Sensitivity and intolerance to foods is a common problem in dogs and cats leading to itchy skin, irritable bowel syndrome and diarrhea. Traditional food allergies in dogs and cats result in immediate reactions due to the production of IgE and IgG antibodies and is typically rare. Unlike food allergies in dogs and cats, food sensitivity and intolerance involves the production of IgA and IgM antibodies and is fairly common. Food intolerances can develop over time even without changing feeds. Another common problem is when manufacturers will change their ingredients resulting in a change in your pets health and quality of life.
Common pet foods use a mixture of ingredients and it is very time consuming and costly to test numerous different foods over many weeks. The best and quickest alternative is to test your animal’s saliva for antibodies against the most common ingredients so that those foods can be avoided in the future.
Hemolife offers a service called NutriScan where they will test your dog or cat’s saliva against 24 of the most common ingredients and provide a report of foods to avoid and can help get your pet on the best possible diet. They also offer a similar service for horses that includes common feeds as well as a variety of meadow grasses. The NutriScan tests were developed by Dr. Jean Dodds, a world-renown veterinarian and researcher.