Your Pet is Itching and It's Not Fleas, What's Causing It?

The skin of cats and dogs will respond to various insults in the same manner…itching. Where the pet itches, bites, scratches or chews can give a veterinarian an indication of the potential cause. It could be external parasites like fleas and chiggers, the air the pet breathes or its daily diet.

Food sensitivities are becoming more common. A pet may grow in to this problem. So even if the pet has been eating the same food for years, or if you commonly change from one brand to another, the ingredients in all of them are amazingly similar. A pet may be allergic to the meat or carbohydrate source in the food.

In the past, the best way to determine if the cat or dog truly had a food allergy was to perform an elimination diet. A owner had to home cook a concoction of ingredients that the pet had never seen in its dietary past. This may be something as bizarre as pinto beans and yams, no treats, no table scrapes and no supplements for usually 45 days. Needless to say, the owner and pet were usually not thrilled at this prospect. Commercially prepared diets of novel ingredients are available, but the response to the diet changes were often less than optimum.

With recent advances in molecular biology, pet food manufacturers have found a way to hydrolyze or break down the protein molecules so the body does not recognize it for instance as chicken, and therefore does not mount an allergic response to the food. The food is palatable and well balanced and can be fed long term. So if your pet is itching, has breakouts on its stomach, is losing fur or has constantly itchy feet, it may be experiencing the agony of food allergies. To determine if your pet is a candidate for a change in its diet, see your veterinarian, because it is "Your Pet…Health Matters."