Canine diet and cutaneous adverse food reactions

The veterinary nurse can play an important role in providing nutritional advice to dog owners. With the wide range of commercial diets that are available, it is important to tailor the diet to each individual animal. Selection of a diet to investigate a cutaneous adverse food reaction (CAFR) should be made after taking a thorough dietary history from the owner and a conversation to decide which diet is most appropriate for each individual. Selection of a diet should involve the use of a novel or hydrolysed protein source for that dog, but other factors such as palatability, convenience, nutritional content and cost need also to be considered. If a diet is carefully matched to owner and pet requirements, the chances of good owner compliance and a response to the diet can be maximised.

Successful Treatment of a Multi-Drug-Resistant Severely Pruritic Hypersensitivity Dermatitis in a Cat

A 3-year-old neutered female domestic shorthair cat was presented with a severely pruritic dermatitis. After exclusion of flea allergy dermatitis, ectoparasite infestation, retroviral infection, neoplasia, and cutaneous adverse food reaction, a diagnosis of nonflea, nonfood hypersensitivity dermatitis (NFNFHD) was made. The resolution of complicating bacterial infection and yeast overgrowth did not improve the animal’s condition. Numerous antipruritic treatment modalities used during the investigation proved unsuccessful, including anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive prednisolone doses, oclacitinib, antihistamines, ciclosporin A, and supplementation with essential fatty acids. Allergen-specific serology test results were negative. Treatment with oral dexamethasone allowed a complete resolution of clinical signs. The cat has been successfully maintained in remission for over 12 months. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first case report of a cat with multi-drug-resistant NFNFHD treated successfully with dexamethasone.

Clinical efficacy of nutraceutical diet for cats with clinical signs of cutaneus adverse food reaction (CAFR)

Food allergies and food intolerances are clinically difficult to discriminate. Most often, along with cutaneous adverse food reactions or CAFR, they are classified as adverse food reactions, whose causes are numerous, including toxic compounds. Eighteen indoor-housed domestic cats with evident clinical symptoms related to CAFR (drooling, back and neck intense itching, neck eczema, chronic conjunctivitis and stomatitis) involving skin lesions were studied. Cytological evaluations of ear, skin and gingival swabs revealed an increased turnover of keratinocytes while the oxytetracycline ELISA determination showed an unexpected high amount of oxytetracycline in all cats at the first visit. All cats were then randomly assigned to receive a standard (SD group) or a nutraceutical diet (ND group) for 60 days. In the ND group a significant reduction of the mean serum concentration of oxytetracycline, pruritus intensity and skin lesion severity (**p<0.01, ***p<0.001, and ***p<0.001, respectively) was observed after 60 days, and associated with a significant improvement in the clinical picture. Although a direct correlation between oxytetracycline presence within cat sera and CAFR-related symptoms has never been described, this study highlights the benefit of a specific nutraceutical diet supplementation in improving clinical symptoms and skin lesions in cats with CARF.