New Pet Food Intolerance Test on the Horizon

By Dr. Becker

Pet food allergies are an increasing problem among today’s dogs and cats, making way for new food allergy testing technology.

A Canadian company, Gemoscan Canada Inc., has completed research, development and beta testing for a pet food allergy test.

The pet food intolerance test, or PFIT, is based on Gemoscan’s patented blood testing technology for humans, and was developed with the assistance of veterinarians.

The PFIT tests for 80 foods and additives – many more than most tests — selected from a review of the ingredients in approximately 100 different commercially available dry and canned pet foods.

I’ll be interested to learn more about the Gemoscan test as additional information becomes available.

Another Type of Pet Food Sensitivity Test

Last year I wrote about Dr. Jean Dodds’ NutriScan dog food sensitivity test. Unlike the Gemoscan PFIT, Dr. Dodds’ NutriScan technology uses saliva rather than blood.

Many traditional MDs and veterinarians are skeptical of saliva testing. But according to Dr. Dodds, testing with saliva is potentially more sensitive than traditional IgE (blood) testing. This is because IgE (immunoglobulin E) testing looks for food allergies, which are actually rather rare. Most pets (and people) suffer instead with food sensitivities and intolerances, which are a different kind of problem from a true food allergy.

In situations of food sensitivity, for some reason a certain food interacts in a negative way with the GI tract and it isn’t well tolerated. It’s a food that should be avoided, but it doesn’t necessarily trigger an overwhelming immune response like a true food allergy does.

Two Test Panels Now Available

When I wrote about NutriScan last year, testing was only available for beef, corn, wheat, soy, eggs and milk sensitivities. However, there are now two full panels available:

Panel 1	Panel 2
Beef	Chicken Eggs
Corn	Barley
Wheat	Millet
Soy	Oatmeal
Cow’s Milk	Salmon
Lamb	Rabbit
Venison/Deer	Rice
Chicken	Quinoa
Turkey	Potato
White Fish	Peanut/Peanut Butter

 

Since the NutriScan test uses saliva, you can choose to do the collection yourself at home or have your vet do it. And you can order just one panel or both.

Keep in mind that currently, tests are only available for dogs.

Click here for more information on NutriScan food intolerance testing.