Mary Allen
In the case of an allergy, the body’s defense system suddenly mistakes completely harmless substances for dangerous invaders and shoots “cannons at sparrows” without regard to losses.
Because it triggers defense reactions that lead to severe inflammation in various parts of the body. In the worst case, anaphylactic shock is possible, which can ultimately be fatal.
Allergies Come “Out Of Nowhere”
The allergy-triggering substances – also called allergens – are mostly of natural origin. These are, for example, plant pollen, mites, flea saliva, or bovine protein. And: allergies appear out of the blue. A cat can tolerate its food well for years and have an allergic reaction to it from one day to the next. The unpleasant thing about it is that an allergy rarely comes alone. Cats are usually allergic to many different substances. It is difficult to predict how allergies will develop: they can get progressively worse or – albeit very rarely – simply disappear again overnight. While allergic people often react to contact with allergens with hay fever and watery eyes, these symptoms are rare in cats. However, cats are the only animal species that can suffer from allergic asthma-like humans. Asthma is characterized by attacks of severe shortness of breath with fear of suffocation. During an attack, affected cats often breathe with their mouths open, their flanks rise and fall significantly, and the animals appear anxious. If you notice these symptoms in your cat, contact your veterinarian or the veterinary emergency service immediately. Because severe shortness of breath not only triggers fear of death in the animals – it is actually a life-threatening condition. Owners of asthmatic cats may want to have their veterinarian prescribe emergency medication so they can get help quickly if the cat has a violent attack.
The Trigger Has To Be Found
However, cats show skin intolerance as a symptom of allergies more frequently than severe asthma symptoms. For example, with all skin inflammations, especially if they occur in connection with severe itching, an allergy should also be considered. Incidentally, this also applies if the allergy-triggering substance does not come into contact with the skin at all, such as in the case of a food allergy. In addition, allergies can also lead to digestive disorders such as vomiting and diarrhea or inflammatory diseases of certain parts of the body such as the ears or paws. For targeted therapy, the veterinarian must find out which substances trigger the allergy in his patient. With a large number of possible allergens and the frequently occurring multiple allergies, this is a difficult and sometimes lengthy, and expensive undertaking. The observations of the owner are extremely important for diagnostics: When and under what circumstances do the cat show symptoms? Many common allergies can now be diagnosed using a blood test. In the case of food allergies, the responsible allergens can only be determined with certainty by following a special diet (elimination diet) lasting several weeks.
Unfortunately, skin tests that give reliable results in humans have proven far less reliable in cats. Once the allergen or allergens have been identified with certainty, the following treatment options can be pursued: The first priority is to avoid the allergen. It is one of the cornerstones of the treatment and can easily be combined with all other methods. This method is easy to implement, e.g. in the case of a flea saliva allergy, by means of efficient flea control. This method has also proven itself in the case of a feed allergy: the allergy-triggering feed is replaced with a non-allergenic one. In many cases, however, the method cannot be implemented because the allergen is a substance that is simply found everywhere, e.g. dust mite feces, or because the allergen is not known.
Healing Is Possible
Hypersensitization (specific immunotherapy, SIT) is another elegant method. The aim here is to “accustom” the immune system to the allergen until it classifies the substance as harmless. To do this, the veterinarian first injects the animal with tiny amounts of the allergen and gradually increases the dose. The therapy is lengthy and the allergen must be clearly known. Hypersensitization is currently the only chance to actually cure an allergy, but real cures are very rare. In around two-thirds of the cases, however, the veterinarian can achieve a significant alleviation of the symptoms and an improvement in the animal’s quality of life with hypersensitization. Finally, treating the cat symptomatically can provide relief. Essentially, this therapy aims to suppress the immune response. Drugs related to the body’s own hormone cortisone are usually used for this purpose. If these so-called corticosteroids are used for a short time, e.g. on a few days a year for a pollen allergy, they usually have no side effects. If corticosteroids have to be administered to the allergic animal on a permanent basis, it is the veterinarian’s art to determine the smallest effective dose. Because long-term treatment with corticosteroids can lead to side effects such as hair loss or muscle atrophy. Fortunately, velvet paws tolerate cortisone much better than humans or dogs, so the side effects mentioned above rarely occur in cats.
Elimination Diet
The elimination diet followed by a challenge diet is the best method of diagnosing a food allergy. On the elimination diet, the animal is fed a diet made up of ingredients it has never eaten before. For example, an elimination diet is possible, consisting of ostrich meat for protein supply and potatoes as a source of starch. However, other animal proteins such as goat, game, duck, or fish can also be used. An alternative to self-cooked food is special ready-made allergy diets from the vet. If a food allergy or intolerance has actually caused the symptoms, the clinical picture should improve significantly. However, only under the condition that the cat gets nothing to eat for a period of at least eight weeks except for the diet food! If the animal gets something else to eat even once, weeks of effort can be “for naught” and you can start all over again.
When the animal’s condition has stabilized, you can start adding new ingredients to the diet. This so-called provocation diet is used to find out which substances the cat is actually allergic to, or only with the help of the provocation diet can you find out which foods the animal tolerates so that you can diversify your menu.