Adverse food reactions (AFR) are a common cause of skin diseases in cats and dogs. When managing AFR in pets, clinical nutrition plays a vital role. Royal Canin offers a range of allergy diets designed to address food sensitivities and promote overall health. This article explores the ingredients, benefits, and scientific basis behind Royal Canin allergy diets, with a focus on the Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein Adult HP formula.
Understanding Food Sensitivities in Pets
Skin diseases are one of the most frequent presenting complaints for cats and dogs in veterinary practice and they are frequently caused by adverse food reactions, or AFR, which is the third most common skin allergy in dogs and the second most common skin allergy in cats . The signs of moderate to severe cutaneous AFR (CAFR) are likely to substantially affect the overall quality of life of the pet. Signs include non-seasonal pruritus with or without associated skin lesions, such as erythema, lichenification and excoriations in dogs and crusting and excoriations of the head and Neck in cats. Because a dog’s immune system is less likely to identify these tiny proteins as a threat, the chance of an allergic reaction is reduced. If a dog begins to show signs of improvement after being fed the new food for a couple of weeks, a vet will reintroduce suspected ingredients to see if they provoke an immune system response.
Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein Adult HP: Key Features and Benefits
Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein Adult HP is a veterinary-exclusive dry dog food formulated for adult dogs with food sensitivities. The diet is designed with several key features and benefits:
- Hydrolyzed Protein: The primary protein source is hydrolyzed soy protein, composed of low molecular weight peptides. This process breaks down the protein into smaller pieces, making it highly digestible and less likely to trigger an immune reaction.
- Skin Barrier Support: Optimal amounts of B vitamins and amino acids reinforce your dog's skin barrier, promoting healthy skin.
- EPA and DHA: Enriched with Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, the diet helps maintain healthy skin and digestion, contributing to a healthy coat.
- Digestive Health: An exclusive blend of fibers helps regulate intestinal transit and supports a balanced digestive flora, addressing digestive upsets common in sensitive dogs.
- Quality and Safety: Royal Canin emphasizes attention to detail during formulation and production to deliver precise and effective health nutrition for pets.
Ingredients Analysis
The ingredient list for Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein Adult HP provides further insight into the diet's composition:
- Primary Components: Potato, rabbit meal, coconut oil, hydrolyzed soy protein, and potato protein form the base of the diet.
- Flavor and Oils: Natural flavors and vegetable oil enhance palatability and provide additional energy.
- Minerals and Vitamins: Monocalcium phosphate, fish oil, calcium carbonate, choline chloride, DL-methionine, salt, and potassium chloride contribute essential minerals. A comprehensive vitamin blend ensures complete nutrition.
- Trace Minerals: A selection of trace minerals, including zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, and copper proteinate, supports various bodily functions.
- Preservation: Rosemary extract, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid, ensures the food's freshness and prevents oxidation.
Guaranteed Analysis
The guaranteed analysis provides a breakdown of the diet's nutritional content:
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- Crude Protein (min.): 19.0%
- Crude Fat (min.): 10.0%
- Crude Fiber (max.): 3.4%
- Moisture (max.): 10.0%
- Eicosapentaenoic + Docosahexaenoic acid (EPA + DHA) (min): 0.12%
- Omega-3 fatty acids* (min.): 0.3%
The Science Behind Hydrolyzed Protein
The goal of hydrolysed protein diets is to help prevent the recognition of epitopes that potentially trigger an adverse food reaction. There is currently no consensus on the precise threshold in protein size for it to be considered truly hypoallergenic but specialists agree that protein should be hydrolysed as extensively as possible, providing that there are no issues with bitterness or osmotic diarrhoea. The extent of hydrolysis can be determined by measuring the molecular weight of proteins in the diet, with a single amino acid weighing between 70 and 250 Da. Protein may be considered to be partially hydrolysed, or extensively hydrolysed to the level of oligopeptides and free amino-acids, resulting in a final very low molecular weight protein hydrolysate. Most commercial pet diets currently marketed as ‘hypoallergenic’ are partially hydrolysed; it has been reported that 25-50% of dogs still presented with clinical signs when fed hydrolysed diets containing protein ingredients to which they were allergic when these were intact proteins .
Hydrolyzed diets contain protein that’s been broken down at a molecular level to reduce the chances of an immune system reaction. Because a dog’s immune system is less likely to identify these tiny proteins as a threat, the chance of an allergic reaction is reduced. It depends on the cause of the dog’s food allergy. If the condition is permanent it may be necessary to keep them on a tailored diet for the rest of their life or until other health conditions prompt a change in diet.
Elimination Diet Trials and Diagnosis
An elimination diet trial begins by slowly transitioning a dog from its current food onto a new diet. To achieve an accurate diagnosis, the dog owner has to be very careful about how they store and handle the new food during the trial period. Every family member will need to be disciplined about what they feed the dog throughout the trial period too. If a dog begins to show signs of improvement after being fed the new food for a couple of weeks, a vet will reintroduce suspected ingredients to see if they provoke an immune system response.
The Importance of Purity and Avoiding Cross-Contamination
The reliability of commercial hypoallergenic diets commonly used in AFR has been questioned because studies have shown the presence of proteins not declared on the label ingredients. The absence of cross contamination in any elimination diet is also fundamental. Discrepancies have been found between protein analyses and food labelling in about 75% of tested diets in some studies .
To address these concerns, Royal Canin AnallergenicTM Canine and Feline diets (Royal Canin®, Aimargues, France) are veterinary-prescribed diets formulated with extensively hydrolysed poultry feather as the protein source and purified corn starch as the carbohydrate source.
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Royal Canin employs rigorous testing protocols to ensure the purity of its hypoallergenic diets:
DNA Measurement: Species-specific DNA is measured and correlated with ancillary protein content using calibration curves.
Multi-Step Analysis:
- Step 1: The total content of DNA in the diets was measured and compared with the DNA conformity threshold.
- Step 2: When the concentration of total DNA exceeded 1.2 µg/g, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses were conducted to identify the source of the contamination.
- Step 3: The calibration curves were then used to determine the NPPI for the specific protein source.
Quality Control: Quality control encompasses the choice of raw materials, transportation of raw materials to the factories, plant adaptations, strict cleaning procedures and analyses confirming the absence of ancillary protein in the final product.
More than 99.9% of the tested batches conformed to the contamination limits, having ancillary protein-related DNA content either not detectable (n = 1560, 72.3%), below the total DNA conformity threshold of 1.2 µg/g (n = 555, 25.7%), or above the total DNA conformity threshold but below a source-specific NPPI of 0.5% based on qRT-PCR and DNA-protein calibration curves (n = 42, 1.95%). In total, less than 0.1% of the tested batches (n = 2/2159) did not conform to the standards and were then discarded.
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Alternative Protein Sources
These diets contain sources of protein that a dog may not have been previously exposed to - like duck, fish, rabbit, or venison. However, protein sources that used to be uncommon in dog food are being found in more dog foods sold at pet food and grocery stores. This makes finding a novel protein, one that the dog has not been exposed to, much harder than in years past. A variety of wet and dry novel protein diets are available, with a choice of protein sources.