Elimination diets

Choosing an elimination diet

Choosing the best elimination diet can be an arduous process. Commercial diets often contain large protein molecules, which are capable of inducing clinical deterioration in some dogs, or they may contain protein sources which are not declared on the label.

Hydrolysed diets

How to choose an appropriate hydrolysed diet

Hydrolysed diets contain proteins that have been treated to ensure that the immune system does not recognise the proteins in the food and thus induce an allergic reaction. The protein source (e.g. chicken meat or soy protein) is cut into miniscule parts so that it can no longer bind to the IgE on mast cells.

Different hydrolysed diets contain different protein sources. For an elimination diet, choose a hydrolysed diet containing a protein-and-carbohydrate source that the patient has not been in contact with before, or choose one containing a source that the Next+ food reactivity test reveals the patient has not developed IgE against.

A completely hydrolysed feed (such as Royal Canine Anallergenic) should be chosen if you can’t find a feed with suitable ingredients.

There are conflicting results from studies on the effectiveness of hydrolysed diets for allergic patients, whereby 10–40% of patients allergic to the basic protein continue to show clinical signs on a hydrolysed version.

Homemade diets

Homemade diets work well for many dogs for a period of 2–3 months, but they should not be given to very young animals that are still growing.

Mono-protein diets

Mono-protein diets were specifically developed by veterinarians for dogs and cats with food allergies.

These diets include only one protein source and have no additives. They can be used as the protein source in an elimination trial, or to add to other food for picky eaters and those needing to gain weight.

We recommend the SOLO mono-protein product series.

SOLO mono-protein series

Solo is a mono-protein feed for dogs and cats that can be used to identify food allergy or food sensitivity, as part of an elimination trial, or to provide a protein source as part of a home-made diet.

It can also be used for patients convalescing after surgery, for tube feeding, for picky eaters, or as an addition to other food to increase protein intake.

It contains no additives, colouring agents or preservatives and has a palatable flavour.