Adverse Food Reactions in Dogs and Cats

A retrospective study of canine cutaneous food allergy at a Veterinary Teaching Hospital from Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil

“…Indeed, pruritus is the clinical aspect that bothers the dogs' owners, motivating them to seek a veterinarian. The other clinical signs (alopecia, hypotrichosis, hair loss, erythema and scaling) were also reported by different authors (MEDlEAU & HNIlICA, 2001;IHRKE, 2009;SAlZo & lARSSoN, 2009), although nonspecific and being probably present in other allergic processes (GASCHEN & MERCHANT, 2011). The presence of pustules in dogs with this skin disease may be either localized or disseminated.…”

“…The transition period from home-cooked elimination diet to commercial hypoallergenic food aimed to make it more practical for the owner and safer to the patients in giving food with adequate nutrient concentrations, once many hypoallergenic home-cooked foods might be nutritionally misbalanced, and lead the patients to malnutrition (SAlZo & lARSSoN, 2009). Although, in some cases, the clinical status had worsened with the dietary transition, this may have happened due to simultaneous offering of other foods, or to the lack of rigorously following the clinical prescription, as well as the eventual administration of medicine with flavoring or in capsules or softgel (GASCHEN & MERCHANT, 2011) or, still, by a sensitivity reaction against any undeclared commercial pet food component (RICCI et al, 2013). RICCI et al (2013) have reported that failure to respond to commercial limited antigen diets might happen for many reasons and therefore, before ruling out food allergy, a novel protein home-made diet should be considered if the dog is unresponsive to a commercial regimen.…”

“…Some dogs may have only otitis due to several allergic processes, with no other clinical signs (SCoTT, 2001;MEDlEAU & HNIlICA, 2001;GASCHEN & MERCHANT, 2011).…”

“…Secondary pyoderma and malasseziosis may contribute substantially to pruritus and to the lesion progress. otitis externa is also usually observed in canine cutaneous food allergy (MEDlEAU & HNIlICA, 2001;IHRKE, 2009;GASCHEN & MERCHANT, 2011). Most authors estimate less than 20% of animals with dermatological signs of food allergy present any gastrointestinal clinical signs (IHRKE, 2009;HENSEl, 2010;PRoVERBIo et al, 2010).…”

“…The combination of an allergen with specific IgE fixated to tissue mast cells or to circulating basophiles provokes the releasing of histamine, serotonin and kinins, minutes after ingestion, or even hours after contact (ISHIZAKA & ISHIZAKA, 1967;GASCHEN & MERCHANT, 2011).…”