Allergies
LET'S LOOK AT THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Rebalancing the immune system by providing a raw diet and supporting the immune system in the gut, with dog and cat specific probiotics and animal-derived essential fatty acids, are the simple things that can make an enormous difference to a very frustrating problem.
WHAT IS AN ALLERGIC REACTION?
A healthy and normal immune system reacts to harmful threats by producing antibodies. These antibodies bind to the threat and are cleared from the body by a specialised system called the reticuloendothelial system.
When this system is overloaded, the clearance no longer occurs. The antibodies are bound up with the threatening substance and continue to circulate in the bloodstream. These circulating immune complexes start to cause trouble - they are deposited in the skin, the gut, the kidneys, the joints; and trigger local and generalised inflammation (heat, redness, swelling and itchiness), the typical signs of an allergic reaction.
REBALANCING WITH RAW FOOD
Rebalancing the immune system by feeding raw, biologically-appropriate food takes a lot of pressure off a very overloaded immune system. Allergy panels commonly show dogs and cats as allergic to corn, soy and wheat. Rather than getting caught up in the specifics and expense of allergy testing, our suggestion is to remove grains and starches from the dog and cats diet - foods they are not designed to eat.
Feed a protein source that the dog or cat has not eaten before, for a period of at least six weeks , which allows the gut a chance to readjust. As over 70% of the immune system is in the gut - the gut is the best place to start to heal an allergic animal.
It is incredible how much impact these simple measures have on calming down an overactive immune system. We are not suggesting that all allergic dogs have food allergies. We are suggesting that biologically-appropriate raw foods can have an impact on reducing allergic tendencies.
SUPPORTING RESEARCH
At Raw Essentials we see the impacts that a raw diet can make on dogs and cats with allergies on a daily basis. But we don't just rely on these clinical observations - a growing body of scientific research also supports this:
- Studies are showing there is a decrease in the incidence of allergy type disease in dogs that eat raw animal proteins;
- Skin gene expression is also impacted by diet choice. This study showed that "genes related to immune defense, reactive oxygen species and antioxidants unregulated in the dogs fed raw food"
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