Foods

Facts That You Need to Know About Hypoallergenic Cat Food

It’s a hassle when your cat is allergic to specific types of food. The limited options are either expensive or not easily available to you.

Hypoallergenic cat food may be the solution your cat needs. Read more to find out everything you know about this type of cat food.

What is Hypoallergenic Food?

Hypoallergenic food for cats is specially designed for your cat with food allergies. It helps build your cat’s immunity and avoids common allergens to prevent extreme allergic reactions.

If the vet actually tells you that your cat is allergic to certain types of food, they may recommend trying one of these hypoallergenic diets.

  • Novel ingredients – food that your cat has never eaten, which can include
  • Veal
  • Duck
  • Fish
  • Venison
  • Kangaroo
  • Hydrolysed ingredients – made up of processed ingredients that are created not to trigger allergies

Benefits of a Hypoallergenic Diet

A hypoallergenic diet will lessen your cat’s chances of getting an allergic reaction. It is also good for cats having trouble with the digestion of food from various protein sources.

Digestive trouble with cats is common. Before, wild cats usually ate only one type of protein a day, so their digestive systems were accustomed to this diet.

A hypoallergenic diet with protein from a single source can be milder on your kitty’s stomach. This will help in regaining their appetite so that they can eat more.

How Long Will It Take for The Hypoallergenic Diet to Work?

The allergens will be eliminated somewhere between 10 to 12 weeks. However, there are instances that they come much earlier:

  • Two to four weeks – symptoms in the gastrointestinal tract are slowly disappearing
  • Ten weeks – skin itching is gone, and new skin cells are apparent 

If you notice that there is no progress after eating hypoallergenic food at this time, consult your vet immediately. 

How to Switch from a Normal Diet to a Hypoallergenic One

You have to be patient and persistent when switching your cat’s diet. Do it gradually to give your cat time to adjust. Abrupt changes may stress out the cat and discourage them from eating more.

Switch your cat’s food contents by 10% each day for the best outcome.

What to Watch Out for in Dry Food

Here are things to watch out for in choosing dry hypoallergenic cat food:

  • Ingredients that your cat might be allergic to
  • Questionable labels and vague nutritional data which might contain ingredients that your cat should not eat
  • Ingredients derived from vegetables
  • Grains
  • Unnecessary chemicals like flavouring and artificial colouring

Remember to mix dry food with wet food so that your cat will not get tired of eating the same food. Only eating dry food might cause stones in the bladder. You should also limit the portion of dry food as it has more calories than other types of cat food.

Can Raw Food Be Hypoallergenic?

Theoretically, raw food may help avoid allergic reactions. However, this only applies when a cat is allergic to dairy or grain. Otherwise, feeding your cat raw food may cause more harm than good.

Parasites can contaminate raw food easily, especially when they are improperly stored. In addition, bacteria and other harmful organisms can breed on the meat that your cat will eat. So it would be best not to feed raw food to a cat unless under veterinary supervision.

A hypoallergenic diet can help your cat regain its appetite. However, you should do more research and ask your vet today about switching your cat to hypoallergenic food.

 

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button