# A Randomised-Controlled Study Demonstrates That Diet Can Contribute to the Clinical Management of Feline Atopic Skin Syndrome (FASS)

## TL;DR

A new diet helped reduce symptoms and medication use in cats with a chronic skin condition over six months.

## Contribution

A randomized-controlled trial shows that a novel diet can reduce medication burden and symptoms in cats with FASS.

## Key findings

- The test diet significantly reduced medication use in cats with FASS from month 2 onwards.
- Owner-reported symptoms improved in the test group after 3 and 6 months.
- Clinical scores in the test group showed improvement, while no improvement was seen in the control group.

## Abstract

Feline atopic skin syndrome (FASS) is a common inflammatory and highly pruritic skin condition. We evaluated the benefits of a novel diet, working alongside conventional treatments, fed for six months to cats with FASS. We collected data on the veterinarian and owner-assessed symptom severity, as well as information about the medication required by the cats to control the condition. We discovered that the diet was able to reduce the medication burden of the cats over six months, as well as showing evidence of reducing symptoms. We conclude that diet can be valuable in the clinical management of FASS.

Feline atopic skin syndrome (FASS) is a common inflammatory and highly pruritic skin condition. It typically manifests according to one or more of four different clinical lesion patterns: miliary dermatitis, self-induced alopecia, head and neck pruritus, and eosinophilic granuloma complex. FASS is a chronic and relapsing condition that often persists for life. Effective management can be a significant challenge for both clinicians and owners. Here, we investigated whether diet could act as an adjunct to conventional medicated therapies to improve the management of FASS. We conducted a six-month randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study on client-owned FASS cats to test a novel pet food formulation. The main variables followed were the veterinarian (FeDESI) and the owner (VAScat) assessing symptom severity, in addition to medication requirements. Compared to the control diet, the test diet not only ameliorated symptoms but also significantly reduced the dependency on medication. The VAScat metric was improved after 3 months (p = 1.6 × 10−4) and 6 months (p = 5.7 × 10−5) in the test group only, and the cats’ medication requirement significantly declined exclusively in the test group from month 2 onwards. The interpretation of the FeDESI results was hampered by high levels of variation, particularly in the control group. Nonetheless, in the test group, clinical scores showed evidence of improvement after 3 months (p = 0.037) and 6 months (p = 0.02), and no such improvement was detected in the control group. Overall, our findings suggest that tailored nutrition can significantly aid in the management of feline atopic skin syndrome.