How To Do A Food Allergy Trial For Your Pet

Your vet has recommended a food allergy trial – we usually do this when a pet has either skin disease or recurrent intestinal issues that make us suspect food may be the cause.

Food Elimination trials are a bit annoying and tedious to do, but give us a lot of valuable information.

The long term benefit of doing one can be great; if your pet is food allergic, simply avoid the food they are allergic to in future and the symptoms will disappear – simple! This can save a lot of veterinary visits, medication and discomfort for your animal.

Instructions on how to do an Elimination trial

Phase 1

A food allergy can take time to build up and cause reactions, therefore they also take time to eliminate and improve symptoms. For this reason, the elimination phase is at least 8 weeks, sometimes up to 12 weeks.

In the elimination phase, we only feed one NOVEL source of protein and carbohydrate. We take a history of what your animal has previously been fed, and then design the diet around this.

There are commercially available dry foods called Hills z/d, Royal Canin Hypoallergenic and Anallergenic which can be used in most cases as an easy and palatable option during the trial.

It is very important that NO other snacks or treats are given for the entire trial.

After 8 weeks (minimum) we give a Challenge meal. This is one meal of anything and everything your animal would normally have eaten in the past (in suitable amount).

Observe your pet for the next few days (while back on the elimination diet); does your pet have a recurrence of the original symptoms – itching? Head shaking? Licking paws? Gastrointestinal upset?

If there is no change, then food is not likely to be an issue and we can stop the trial and they go back on their normal diet.

Phase 2

If any of these symptoms have recurred, we have confirmed that food is a part of your pets’ issue. Now we begin the work of isolating which foods are causing a problem.

Continue the trial food, but once weekly, give a meal of just one allergen; we usually start with beef, then the following week chicken, then pasta (wheat allergy), rice, then each week use a different meat until you have tested all the meat sources your pet may have access to.

Watch for signs of itching or gastrointestinal upset after each Challenge meal – they can take up to 72 hours to appear from the time of feeding.

After testing for all the food types your pet has access to, we will have a good understanding of which foods need to be avoided in future.

Please feel free to ask our friendly staff if you have any questions.