The difference between allergy and intolerance
Just like humans, our four-legged companions can be allergic to certain foods from birth or develop intolerances over the course of their lives. In some cases, grains or proteins from certain types of meat trigger undesirable reactions. It's difficult to tell if your beloved pet is having an allergic reaction or intolerance to certain ingredients in their food.
In the event of an allergy, the animal's immune system sounds the alarm and reacts disproportionately strongly to substances that it should actually recognize as compatible and fights them. This manifests itself in reactions such as diarrhea, itching or even inflammation.
A feed intolerance, on the other hand, is not a reaction that comes from the immune system. Instead, the pet's organism is unable to process certain components of the food. Dogs and cats often only react to the intolerable food with late symptoms after several days - here too, gastrointestinal problems in the form of diarrhea and flatulence as well as skin irritation with itching often occur.
The symptoms are very similar in both cases and are often difficult to tell apart. We have summarized the differences for you here:
allergy
- The immune system reacts to substances and fights them
- Animal reacts with diarrhea, itching or inflammation
intolerance
- Parts of the food cannot be digested
- Animal reacts with diarrhea, itching or inflammation
- Reaction often only occurs after several days
What is an elimination diet?
In order to find out exactly which ingredients your animal reacts to, an exclusion diet is recommended. A grain-free food with only one type of meat as an animal protein source and one carbohydrate source such as potatoes or sweet potatoes should be fed over a longer period of time. This reduces the burden that is placed on the organism through food. It is important to make sure that treats are made from the same type of meat and carbohydrate source. If symptoms improve, another type of meat can be added.
This food is suitable for the exclusion diet
The Mono range from MAC 's offers a versatile range of grain-free dry food and wet food for dogs and cats, which consist of just one animal protein source as well as a plus of vitamins, herbs and healthy fats. This makes the products very suitable for allergic or sensitive animals as well as for an exclusion diet.
For dogs, the Mono range is also supplemented by suitable snacks and semi-moist soft food, so that a wide range of products is available for an appropriate exclusion diet.
For example, you can combine our Mono dry horse food with our Mono wet horse food and the matching Mono snack . If your four-legged friend doesn't really want to decide between wet and dry food, MAC 's Mono Soft Fresh Horse the perfect alternative.
With the help of MAC 's Mono you can determine exactly which ingredients the pet cannot tolerate and possibly avoid an expensive visit to the vet with an allergy test. However, if no improvement is noticeable after several weeks of an elimination diet with different types of meat, a visit to an expert is of course recommended.
