Which Ingredients are Most Likely to Cause Food Allergies in Dogs and Cats?
Pet food discussions seem uniquely capable of getting readers of this blog excited. Let’s shake things up.
Recently a reader brought up a question in the discussion of corn as a pet food ingredient. The reader was curious about the allergenic effects of corn. Is corn likely to cause allergic reactions in dogs and cats?
Cats and dogs with food allergies most commonly suffer from skin and ear problems. Gastrointestinal upset also is possible.
Numerous studies have been performed to assess the most highly allergenic food ingredients. A paper published in the September, 2002 issue of Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery attempted to tabulate the results of 22 different studies into a cohesive set of data. This “study of studies” has the advantage of large sample sizes that are likely to be statistically significant. It has the disadvantage of being authored by Philip Roudebush of the Hill’s Science and Technology Center. Although I can’t see any evidence of data twisting in the paper, readers should be aware that the data were tabulated by a person employed by a pet food manufacturer. Consume as many grains of salt as you desire while reading the results.
The leading food allergens in dogs as determined by the study of studies are listed below. Numbers in parentheses indicate percent of food allergy cases caused by each ingredient. They do not indicate the likelihood that a pet will suffer an allergic reaction after consuming the ingredient.
In cats, the following allergens were found to be most problematic.
A different study of studies was published in April, 2006 in the online journal Critical Reviews in food Science and Nutrition. The authors were Belgian, and in a quick review of the matter I could not find evidence of links to pet food companies. Here are their conclusions.
The leading allergens in dogs as determined by the authors are beef (36%), dairy (28%), wheat (15%), egg (10%), “diverse” (includes corn, rice, “biscuit”, chocolate [They're feeding chocolate to dogs in Belgium?! Don't they know it's potentially toxic? And isn't Belgian chocolate too good to give to dogs?], and gluten) (10%), chicken (9.6%), “canned foods” (8.6%), soy (6%), “dry foods” (6%), pork (4%), rabbit (1%) and fish (1%).
The authors concluded that the leading allergens in cats are “commercial foods” (ingredient causing allergies undetermined) (25%), beef (20%), dairy (15%), fish (13%) “diverse” (includes penicillin, “brand’s essence”, gluten, and viscera) (11%), lamb (7%), poultry (5%), barley and wheat (5%), additives (2%), rabbit (1%) and egg (1%).
Percentages in both studies may not add to 100 due to rounding.
Readers are invited to post links to additional studies in the comments section.
Photo: may cause allergic reactions in dogs. That leaves more for me!
You have questions. 
I highly doubt that the meats cause allergies in dogs or cats. They are not meant to eat corn or wheat thus allergies in the joints will cause arthritis and reactions. Dandruff is cause of consumption of wheat and corn. In the wild, dogs need to eat meats, bones, including organs and the head. Important nutrients are from the organs. I refuse to believe dogs or cats have allergies from the meat alone when it is natural for them to eat this. Unless the cows are fed so much corn and/or grains then that could be a problem.
I have to wonder also. The dogs that I have had to change diet with did much better with no corn. One of my dogs was chicken and corn. And I notice that their coats have no dander and are just shinning with no corn or wheat. I have raised dogs for a service group that feeds a well know promoted feed. Guess what. We have several that had to be dropped because they were suffering from alliergies. All raised that had been perfect before. One I raised they said would need allergy shots rest of his life. Changed diet. No corn. And WOW-all healthy again. Every one of them all the suddenly better… with only change no corn. hmmmm. I am no expert, but makes me wonder. I just do what works.
What about artificial additives, such as colourants and preservatives?
Does anyone have any figures for allergies to those in pet foods?
Dogs and cats may not be allergic to corn per se, but that ingredient should not be in any pet food because it’s absolute crap. My experience is similar’s to Patty — took KJ off corn-based food and could see the difference in her coat almost right away. And, instead of hairballs once a week, she now gets them maybe once a year! Coincidence? I doubt it.
Another allergy to be aware of for cats is shellfish. When Friskies came out with their Chicken & Shrimp, I bought a couple of cans for my cats, thinking they would like it, and did they ever! But one of them developed a rash on his forehead shortly after eating it the first time. I watched him closely and after a few days of no chicken & shrimp, the rash was gone, so I fed them the other can, and again, the poor kitty developed the rash! No more chicken & shrimp here!
My cat had irritable bowel syndrome for a couple years before it was determined to be food allergies. An allergy test showed he is allergic to beef, lamb, rice, oats and barley. Since switching him to a completely GRAIN FREE diet, his IBS has disappeared, he has lost weight to become lean and muscular, and his coat is the softest I’ve ever felt…with no sign of dandruff. He has the occasional yeast infection in his ears still, but all around he’s become the most beautiful healthy boy! Grains have no place in cat food, they are not able to utilize it the way they do meat. You’re paying for fillers which just ends up to be more poop in your litterbox!
Has anyone heard of Rendering Companies? They gather products from slaughter houses, dead animals, (from
a variety of places), some even from animal controls. Do a
search by typing in Rendering Companies. It’s hard to find
information on this operation. Pet food is made out of the by
products processed at these companies. I haven’t been able
to find out which pet food companies use these by-products.
You would be surprised what’s in your pet’s food. I am very
concerned about animal welfare, on all levels. If anyone has
more information on the subject, please share it.
I would like to point out that thie “meat” is probably from canned mixes. I never heard of such a thing in my life. Whatwith all this melamine scare that China unleashed on us, I now trust virtually no prepared foods for animals save for Meow Mix, Purina, and Friskees–they package and sell in the US, and are heartier than the other dry foods.
