Forcing your pet on to gluten-free diet may be a waste of time, warn veterinary experts

IT IS the dietary fad beloved by celebrities and recommended by glossy food magazines as a way of tackling wheat allergies and other conditions.

Such is the popularity of gluten-free diets that they have now spread to pet food, with a surge in sales of glutenfree food for animals. But vets have warned that switching pets to a glutenfree diet may just be a waste of time.

Sales of Natures Menu’s gluten and grain-free Country Hunter have risen by 36 per cent in the past 12 months and the company plans to release another 36 new gluten-free products.

Some advocates of gluten-free for pets go as far as to argue that a grainfree diet offers pets something more similar to the one consumed by their ancestors, before humans took them into their homes.

However, some veterinary experts and associations have warned owners against an immediate switch to glutenfree for their pets, especially if they do not have a diagnosed intolerance.

Gudrun Ravetz, president of the British Veterinary Association, said: “We’d advise any owner considering a different diet for their pet to first consult their vet.”

Mr Ravetz said that many grains that humans choose to avoid “do dogs no harm,” and that gluten “isn’t a problem” for the majority of canines, either.

In fact, the prevalence of all food allergies in dogs and cats is thought to be just 0.1 per cent, with the Pet Food Manufacturing Association saying that food allergies in pets are “actually rare.”