Food allergies are quite common among cats—in fact, they account for ten percent of all feline allergies. They can manifest as young as five months old, or they may take years to develop. Odds are your cat won’t purr her way up to you at the dinner table, and candidly tell you her food is making her sick. Not a problem!
If your cat’s allergic to her food, the signs will be pretty clear. You’ll notice any or all of the following:
- Scabs around her face and neck
- Flaky or dry skin
- Excessive scratching
- Chewing on her limbs
- Hair loss (oozing bald patches)
- Changed toilet habits
One way to determine if food allergies are to blame is to switch her to a hypoallergenic diet—incorporating proteins and carbohydrates that are new to her—for twelve weeks to see if the symptoms clear up. Avoid dairy, fish, and beef, as they account for 80 percent of all food allergies—and be sure not to feed her anything from the table. After that, go back to the old food for a week or two. If they come back, you’ll know for sure that her diet is the problem. If you’re in doubt, schedule an appointment with your veterinarian. He may perform tests to be sure there isn’t another problem, like Sarcoptic mange and inhalant allergy, also known as atopy.
Treatment for food allergies is quite straight-forward: avoid the offending agent, and stick to a diet that’s balanced with nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
Tags: cat allergy, cat food, cat food allergies
