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Section: Overview
Food allergy is an uncommon problem in cats and it can start at any age. A change in diet is not necessary for development of food allergy. About 70 percent of affected pets develop allergies to food ingredients that they have been fed for a long time, usually more than two years. In fact, if your cat has an immediate adverse reaction to a new food, it is probably not an allergic reaction, because it takes more than one exposure to produce an allergic reaction. Food ingredients most commonly responsible for allergies are beef, chicken, fish, eggs and milk. The tendency to develop allergies is genetically determined. Cats with other allergies like inhalant allergies or atopy may be at increased risk for developing a food allergy.The clinical symptoms of food allergy resemble those of other types of allergies. These two disorders may have the same clinical symptoms and the same distribution of itchiness or pruritus over the cat's body.
Alopecia is the complete or partial lack of hair in any area of the skin where hair would normally be found. In cats, it may be caused by self-trauma, hair follicle diseases or the failure of hair to grow...
How pruritus affects your dog’s health depends on the degree of the pruritus. Severe pruritus leads to intense scratching, which may result in painful skin lesions that may become infected.
Atopy is a pruritic (itchy) skin disease of animals that is caused by an allergy to substances in the environment. It can be difficult to diagnose in cats and, therefore, is probably under-diagnosed.
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