Allergies in cats: Identifying triggers and treating them successfully
Allergies in cats: Identifying triggers and treating them successfully
Many people are allergic to cats. What many people don’t know is that also cats can develop allergies and this actually happens far more often than you might think.
Some of the possible allergens that can cause discomfort in cats include ingredients in food, saliva from fleas or various environmental substances such as plant pollen and dust mites.
As an allergy is extremely unpleasant for your cat, you should react promptly if symptoms occur. Below you will find out how your cat develops the allergy, how it becomes noticeable and what treatment options are available.
How does an allergy develop in cats?
An allergy is an overreaction of the immune system. When a cat comes into contact with a harmless substance, such as a certain protein source in food, the cat's body mistakenly classifies it as a threat.
The immune system tries to fend off the supposed danger emanating from this so-called allergen and an allergic reaction occurs.
Common types of allergies in cats
Allergies in cats can be triggered by various substances. Depending on which allergens are involved, the symptoms in affected animals can be either year-round or seasonal.
The following allergies can occur in your cat:
- Flea bite allergy
- Feed allergy
- Environmental allergies
Flea bite allergy in cats
The so-called flea bite allergy is triggered by an infestation with fleas. Affected animals react to flea saliva. A few fleas are often enough to cause a massive allergic reaction with severe itching.
Food allergies
In most cases the responsible allergens are animal proteins. Wheat can also lead to intolerances. This also applies to artificial additives, which further aggravate the symptoms of food allergies in many cats.
Environmental allergies in cats
Besides flea saliva and food, various substances from the environment can also trigger allergies. For example, your four-legged friend may be allergic to plant pollen in the spring, or house dust mites may cause him problems all year round. Furthermore, it is also possible that dyes and fragrances in textiles or cleaning agents in your household are responsible for the cat's allergy.
Symptoms of allergy in cats
Allergies can cause many different symptoms.
The typical symptoms of allergy in cats include
- Severe itching
- Redness and rash
- Bald or even wound-licked areas
- Digestive problems (with feed allergies)
- Asthma (for environmental allergies)
In general, genetic predisposition determines whether your cat is prone to certain allergies.
These symptoms can occur in animals of any age. It's not unusual for your cat to experience the first allergic reactions from one day to the next, although there have never been any symptoms before.
Diagnosis of allergy in cats
In order to successfully treat the allergy in your cat, it is of course first of all necessary to determine the exact trigger. In this context, it is important that you keep a close eye on when allergic reactions occur in your cat. This information will help the vet to make a diagnosis.
If your cat suffers from fleas, its very likely that the allergy is caused by flea saliva. If, on the other hand, the symptoms are more common after meals and are accompanied by digestive problems such as diarrhoea, your cat is likely to have a food allergy.
If both can be ruled out, it can be assumed that the symptoms are due to an environmental allergy. In this case, the veterinarian has the possibility to perform a skin test.
For this purpose very small amounts of different allergens will be injected into your cat’s skin. Your cat will have a skin reaction within 15 to 30 minutes if they have an allergy to one of the injected substances.
Treatment of your cat's allergy
Once it is known what is causing the allergic reactions in your cat, treatment can begin. Ideally, you should avoid contact with the responsible allergens in the future.
In the case of an allergy to flea saliva, it’s necessary to check your four-legged friend very thoroughly for fleas. In case of a food allergy, however, a change of food will bring relief quite quickly.
However, if your cat suffers from an environmental allergy, the therapy is often more difficult. In this case, avoiding contact with allergens is usually not an easy task.
In some cases, daily administration of antihistamines in tablet form can help. Alternatively, desensitisation therapy can also be carried out for your cat.
Our expert tip for cats with food allergies
As part of the treatment of a food allergy, a so-called elimination diet is usually carried out. This means that the four-legged friend receives food with previously unused ingredients over several weeks.
New ingredients are then gradually added into the meals to find out which ingredients trigger the allergy. Food for allergic cats usually contains either hydrolysed protein or less common protein sources such as goat or game.
However, we recommend that you try hypoallergenic cat food from I Love My Cat. The food is made exclusively from natural ingredients and contains insect protein from the larvae of the black soldier fly as a protein source.
The insect protein is characterised by excellent digestibility and a particularly high biological value. At the same time, it has practically no allergy potential, making it an excellent digestible alternative for cats with food allergies.
Saver sets for nutrition-sensitive cats
We would like to support you in the best possible way with the appropriate feeding and care of your nutrition-sensitive cat. For this purpose we have put together various sets containing our hypoallergenic cat food and other products from our range.
Order our food set either for nutrition-sensitive cats with watery eyes or nutrition-sensitive cats with inflamed ears at a special price and reliably alleviate the allergy symptoms of your four-legged friend.
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