I feed my cat salmon generally and while she does toss the occasional hairball, I have noticed sausage has a profound effect on her digestion. meat, chicken, fish–not a problem, and for some reason she generally doesn’t eat any kind of dairy (smart cat!). I think this survey is very flawed…..
My little Jack Russel has allergies connected with pet food. She gets itchy and will really dig at her ears. I got her off grains and I even found some almost grain free little treats made by the Newman’s Own company. She does really well until she sneaks and eats the cat’s food. I had not thought about corn, but what I’m feeding her now doesn’t have corn in it either. I too only trust Friskees for feeding my cat.
I’ve done a food trial with Daisy. She is allergic to chicken, all dairy products, and eggs. We had to do the food trial because of ear infections. Now that we know what she is allergic to her ears have been clean. She just had a check up today.
Daisy was not allergic to corn or wheat at all.
I lost 2 cats to the melamine filler in Iams. The other 4 who didn’t eat as much have some kidney damage. I changed to foods with no corn, but did have rice. Recently I found a wild game food, very high protein. Now I will lose 2 more of those damaged because of the high protein content. The other 2 seem to be doing well, and the one that had IBS seems to have recovered from it. Also, no more dandruff. It seems to me to be a case of moderation in everything.
HI Dogster Team, Good Day!
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People get “excited” about the food issue because many of us have experienced first hand the problems with feeding poor quality, highly processed, species inappropriate foods to cats and dogs. If their animals haven’t had (known) problems that are diet related, many people have educated themselves about diet and have come to realize the importance of diet — for their pets and themselves. Like Dr. Lisa Pierson says: “Diet is the brick and mortar of health.”
But, this blog post doesn’t really “excite” me. First, from my reading, food allergies represent only about 10% of all allergies. And so what, there are *apparently* some proteins that cause food allergies in cats and dogs. I have always heard that beef and fish are known allergens in cats. As far as corn and wheat being *apparently* less allergenic than other proteins, I would need to look at those studies (I understand its apparently a compilation of other studies) and see their methodology and look for possible flaws. Biologically it doesn’t make sense. I am skeptical of this. I must “consume many GRAINS of salt” with these studies.
If your animal has food allergies (the small percentage who do) find a non-allergenic protein. Feed species appropriate,quality grain-free non-allergenic food.
Here are the ingredients from Hills Science Diet Indoor Dry cat food (pricey and vet recommended): Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Brewers Rice, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Animal Fat (preserved mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Mill Run, Soybean Oil…plus added supplementation.
I wonder if they included powdered cellulose and soybean mill run (sawdust) in the list of allergens they studied? Powdered cellulose seems to be a favorite with Hills and a few others.
Just look at those ingredients. OUR CATS DESERVE BETTER. The veterinary industry must do better. Selling this food, promoting it as vet recommended/prescribed…It’s awful. You can do much, much better Dr. Barchas.
Hey I did get excited…But not about the allergen issue.
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We can’t feed our dog, who is ironically named Reese, anything with peanut butter. Not even PB flavored biscuits.
Just a thought about beef being the top allergen – is that grass fed, organically raised beef or CORN (grain) fed beef? One reason that fish is so good for both humans and animals (as long as it doesn’t have excess mercury) is that it is enriched with the nutrients of the phytoplankton it feeds on, rather than being ‘grain fed’ like other protein sources. With industrial farming techniques, beef and other lifestock don’t get the variety of nutrients they once did from being ‘range’ fed…but even range fed doesn’t guarantee diversity of nutrients if the soil is depleted of the nutrients in the first place (from erosion, overfarming, overgrazing, etc.)
We are feeding our dogs Nature’s Recipe, a mixture of their lamb & rice and their vegetarian blend – just recenty switched. I am going to have to rethink Nature’s Recipe because one of my dogs has started having “hot spots” and itching to the point of doing himself damage. I’ve started supplementing with raw vegetables when I see him really start to chow down on grass when he goes outside. I also added raw vegetables to the diet when both the dogs had a worm infestation and the medicine wouldn’t cure it. They haven’t had a worm problem since.
My Great Pyrenees has food allergies, it took me FOREVER to figure out what was causing his face and paws to be so itchy. After a lengthy time of excluding certain ingredients from his dog food, I finally took him to a vet in a larger town to do tests on him.
It turns out that his food allergies include beef, lamb, corn, soy and egg. Egg was the ingredient that I had not excluded from his diet. Once I found chicken and a fish based, grain-free foods, he was back to normal.
Additionally, he snatched steak that slid off the plate as I was taking them off the grill and wouldn’t you know, he threw up for the rest of the afternoon and was totally itchy for the next three days. I buy a side of beef every year that is grass fed, no chemicals and no hormones, and it still affected him. We give him NOTHING that he’s allergic to.
Pet allergies are really difficult to control, both food and environmental.
My dogs (a black pug and a chihuahua yorkie westy mix) have been on a no corn, wheat, soy, beef or chicken diet for several years and it has really helped the pug.
She used to find the most ingenious ways to scrub the fur from the junction between her back and her tail and her ears were pretty fragrant and prone to gunk.
Besides having those problems clear up, neither one of them fart. And this is a very good thing. The pug used to be able to clear a room.
As for my dogs, I haven’t noticed yet any food allergy problem that they encountered. Check this site about dog food allergy:
http://hypoallergenicdogfood.yolasite.com