Histamine Intolerence. Allergies.

[mosimom]

i think I figured out why my cat has occasional rapid breathing that also causes her to lose her appetite. I usually give her Zyrtec for a few days when this happens.
I will occasionally feed a little wet fish snack for a few days....usually 4 or 5 days to go through one 3 oz can. Well I extended this fish snack for two weeks. She enjoyed it so much. Then she lost her appetite and her breathing became rapid. Popped a Zyrtec into her for a few days and did not continue with the fish snacks. She was actually back to normal within two hours of her first Zyrtec dose.
I think the histamines from the fish built up in her system and caused respiratory inflammation so she can’t smell her food. I always thought my cat had only pollen and dust allergies. Maybe she never had dust or pollen allergies and her past episodes were from the occasional fish snacks or fish oil I used to give her? I also had in my notes that she also had episodes coincidently right after a few days of sprinkling Parmesan cheese on her wet food (enticing to eat new foods).
Through my research I find that fish and hard cheeses like Parmesan have high histamine levels. My cat has never been barfing sick or has diarrhea ever. So my conclusion is that she is “histamine intolerent.” There are so many people with this problem and there is a lot of information on the web about it. Comments?

 

[mosimom]

What is histamine intolerance?
The actual mechanism of histamine intolerance (HIT) is under investigation but is thought to be related to a build up of histamine. In a healthy individual, histamine is broken down on a regular basis by two enzymes: DAO and HNMT. The mechanism of HIT is proposed to be a genetic or acquired impairment in one of these two enzymes. DAO is produced in the intestine, so if intestinal function is compromised there may not be enough DAO to degrade histamine normally.

When build up occurs, so do symptoms. Decreased DAO (enzyme) production may be why HIT seems more common in persons with gastrointestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, IBS, celiac and SIBO. DAO activity can also be inhibited by certain medications.

Some physicians question the existence of histamine intolerance as a disease. HIT is more widely accepted in Europe as a true condition and was recognized in 2012 by the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology as a true disease for which the pathophysiology has yet to be determined.

It’s not the same as a food allergy

With histamine intolerance, symptoms can be triggered by certain foods, but the mechanism is different than a food allergy. Some of the symptoms mimic a true allergic reaction, but HIT is not mediated by IgE, so skin testing and blood allergy tests will be negative. HIT is thought to be due to a cumulative build up of histamine rather than an over-release of histamine. Systems may be
triggered any time your “threshold” is reached and it may be difficult to pinpoint a particular food as the culprit.

For example, you may have consumed histamine rich foods in the morning and in the afternoon consumed a low histamine meal. But, the afternoon food was enough to put you over your level of tolerance, so symptoms would occur in the afternoon. You would think your symptoms were due to the afternoon food but in reality your morning foods were a more important factor.

 

[duckpond]

i think I figured out why my cat has occasional rapid breathing that also causes her to lose her appetite. I usually give her Zyrtec for a few days when this happens.
I will occasionally feed a little wet fish snack for a few days....usually 4 or 5 days to go through one 3 oz can. Well I extended this fish snack for two weeks. She enjoyed it so much. Then she lost her appetite and her breathing became rapid. Popped a Zyrtec into her for a few days and did not continue with the fish snacks. She was actually back to normal within two hours of her first Zyrtec dose.
I think the histamines from the fish built up in her system and caused respiratory inflammation so she can’t smell her food. I always thought my cat had only pollen and dust allergies. Maybe she never had dust or pollen allergies and her past episodes were from the occasional fish snacks or fish oil I used to give her? I also had in my notes that she also had episodes coincidently right after a few days of sprinkling Parmesan cheese on her wet food (enticing to eat new foods).
Through my research I find that fish and hard cheeses like Parmesan have high histamine levels. My cat has never been barfing sick or has diarrhea ever. So my conclusion is that she is “histamine intolerent.” There are so many people with this problem and there is a lot of information on the web about it. Comments?

I feed a fair amount of fish cat food, but i do know from reading that cats are often allergic to fish. Is the fish snack a 3oz can of wet food? It may be that it went bad over a two week period? Cats can have allergies to several different things, just like us. I might consider that she has a fish allergy, and not feed her anything fishy? Best of luck with this!

 

[mosimom]

No, there were more cans...lol. It wasn’t spoiled. From reading, there is a difference between a food allergy/intolerence and a histamine intolerence. Google and you will be amazed. Histamines are in all foods. You just have to avoid loaded histamine foods. Any meat that sits out or not processed right away will add more histamines to that piece of meat. Makes you wonder how well pet food companies handle their ingredients...especially the meats. Fish already is very high histamines as is Parmesan cheese.