Cats & Dogs Naturally

Prevention Starts Early

In 2021, reserachers at the University of Helsinski reported that puppies fed a raw diet had a significantly reduced risks of allergies, skin disease, and atopic dermatitis (cAD) once they grew into adulthood. Puppies that were not fed raw had a significantly higher incident of allergies and atopic dermatitis in adulthood (see Study).

The research included 4,022 dogs that had been observed since puppyhood. The puppies were from 2 to 6 months of age. Some of the dog owners stated they had fed their puppies raw tripe, raw organ meats, fish oil supplements, and human meal leftovers. And other dog owners fed their puppies mostly dry food (kibbles), fruit, and heat-dried animal parts.

Study observed that by only adding 20% raw food to an appropriate 80% kibble diet still made a significant reduction in allergy and atopy related skin problems in adulthood. However, if the puppy ate more than 80% kibbles, 20% other ultra-processed foods, like canned wet food or sausage treats, and 0% raw food, there was a significant increase in allergies and atopic dermatitis later in life.

Further, kibble-fed puppies that consumed “dead animals” found outside (air-dried carcass of wild animals) there was still a reduction of allergies and atopic dermatitis in adulthood.

“These findings indicate that it was the raw food component that was the beneficial health promotor, and that even as little as 20% of the diet being raw foods, already gives health benefits” ~ Anna Hielm-Björkman, Faculty of Veterinary Medine, University of Helsinki

In conclusion, the more raw food and less ultra-processed food a puppy ate, the more likely will grow up to experience less allergies and atopic dermatitis in adult hood.

Study: Diet Affects Growing Cats Too

A 2024 study from China examied 15 male Ragdoll cats on the effects of diet on growth performance, fur quality, blood parameters, and fecal microbiota. The cats were equally divided into three categories: The first category of 5 cats were fed extruded dry food (ED). The second group of 5 cats were fed cooked meat (CM), and the third group of the remaining 5 cats were fed raw meat (RM). All 15 cats were 5 months old and weighed approximately 2.92 Kg. The experiment lasted only 28 days.

According to this study, the different types of diet did not significantly affect the weight gain of the Ragdoll cats. Also, the CM group showed better digestibility of dry matter, fat, and protein compared to the kibble fed (ED) cats. But raw meat compared to cooked meat showed no improvement of digestibility of fat. However, both CM and RM groups showed an improvement in fur condition, but lower fecal scores.

After 28 days of feeding, the cat hair scales in the ED group were damaged, showing a blurry and irregular surface structure, and the scales were not visible. Conversely, the CM group and RM group displayed intact scale structures, smooth surfaces, and clearly visible scale layers, which indicated superior hair quality compared to that of the ED group.

Further, the cats that ate either cooked or raw meat had a higher digestibility of nutrients compared to the ED group. Plus, the CM and RM groups had normal feces while the cats on the ED diet had soft stools.

We believe that a soft fecal state reveals a relatively unhealthy state of the animal intestine, which may be caused by disturbances to the intestinal bacteria.

In conclusion, the researchers stated:

Meat diets increased the innate gut microbiota of felines, such as Clostridium, which may be more beneficial for their gut health as carnivores.

MDPI Study on RagDoll Cats.

Is The Itch From Diet Or Environment?

Do you know the difference between a food allergy or a food intolerance/sensitivity? Oftentimes, the symptoms can look very similar. Basically, allergies will immediately trigger the immune system within minutes after eating. It’s an IgE antibody response that can cause vomiting, swelling, hives, itching, and in serious cases, breathing difficulties. However, food intolerances/sensitivities are an IgG antibody response that are more delayed, thus, ocurring hours, days, or weeks after exposure to the food. Reactions can be gas, loose stools, chronic itching, or ear infections. Intolerances are the body’s way of saying “I can’t properly digest this food.”

NOTE: Allergies are fast; intolerances are delayed. True food allergies are rare. In most cases, it is more than likely that your cat or dog are experiencing a food intolerance.

Cats Vs Dogs

In cats, symptoms of a food allergy or intolerance often appear on the face. It doesn’t mean it can’t appear else where on the body, but reactions primarily occur on the cat’s face. For example, recently I fed my 3 cats rabbit meat. Immediately, my Siamese cat, Mali, threw it up. Later that evening, Mali’s face was so itchy she literally scratched the skin around her ears into a bloody mess. I put on a “donut-collar” (to keep her from scratching her face), treated the scratches, and stopped feeding her the rabbit meat. Within a week or two, the itch, scabs, redness, and swollen eyes cleared up. I learned the hard way my Siamese had a food allergy to rabbit.

