Why hypoallergenic recipes?
Like humans, pets health can go out of control when exposed to certain food or chemicals. Food sensitivities are whereby the animal is intolerant (sensitive) to one or more of these materials. The body reacts to this unwanted material and there is belief that this causes upset to the animal by including the following gastrointestinal signs: flatulence, diarrhoea, regurgitation or even vomiting, and unwanted variation with wet or voluminous stool quality. Itching and poor skin may also be associated with adverse food reactions.
It is often a protein which is sometimes associated with a carbohydrate (i.e. wheat gluten) that is implicated with causing an intolerance or sensitivity. Therefore, by formulating these recipes and declaring the individual ingredients we have a minimal number of known protein sources to reduce the risk of intolerance’s or sensitivities occurring. If an owner has noticed the clinical signs which are disrupting their pets normal happy self and think that the diet is probably to blame – advising your customers to switch to hypoallergenic food is a good start! Hypoallergenic food from GA is formulated to work alongside the digestive system and in turn is made up of ingredients which are less likely to cause adverse reactions – for pets with sensitive skin or digestion.
Remember to slowly change the food over.
When advising customers on changing their pets’ food it is essential to introduce the new food gradually over a period of time (usually 2-3 weeks). It takes time for the digestive enzymes and microflora to adjust. Too much disruption through changing too quickly could be counter-productive, or, at worst, cause an adverse reaction. They can do this by gradually reducing the amount old food and slowly introducing the new food to the diet. Do not anticipate the effects to be instantaneous – the effect of this diet is gradual!