wanted to add…read the ingredients in your food…if there is any of those ingredients i listed above, then your food uses fillers (ingredients they can put in to add to the protein count, but arent really used by the body)
January 2nd, 2004 at 9:46 am
You can slowly remove certain ingredients in the diet, but this will take several months of trial and error, as it can take 4 - 8 weeks for the allergen to leave the system. If you want a more immediate answer, your vet can draw some blood and send it to a lab for testing. Spectrum and Heska are the two that I know of that do allergy testing (we prefer Spectrum). While their food allergy analysis is not 100%, it’s getting better with time. You can also test for enviornmental allergens with the same blood sample. It’s possible for your cat to be allergic to trees, grasses, dog dander, cotton, wool, roaches, fleas, etc. etc. If your cat is having problems with allergies, it’s good to be armed with the proper information.