Evaluation of three different histamine concentrations in intradermal testing of normal cats and attempted determination of 'irritant' threshold concentrations for 48 allergens.

The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal histamine concentration and 'irritant' allergen threshold concentrations in intradermal testing (IDT) in normal cats. Thirty healthy cats were tested with three different histamine concentrations and four different concentrations of each allergen. The optimal histamine concentration was determined to be 1: 50 000 w/v (0.05 mg mL(-1)). Using this histamine concentration, the 'irritant' threshold concentration for most allergens was above the highest concentrations tested (4000 PNU mL(-1) for 41 allergens and 700 PNU mL(-1) for human dander). The 'irritant' threshold concentration for flea antigen was determined to be 1:750 w/v. More than 10% of the tested cats showed positive reactions to Dermatophagoides farinae, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, housefly, mosquito and moth at every allergen concentration, which suggests that the 'irritant' threshold concentration for these allergens is below 1000 PNU mL(-1), the lowest allergen concentration tested. Our results confirm previous studies in indicating that allergen and histamine concentrations used in feline IDT may need to be revised.