Background

An adverse food reaction, specifically food allergy, is a phenomenon that has been studied in depth in humans. Unfortunately, very little scientific data have been collected for this disease in dogs and cats. Studies that have been performed in animals have not proven an immunologic mechanism. In addition, these studies were not consistent in their choice of an elimination diet (home prepared versus commercially prepared), the length of the trial, and whether rechallenging with the original diet was performed at the end, making interpretation of results and comparisons difficult.¹ Since it is possible that canine and feline food allergy is analogous to the human disease, it is important to review what is known about the pathophysiology in humans.