Your Pet's Itchy Skin
Itchy skin in the small animal is often more than just a minor annoyance. Red, oozing bald patches; rashes; and large expanses of hair loss are unfortunate markers of very real discomfort for which a cause should be sought and dealt with.Food allergy is one of the itchiest conditions known to cats and dogs. Animals eat a variety of processed food proteins, flavorings, and colorings that are further processed inside their bodies. Proteins may be combined or changed into substances recognized by the immune system as foreign invaders to be attacked. The resulting inflammation may target the gastrointestinal (GI) tract or other organ systems, but in dogs and cats it is the skin that most often suffers from this immunologic activity.
Many people erroneously assume itching due to food allergy requires a recent diet change of some sort. In fact, the opposite is true.
Food allergy requires time to develop; most animals have been
eating the offending food for years with no trouble.
What Kind of Allergy?
Allergic skin disease and its secondary infections dominates small animal practice. Pets can be allergic to insect bites (fleas are not inherently itchy unless the pet is allergic to flea bites), airborne proteins (such as molds, pollens, and dust mite parts) or foods. Pets can and often do have multiple allergies adding together to make them itchy. The skin infections that come from scratching perpetuate the itching. To solve the problem, the infection must be cleared up and the offending allergen(s) removed from the pet's world.
There is controversy about how common food allergy is in dogs and cats. Some experts feel it is relatively rare while others feel is much more common than we realize. It is hard to tell because there is no simple test for food allergy and the skin lesion distribution is difficult to distinguish from that of airborne allergy, which is frequently concurrent in the same patient.
So what are our clues that a pet has a food allergy? There are several hints:
- The itching is not seasonal (this is obviously hard to tell in areas that do not freeze during winter).
- Itching started when the pet was less than 6 months of age or greater than 5-6 years of age.
- No response to treatment for sarcoptic mange.
- Corticosteroids have not been helpful in managing the itching. Corticosteroids may or may not work on food allergy itching but they almost always work for other allergies.
- There are accompanying intestinal signs like vomiting or diarrhea. These are seen in 30 percent of food allergic pets.
- The lesion distribution is compatible with food allergy , especially if an itchy anal area and/or recurrent ear infections are involved.
Please note that several of the above criteria relate to what you, the owner, observe at home. Trouble results when the veterinarian must speak to different family members about the pet and there is disagreement in their observations. It is best to have one person, preferably the one who has the most contact with the pet, be the spokesperson and make the relevant judgments.
The Flea Factor
Some animals have many allergies. It would not be particularly unusual for an animal with a food or inhalant allergy.
More Here