Dogs are a little different. They will show their symptoms all over the body. Most of the time it will appear either on the paws, ears, groin, armpits, muzzel, and around the tail area. The itchy skin can be caused by either environmental or protein allergens. On the other hand, cats rarely react to environmental factors; for cats, it’s mostly food. However, both cats and dogs can react to fleas and dust mites.

Modern Lifestyle Is Linked To Increase Allergies

According to an AVMA publication, dogs living in urban environments are being exposed to high levels of pollution. As a result, environmental allergies have increased in dogs by 30.7% and 11.5% in cats. However, dogs living in rural areas where they are exposed to farms animals and a rural environment, have less allergies due to more exposure to diverse microbiota, which shapes the immune response.

Up to the age of two-months, puppies exposed to grass, dirt, and sunlight for one or more hours a day, have shown a lower risk of developing allergies. Puppies that are always stuck inside a house or an apartment develop significantly more allergies.

Another contributing factor to canine allergies are, additives in ultra-processed food, detergents, and topical flea and tick products. Dogs living in an extremely clean home and having a coat that is more than 50% white are at a higher risks for allergies. But, dogs fed a variety of homemade diets, table scraps, and raw meat, suffer from less allergies. Also, urban dogs live a more sedentary life that leads to increased obesity. This factor is known to raise the risks of developing atopic dermatitis (in humans).

Urban-dwelling humans experience more stress and anxiety and this is often mirrored in their dogs. Although, there hasn’t been any specific studies on whether stress causes atopic dermatitis in dogs. But other studies have found atopic dogs do have a higher hair cortisol concentration compared to normal dogs.

Epigenetics & Environment

Epigenetic changes have been documented in dogs exposed to pollutants.

The Seasonal Itch

Pet owners may notice their dogs become itchy at certain times of the year. Such as, the itch will become worse during the warmer weather from late spring to midsummer (late April to June). And the itchy skin will be better in the fall and winter to early spring (October to February). From a TCM perspective, this happens because warmth and humidity aggravates Damp Heat conditions, and dermatitis is a Damp Heat condition.

NOTE: In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Damp Heat refers to a pathological condition characterized by a heavy sticky accumulation of fluids (Damp) combined with inflammation and dryness (Heat). This combination can disrupt the natural flow of Qi, blood, and bodily fluids, which can lead to inflammatory health problems.

From a Western medicine perspective, the peripheral circulation is highest in midsummer and lowest in midwinter. This means when there’s more blood flow to the skin, there is more inflammation.

If the itch doesn’t have a timing and it’s non-stop, then it’s probably an enviromental problem. It could mean that something the dog is exposed to every day is causing the allergic reaction. It could be dust mites, bedding, carpet, etc.

The Gut-Skin Axis

Recent research on the microbiome has found a connection between changes in gut bacteria and chronic skin problems. In dogs with canine atopic dermatitis (cAD), or skin allergies, studies have shown changes in both the gut and skin microbiota. This suggests that adjusting the microbiota could help manage cAD.

Research has found that dogs with canine atopic dermatitis often have an imbalance in their gut microbiome, which gets worse as the skin condition becomes more severe. There is a strong link between this imbalance and lower gut bacteria diversity, as well as higher clinical scores. This suggests that gut microbiota imbalances may play a role in causing or worsening canine atopic dermatitis.

Food Allergies and Prescription Diet

If you’ve ever taken your cat or dog to the vet for their itchy skin or perhaps, digestive problems, you were probably prescibed a hydrolyzed protein diet, like Royal Canin HP or Hills Z/D for food allergies. If so, did it make a difference for the better? In most cases, nothing changes; the itch or the digestive problem, still remain.

The FDA has never evaluated these foods for safety or effiacy. Plus, no long term studies have been performed on these diets. Prescription medications and foods have to show proof that they actually treat disease and will do no harm. But the FDA doesn’t always enforce their own rules. Thus, the word “prescription” is left on the label.

What’s In Prescription Diets?

If you’ve read the ingredient lists of these “prescription” diets then you’d understand why your pet never got well. These diets typically contain: Brewers rice, hydrolyzed soy protein, chicken fat, powdered cellulose, natural flavors, dried plain beet pulp, fish oil, vegtable oil, DL-methionine, and a long list of lab-made synthetic vitamins and minerals.

