Can Bones Contribute to Food Allergies?: Food Residue Syndrome

There is an ongoing debate on which is the best diet for pets. There are people who are advocates for grain free diets or limited ingredient diets, while others favor feeding a raw diet. Now there is some new research that other factors have to be  considered when selecting the best diet for your pet. I came across research articles that describes a syndrome called Food Residue Syndrome. This syndrome describes a set of symptoms that occur when an animal becomes sensitive to pharmacological agents in the food they eat. As you may or may not know antibiotics are commonly used in large farms with animals that are being used for meat. Federal laws have mandatory withdrawal time that require the discontinuation of antibiotics in meat animals  prior to them going to market. Though this allows for the antibiotics to be out the muscle by the time it reaches the market, these studies have found that there are still evidence of antibiotic residues in the bones.

What does this Mean for Allergies?

The results indicated that these residues can cause a sensitivity in some animals leading to symptoms consistent with skin allergies, digestive issues, and  even conditions as severe as seizures.

So how can this be a factor in selecting a diet for your pet?

One thing to note is that many commercial pet food products may contain bone meal to help add bulk to the food therefore leading to the residue in the food. Even if The meat is removed from the bone that there is still a chance that cartilage may end up in the diet. The cartilage may contain this residue. So this is important to note even with grain free diets.

With raw diets, even though most pets will not fully ingest the bones during a meal, there is still a tendency for them to chew and ingest the cartilage of these bones.

Some additional facts to know about food residue syndrome

Not all foods will contain residue, however I will discuss which ingredients will be less likely to contain this residue later on in this article.

Whether a dog will have a response to residue depends on individual sensitivity. This means not every dog will respond to antibiotic residue if present. Also it will depend on how much residue a particular pet is exposed to.

How can you avoid this possible syndrome in your pets?

So it all comes down to what ingredients are in your pet’s diet. Here are a list of ingredients that are less likely to cause problems. Sea-water fish, Pasta, fresh and frozen vegetables, meat of wild animals (venison), ovine meat, and vegetable fats.

Also if you have elected to feed your pet a raw diet then choose meat from organic farmers since they don’t use antibiotics when raising their meat animals.

Choose Commercial diet with residue free ingredients.

You can look for the diets that contain these ingredients. These diets are most likely found in specialty pet stores. Also the researchers behind the food residue syndrome have designed a diet based on their results. You can find more information about their diet at http://www.forza10usa.com/scientific-studies/ .  I don’t have extensive experience with this diet, but the few dogs I have prescribed this diet too I have seen significant improvement with skin and digestive problems. This seems to further validate what they have researched.

Final thoughts

The purpose of this article is not to promote one diet over another. Food residue syndrome is definitely a new concept in the pet food debate. But it seems to have validity and is worth taking further look into when selecting a diet. I am not saying that this diet guarantees success for it but the information provided is worthwhile for those who are looking for an option for a healthy diet.