Food allergy is only a minor possible cause of skin diseases. On top of that it rarely happens that the cause of the allergy is thoroughly investigated. The reason is the time-consuming and expensive treatment. Could it be that in a lot of allergy cases we are confronted with “Food Adverse Reaction” more than with “Food Allergy” (see table)? Therefore it’s of great importance, in case of a real food allergy, to find out where the allergy comes from.
The occurrence of food allergy is certainly overestimated as it represents only 1% of all causes of skin disease with cats and dogs.
The spectrum of adverse reactions to food
By David Lloyd
Professor, Department of Clinical Veterinary Science,
Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Campus
North Mymms, Hertfordshire, UK
With dogs.
2/3 of dogs with skin disease are fed with beef, dairy products or wheat gluten.
25% of reported food allergies were also linked to chicken, chicken eggs, lamb or soya. Allergy with dogs was only rarely linked to corn, pig, rice or fish.
With cats.
80% of allergies with cats were linked to beef, dairy products or fish (mackerel and tuna fish among other things).
35-48% of dogs and 50% of cats suffering from allergies are showing signs of hypersensitivity to more than 1 food allergen.
