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- Jan 29, 2024
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I’m new here. Looks like I’ve found a great cat resource. Two weeks ago one of my 5 cats (Bailey, who is 12 years old) suddenly started having an issue with one eye. First it was just watering severely for a few days then the lid swelled up and became itchy and bald. The vet found no sign of infection in the eye and the lid was scraped to look for mites (no sign) plus a biopsy was taken from the lid. Those results came back negative for signs of autoimmune disease and ringworm. So through process of elimination my vet decided it is probably food allergies.
When Bailey was young she had what a different vet diagnosed as a chronic eye infection. Same eye. But the lid never swelled up like it did this time. So she was on an antibiotic ointment continuously for many months, then only as needed. Eventually it cleared up and didn’t come back. My current vet didn’t seem to think that was relevant, but I can’t help but wonder if it is.
So Bailey was on prednisolone for 10 days then switched to Apoquel. The eye is much improved, but still watering quite a bit. My vet suggested a Royal Canin food (Selected Protein PR) but I just can’t go there. At least not yet.
I’m finding it hard to believe that this is food allergies since it came on so quickly and I had not changed foods. But my vet says it can happen that way. ??? So I’m trying to formulate a food elimination plan.
For many years I have been free feeding an assortment of dry foods plus offering canned twice a day. The dry: Farmina Prime Chicken, Prime Wild Boar (also contains chicken) and Ocean Herring. Dr Elsey’s Chicken, and Salmon.
The wet: Mostly alternating between Farmina fish varieties and Wellness Core Tiny Tasters (all contain chicken). Occasionally Fancy Feast (all varieties contain fish) and sometimes a little bit of Gerber Chicken baby food (just chicken and corn starch).
So my thought was to change brands and also eliminate chicken and fish proteins, since pretty much everything Bailey had been eating contained both. But I’m finding that it is quite difficult to find foods (particularly dry foods) meeting this criteria without considering brands that seem low quality to me and have undesirable ingredients.
I read that Dr. Elsey’s recently made a slight recipe change for their dry Chicken (or maybe it was a sourcing change) and customers are reporting that their cats are not doing as well on it now. So I did eliminate both Dr. Elsey’s foods right away. I kind of want to first try just that change and leave everything else alone. On the other hand, from what I have read, statistically it is more likely that fish is the problem (over chicken) and all of the Farmina foods contain herring. Or maybe it is another problematic ingredient, or quality control issue, in one of the foods I’ve been feeding and not the proteins. I’m left not knowing what to try first.
This is going to be particularly challenging because I have 5 cats, all getting up in years and set in their ways. Although I know it is undesirable, for now I need to be able to keep free feeding a dry food. I would like to find a freeze dried that is small crunchy nuggets that my cats would be fooled into thinking is a dry. But so far no luck.
So, any thoughts for me? Reassurance that this does sound like a food allergy? Advice on what to try first for the elimination plan?
When Bailey was young she had what a different vet diagnosed as a chronic eye infection. Same eye. But the lid never swelled up like it did this time. So she was on an antibiotic ointment continuously for many months, then only as needed. Eventually it cleared up and didn’t come back. My current vet didn’t seem to think that was relevant, but I can’t help but wonder if it is.
So Bailey was on prednisolone for 10 days then switched to Apoquel. The eye is much improved, but still watering quite a bit. My vet suggested a Royal Canin food (Selected Protein PR) but I just can’t go there. At least not yet.
I’m finding it hard to believe that this is food allergies since it came on so quickly and I had not changed foods. But my vet says it can happen that way. ??? So I’m trying to formulate a food elimination plan.
For many years I have been free feeding an assortment of dry foods plus offering canned twice a day. The dry: Farmina Prime Chicken, Prime Wild Boar (also contains chicken) and Ocean Herring. Dr Elsey’s Chicken, and Salmon.
The wet: Mostly alternating between Farmina fish varieties and Wellness Core Tiny Tasters (all contain chicken). Occasionally Fancy Feast (all varieties contain fish) and sometimes a little bit of Gerber Chicken baby food (just chicken and corn starch).
So my thought was to change brands and also eliminate chicken and fish proteins, since pretty much everything Bailey had been eating contained both. But I’m finding that it is quite difficult to find foods (particularly dry foods) meeting this criteria without considering brands that seem low quality to me and have undesirable ingredients.
I read that Dr. Elsey’s recently made a slight recipe change for their dry Chicken (or maybe it was a sourcing change) and customers are reporting that their cats are not doing as well on it now. So I did eliminate both Dr. Elsey’s foods right away. I kind of want to first try just that change and leave everything else alone. On the other hand, from what I have read, statistically it is more likely that fish is the problem (over chicken) and all of the Farmina foods contain herring. Or maybe it is another problematic ingredient, or quality control issue, in one of the foods I’ve been feeding and not the proteins. I’m left not knowing what to try first.
This is going to be particularly challenging because I have 5 cats, all getting up in years and set in their ways. Although I know it is undesirable, for now I need to be able to keep free feeding a dry food. I would like to find a freeze dried that is small crunchy nuggets that my cats would be fooled into thinking is a dry. But so far no luck.
So, any thoughts for me? Reassurance that this does sound like a food allergy? Advice on what to try first for the elimination plan?