Food Intolerance Essay

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If your pets are unusually feeling nauseated and are constantly scratching and sneezing, your beloved furry friends may be suffering from food allergies.

Food allergies or food intolerance can be caused by an animal’s immune system wrongfully identifying a protein as an invader and releases an immune response. These responses can be in the form of a dry, itchy skin, ear infections, and gastrointestinal problems.

Your pets may acquire food allergies or intolerance to food if they are fed the same thing every day. Most common food that is associated with food allergies includes beef, dairy, egg, pork, and lamb. Chicken is also likely to cause allergies to your pets because they are more popularly included in pet food recipes.

Other common allergy-causing foods include wheat, corn, and barley as well as artificial colors and flavors. According to a report by The Telegraph, dogs lack an enzyme in their saliva that can break down starchy carbohydrates, while cats’ digestive …show more content…

However, self-diagnosing your pets is not advisable.

According to the Clinical Nutrition Service, diagnosis of food allergies in pets is not always accurate, as the symptoms of food allergies can also suggest other diseases. For example, itching, skin, and ear infections are mainly caused by flea and environmental allergies rather than food allergies, while, gastrointestinal issues can be caused by parasites, viruses, and bacterial infections.

Research also showed that many food-allergy tests including those that are sold online have been are not helpful in diagnosing food allergies. None of the currently available tests which uses blood, saliva, and even hair in diagnosing food allergies have been found out to be accurate. In fact, in some reports, food allergy tests have shown that plain water and stuffed animal fur can cause food

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