Food Intolerance
While dietary reactions in cats can be broken down into three distinct subsets, the symptoms in all three cases can often be identical, making determination of the specific cause difficult. Elimination and even observation of the cat's habits may be needed to make a correct diagnosis.
Cats have extremely sensitive dietary systems. Sudden changes to a cat's diet can certainly result in adverse dietary reactions, also known as food intolerance. This is why cat owners are cautioned to make any diet changes by introducing small amounts of new food over an extended period of time. In addition to a dietary reaction being caused by a new type of food, intolerance can also be caused by indirect methods. These dietary reactions can be stimulated by:
- Food additives
- Food coloring
- Preservatives
- Spices and "additional flavoring"
Ironically, the various elements that may be causing adverse dietary reactions in cats may be there because of humans. The coloring, appearance, and odor of pet food is often there to make it more appealing to the humans that serve it, without it doing much for the animal. Pet owners should make sure that veterinarians are aware of any "upgraded" or "new and improved" food that their cat is eating, even if it's the same brand that the animal has been eating for some time.
In addition, as with humans, chemicals are increasingly producing dietary reactions in cats. Persistent halogenated hydrocarbons (PHAs) are a type of chemical that can now be found in exterior and interior environments, both directly in foodstuffs and in their wrappings and containers (largely certain types of plastic) that can also leach into food.
Food Intoxication
The dietary reaction known as food intoxication is often also referred to as "garbage poisoning", because it generally occurs after the pet has consumed household food waste. Unlike food intolerance, food intoxication can result in GI tract bacteria motility being adversely affected by "bad" bacteria. In a best-case scenario, the cat corrects the situation with vomiting and/or voiding of its bowels, and is much improved within a few hours. But severe cases of food intoxication produce a neurological condition, called Penitrem-A toxicity, which is much like strychnine poisoning. Penitrem-A toxicity symptoms include:
- Panting
- Restlessness
- Drooling
- Incoordination and eventual fine motor tremors
- Spasms and seizures
- Hyperthermia
- Death
Botulism is another serious by-product of food intoxication, and symptoms here include:
- Fever
- Decreased urine output
- Depression
- Hyperthermia
- Hypothermia
If a cat experiences more than several hours of vomiting and loose stool, owners should not wait for any of these additional symptoms to begin, but should seek emergency care immediately.
Food allergies
Food allergies in cats are not caused by a direct reaction to the consumed food itself, but rather is an immune system reaction to it. Food allergy symptoms commonly include vomiting and loose stool, and often include skin and respiratory problems. There are no effective testing methods available for allergy testing in animals. Rather, if food poisoning has been eliminated as a cause of symptoms, the affected animal will be placed on a very limited diet to determine allergies.