What is food intolerance in dogs and cats? Food intolerance is often confused with a food allergy. Both, food intolerance and food allergy are abnormal physiological responses (called also an adverse food reaction) to some foods, food ingredients, or food additives. The majority of signs and symptoms of food allergy and food intolerance in dogs and cats are similar or even overlap and are mostly categorized by the skin and gastrointestinal problems. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms of these two adverse reactions to food, allergy, and food intolerance are different. Food allergy is involved IgE-mediated immune response, while food intolerance is non-immunological, covers a large group of adverse food reactions, and mostly involved the digestive system problems that can be a result of the absence of particular enzymes required for some food digestion or from the ability to absorb nutrients. The symptoms of food intolerance generally take longer to appear, compared to food allergies. Food intolerance occurs on the primary exposure to some kind of food while food allergy requires several exposures before signs become visible. The food allergy will often occur unexpectedly after a dog has been eating the same food for a long time with no problems. In the modern world, food intolerance is more common in dogs and cats than food allergies. However, as some of the symptoms can overlap, if your dog or cat is suffering from some of these symptoms, you should take them to see a veterinarian who will be able to help you to diagnose which of these two adverse food reactions is affecting your dog or cat. The correct and prompt diagnosis allows you to get the willful and correct treatment for these two different diseases.
We are happy to inform you that Pet Preferred Diagnostic now offers the new Food Intolerance test. That will detect concentrations of specific IgG antibodies to 54 different foods. This test covers the ingredients that are potentially responsible for the majority of food intolerance in dogs and cats.
