Allergy reducing pet proteins

How allergens can change 

The likelihood of allergy development increases with exposure, so it is possible the most common allergens will change over time if the general diet of a companion animal is adjusted in order to avoid the currently implicated ingredients.

Do ‘hypoallergenic’ products exist? 

To begin with, the term hypoallergenic is actually incorrect: strictly speaking, all foods are antigenic, because they are foreign proteins. In practice, a lamb and rice product, for example, may be novel and nonallergenic to one dog but highly allergenic to another.

A novel protein is a food or ingredient that the animal has not eaten previously, and it is therefore less likely to be recognisable to the ‘memory’ of a pet’s immune system. Novel protein veterinary diets include ingredients such as rabbit, venison, fish, duck, or kangaroo. In theory, other pet foods rarely use these ingredients, so previous exposure in pets is not likely. However, more and more products are becoming available with these ingredients, so attention is turning to even newer, alternative protein sources such as insects, mycoprotein and cultured meat.

Hydrolysed diets are not designed to be novel. These products have proteins that have been broken down into smaller peptides. They are so small that the immune system no longer reacts to them, unlike intact proteins. Hydrolysed veterinary products are complete, balanced and suitable for long-term feeding.

Limited ingredient diets 

Limited ingredient diets are over the counter products that contain unusual ingredients or a single protein source. Speciality pet stores may stock different foods that are marketed to certain consumers looking for alternative veterinary diets. However, some commercial foods have tested positive for proteins even when they are not listed on the label. Therefore, such foods are not ideal for food-allergic animals, at least in the early stages of diagnosis and treatment.

Unfortunately, food labels do not always tell the whole story.