If you’ve noticed there’s no real “food” in these diets. For example:

• Brewer’s rice are small milled fragments of rice kernals that have been separated from the larger kernals of milled rice. This makes the Brewer’s rice void of nutrients.
• Chicken fat – once exposed to air, oxidation occurs, making the fat rancid.
• Vegetable oil and fish oil – once exposed to air, oxidation occurs, making the oils rancid. In the body, rancid oils produce free-radicals. Plus, most vegetable oils are made from GMO grains sprayed with glyphosate.
• L-methionine is an essential amino acid naturally found in meat. The synthetic version is DL-methionine. Anytime you see DL-methionine added to pet food it means there is little to no animal protein in the product.
• Powdered cellulose is sawdust.
• Hydrolzed soy protein – 99% of soy is GMO and likely contains glyphosate. “Hydrolzed” means the protein is chemically cleaved into smaller peptides.
• Natural flavors are a mix of mystery chemicals designed to entice your pet to eat something it wouldn’t touch in a million years.

Making The Itch Worse

These “prescription” diets are fed to animals with compromised immune systems that are responding in an inflammatory manner to food ingredients. They are NOT supposed to cause inflammation in the body, which is why they are labeled “hypoallergenic.”

However, a 2019 PubMed article showed that “prescription” diets could actually stimulate an inflammatory tesponse in the lymphocytes (See Study).

These results demonstrate that hydrolyzed diets may contain proteins that stimulate helper T-lymphocytes, and may not be effective for treating all dogs with food hypersensitivity.

So, not only are these diets deficient in nutrients, but may also make inflammatory response to allergies worse in about 50% of dogs that consume these products.

Skin Injury May Bring On Food Allergies

A new study from Yale School of Medicine has found a link between skin injuries and the development of food allergies. In mice, researchers found that when a new food was fed at the same time as a skin injury, such as a cut or even sunburn, the animals developed food allergies to that food. This connection may explain why children with chronic skin conditions like eczema are three times more likely to have food allergies, with skin inflammation sometimes preceding allergic disease.

The findings suggest that the immune system may “remember” foods introduced during times of skin damage as dangerous, even though the gut is normally tolerant to new foods. This challenges the notion that allergens must enter the body directly through broken skin, suggesting instead that signals between the skin and gut may drive allergic responses.

See Study for more information.

Natural Solutions For Itchy Skin

The following is a list of a few things I’ve found helpful in relieving the itch. But finding the root cause is the most important factor. For me, I always start with the diet.

Elimination Diet

Since diet can play a role in allergies and intolerances, especially for cats, then an elimination diet can help zero in on what food is causing the problem. Elimination diets are best done on a homemade diet rather than switching around ultra-processed pet food. A homemade diet would make it easier to remove suspected allergens, which wouldn’t be that easy to do with premade ultra-processed foods.

The idea is to feed a novel protein. If you’ve been feeding your cat or dog beef or chicken exclusively then you’d switch to a protein the pet has never eaten before. Let’s say you pick turkey as the novel protein. Then everything has to be turkey: turkey organs, turkey treats, turkey bones, and turkey broth. It is suggested to feed the novel diet for 6 to 8 weeks to look for a reaction to the new food. However, I think you can tell if your pet is reacting negatively ususally within 2 weeks.

Check Your Pet’s Supplements

Many allergic pets can react negatively to synthethic vitamins and minerals added to ultra-processed pet food. Preservatives, food coloring, and palatants can also be problematic. This is another reason why I encourage a homemade real food diet. Nutrients should come from food, not from chemicals.

Quercetin & Bromelain

Quercetin is a plant-derived flavonoid that is naturally found in many fruits and vegetables. It is commonly referred to as “nature’s Benadryl” due to its natural anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-histamine properties.  

Bromelain is often combined with Quercetin, which is a proteolytic enzyme found in the pineapple plant. The purpose of bromelain is to help digest and breakdown proteins. Plus, it helps reduce inflammation in the body. 

Herbs

Nettle leaf/seed has anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine properties. Herbalist Rita Hogan suggests using a Nettle leaf tincture with Quercetin for dogs with food sensitvitivies and allergies. From Rita’s book The Herbal Dog, she adds, “For “cool” dogs, include bromelain. However, if bromelain causes itchiness, nausea, or vomiting, use nettles and Quercetin combination; this reaction can indicate that your dog is too “warm.”

NOTE: “Cool” and “Warm” refers to your pet’s energetics. Your pet’s energetics can be obvious, like, a “cool” animal will seek heat; and a “Warm” animal will seek coolness. Or, it can get a little complicated when an animal can be described with cofactors of “Excessive dryness” “False heat” “Damp stagnation.” See chapter three in Rita Hogan’s book The Herbal Dog.

Omega-3s Fish Oil

A diet with a balanced ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 can calm inflammation. Suggested general dosage of Omega-3 Fish Oil for dogs is 50mg/kg/daily. Cats have a slower metabolism than dogs, so Fish Oil dosage for cats is higher at 100mg/kg/daily.