Food Allergy
(or Food Hypersensitivity)
General Information
Food hypersensitivity is a skin disorder of dogs and cats caused by an allergic reaction to food. The condition can occur at any time of the year, and the reaction can be immediate (within minutes to a few hours after eating) or delayed (within several hours to days). Most affected pets have eaten the offending material for over 2 years.
Skin reactions include redness, crustiness, and pustules (pimples). Many cases are complicated by bacterial infection and other skin disorders. In some cases, digestive disturbances also accompany the skin condition.
Diagnosis of food hypersensitivity is difficult and requires feeding a hypo-allergenic diet and gradually adding and deleting foods suspected of causing a reaction.
Important Points in Treatment
1. When the offending material can be identified, the outlook for control is excellent.
2. When the causative material is not known or a non-allergenic diet cannot be fed, anti-inflammatory drugs are the best treatment. Usually this type of therapy is lifelong.
