It may be tempting to use an over-the-counter diet to see if your dog’s or cat’s itching is related to food allergies, but experts say this isn’t a good way to diagnose or manage food allergies in most pets.
Food allergies can be a major cause for itching, hair loss, ear infections, and bacterial or yeast skin infections in dogs and cats, particularly if the problems are year-round non-stop.
But as anyone who has a pet with food allergies knows, this type of allergy can be FRUSTRATING.
One of the hardest parts of food allergies is what we have to go through to get a diagnosis. While it might be tempting to look into food allergies using blood, saliva, or hair testing, these shortcut tests are not actually accurate ways to diagnose a food allergy.
The best way to diagnose food allergies is to change your pet’s diet for 2 to 3 months and see if the problem gets better. Here’s the catch:
- the diet must be STRICT (no outside treats, flavored medications, flavored chew toys, bones/rawhides, etc.)
- the diet must contain a NEW PROTEIN SOURCE
- the diet must be PRESCRIPTION OR HOME-COOKED
Why can’t we use over-the-counter diets to diagnose food allergies?
The problem is that unlabeled ingredients could contaminate non-prescription diets.
See what the experts at Tufts Veterinary School have to say about elimination diet trials.
Think Your Pet has a Food Allergy? Eliminating Mistakes in Elimination Diet Trials