Is my cat allergic?

Is my cat allergic?

Is your cat suffering from allergies?? Has been sneezing, watering, or showing any other signs of irritation for some time? These can be food hypersensitivity reactions or environmental factors.

Environment pollution

Environmental pollutants such as; dust, cleaning chemicals and mold can cause allergies in cats. If your cat has been sneezing or watering continuously for several days, a visit to the veterinarian will be advisable. Also pay attention to whether your cat does not react negatively to the cleaning products you use, such as washing powders, rinsing or bleaching. He may have contact with them while lying on the laundry or in fresh linen

Very sensitive individuals also react to fragrance essences in air fresheners and even in scented litter. Also pay attention to whether the wooden litter you are using is made of shavings of deciduous trees, as litter based on coniferous shavings can release harmful terpenes and other essential oils.

Food allergies

Food can also trigger allergies, although diagnosis usually takes some time. First, find out if your cat has had access to potentially spoiled or processed foods such as. cold cuts, yellow ripening cheeses, sweets. These products should be strictly eliminated from the cat's diet. Also check if the cat is nibbling at home, e.g. potted plants, as many of them are poisonous to him. Even nibbling on chives can have serious health consequences. If food is found to be the likely cause of the hypersensitivity, in such cases the veterinarian should recommend a diet that eliminates certain types of food. Sometimes it is enough to limit the variety of a cat's diet to one type of food for a few weeks. Depending on the severity and type of symptoms, you can reach for easily digestible food enriched with Omega acids or a more selective veterinary diet. Sometimes it is enough to use protein-containing products that your cat has not had contact with so far, e.g. if the cat has eaten dairy products and beef so far (and 80% of cats have an allergic reaction to these proteins), give them food enriched with Omega fatty acids rich in turkey or salmon. In extreme cases, it is recommended to administer special, hypoallergenic products for a minimum of eight to ten weeks. Hypoallergenic means that the protein used in them is previously broken down into smaller non-allergenic molecules. Such feeds contain protein hydrolysates, often from high-quality plant proteins, e.g. from soybeans. Depending on the type of hypersensitivity diagnosed, it is sometimes possible to start gradually expanding the cat's diet again after a quarter. If, after feeding a small portion of food over 3-5 days, the symptoms of hypersensitivity do not return, we can include the food back in the diet of our pet. Whether we can make provocation tests and whether our cat may have an extended diet should be consulted with a veterinarian, because allergic hypersensitivity reactions have different patterns of formation.

Clinical symptoms of allergy

If your cat is actually allergic to a certain food, it may suffer from regular diarrhea and weakness, and some kittens may experience symptoms such as itching and dermatitis. If they do occur, further testing will be needed to clearly identify which ingredient is causing the allergic reaction. It is also necessary to exclude whether the skin reactions are not related to the presence of parasites on the skin (e.g. fleas) and secondary bacterial and fungal infections.