How Does an Elimination Diet Work in Dogs and Cats?

Many dogs and cat owners suspect that their animal does not tolerate certain feeds. There is only one way to get to the bottom of the matter: a consistent elimination diet over several weeks. Read here what you should consider.

 

In this article, we want to give you very practical tips on what you need to pay attention to in order to be successful with the elimination diet. You can also find medical background information on diagnostics and nutrition in the case of food allergies and intolerances in our animal diseases section: Food allergies and intolerances in dogs.

The article is also interesting for cat owners since the nutritional principles are the same.

Why is an Elimination Diet the Only Way to Diagnose Food intolerance?

Isn’t an allergy test enough?

There are two main reasons for an elimination diet:

1. The vast majority of intolerance reactions are not based on a real allergic reaction and therefore cannot be diagnosed with an allergy test. Although the animals show (almost) the same symptoms as with a real allergy, the problem is not due to an excessive reaction of the immune system, but to other mechanisms. That is why one often speaks collectively of “feed intolerances” or “feed intolerances”.
2. An allergy test (blood test or skin test) can help identify substances to which the immune system is allergic. However, a reaction in the allergy test says nothing about the severity of the symptoms that this substance actually causes and there could be additional intolerances. The same is true for people with food allergies.
   An example: A cat may react very strongly to egg and a little weaker to beef in an allergy test. However, egg or beef alone in cat food may not cause allergy symptoms at all. However, as soon as both allergens are present in the food, the problems begin because the cat’s tolerance threshold is exceeded.

An allergy test is therefore quite useful to distinguish an intolerance from a real allergy (to which one could desensitize) and, for example, to select suitable ingredients for a self-cooked elimination diet. However, the allergy test alone is not sufficient for diagnosis.

What Do I Need to Know Before Putting My Pet on an Elimination Diet?

The most important thing you need to know before starting is:

The success of the procedure depends 100% on you!

You and everyone around you – family, friends, neighbors, simply everyone who has contact with your animal – must be fully behind the elimination diet and follow it uncompromisingly for several weeks. Even the smallest “weakness” can destroy all efforts at once.

But don’t worry: the whole thing only takes a few weeks…

How Long Do We Have to go Through the Elimination Diet?

Broadly speaking, an elimination diet lasts a little longer than Lent between Ash Wednesday and Easter — typically around eight to 10 weeks.

The itching and/or diarrhea should improve within the first two to three weeks. Nevertheless, you should stick to the diet for several weeks to really let the organism rest. In the case of stubborn skin inflammation, for example, it can take up to twelve weeks for the skin to calm down and regenerate.

Which Commercial Feeds are Suitable for an Elimination Diet?

A so-called hydrolyzed diet is most suitable. All of the proteins contained in such allergy food are broken down so small that they are no longer recognized by the immune system, so they cannot trigger an allergic reaction. All other components of such allergy diets are also purified in such a way that they are not contaminated with traces of protein (e.g. there must be no fish protein in the fish oil).