Natural Balance Green Pea + Venison / Food Allergy Question

Hello,

My cat seems to have developed food allergies, which have manifested in itching and vomiting.

I free feed her dry, and give her two cans of wet per day (one can in the morning and one can in evening.)

Her dry for about 4+ years was Innova Regular (in the red bag). Last month she began vomiting it up every two days or so and was constipated. I slowly switched her dry over to Natural Balance Green Pea + Venison beginning on December 3rd. The NB Green Pea + Venison seems to really help with the vomiting and constipation, which I'm very happy about. She did, however, have a tiny bit of bright red blood in her stool for two days in a row. I had a fecal done and it came back negative... no parasites. Btw, the blood could have been caused by a can of Merrick wet that I gave her for the first time to see if she would eat it / like it. Her stools are thankfully fine again now (no more blood).

However, she recently began itching her ears, and licking her legs and her feet. Not excessive itching, but she's never had any itichiness at all before. She got pretty itchy after I fed her California Natural Chicken + Brown Rice wet the other night and vomited the next morning. However, she seems to tolerate Wellness Chicken wet really well so I'm not sure it's an allergy to chicken. Maybe to eggs? Or rice? Or maybe it is the NB Green Pea + Venison that is making her itch?

I'm pretty sure she is allergic to soy, wheat gluten / grains, because she's had reactions in the past after eating foods with those ingredients (vomiting, but not itchiness.)... but now I am trying pretty desperately to pinpoint what could possibly be making her itch.

Has anyone's cat gotten itchy after eating Natural Balance Green Pea + Venison?

Is there a blood test that can be administered to find out exactly what causes allergies?

I am happy that she's not vomiting as much on the Green Pea + Venison dry and that she's not constipated anymore, but now there's this new itchiness problem that has arisen. argh!

I've been in touch with my vet throughout, but if anyone has any insight, that would be really great.

Thanks with lots of purrs from Ashley,

Heidi & Ashley

My vet told me that venison is quite similar to beef, and is not a good food for allergic cats.

Since your cat will eat wet food, why not try Nature's Variety Prairie Rabbit canned food? Rabbit is very good for my allergic girl Gizmo; though she insists on eating the dry Nature's Logic Rabbit Dinner, only. (their canned food is very superior; and it does not contain chicken, unlike the dry.)

Gizmo had a weight problem when I was feeding her CAl Natural. I think it was the rice, truthfully.

I'd avoid beef, venison, and anything with grains when doing an elimination diet.
Royal Canin makes a dry Pea and Rabbit formula, but i found that Gizzy responded better to the Nature's Logic.

Good luck.

If you do a search on my username in this forum, you will see I'm going through the same thing. Nakita has possible IBD and/or food allergies. She started itching/scratching and throwing up every morning a little over 6 months ago.

We used to feed her Wellness dry and wet. Then we went to the vet and for the last 2 months we've had her on Prescription duck and rice and Prednisone. Right now, I've moved her over to California Natural (2 days ago) since she started to refuse all the prescription foods (rabbit, duck, venison) and California Natural is the simplest dry food. I tried giving her the venison and pea and she backed away from her bowl. Plus, she was very constipated on the prescription food. You can also look into giving her Wysong (only meat) canned foods. I've been feeding Nakita Wysong duck on the side. If you want it as a complete food, then it needs to be supplemented.

I have read that chicken liver can also be a source of irritant, along with grains, dairy, fish, beef. If you look, most wet and dry foods have liver and egg in their foods. So you may want to look at reducing that as well.

Right now, we've moved Nakita's Prednisone to every 2 days. She has thrown up but there has been no itching. So in our case, it could have easily been the chicken liver, since Wellness has that listed in both their wet and dry foods. But time will tell if her itching is gone for good, now that we changed foods.

If we're still having problems there are two types of allergy tests that can be performed. The first is a blood test (less invasive) and the second is similar to the human allergy test (needle scratch test). Ask your vet for more info.

Also, remember that allergies can be a combo environmental and food related. So you will want to look at all cleaning products, rugs, sprays etc. you use in your home.

Gizmocat and Russian Blue,

THANK YOU. I am pretty new to this forum, and I'm really grateful how helpful and informative it is. You both gave me great advice, and alot to think about.

Gizmocat - I am going to purchase a can or two of the Nature's Logic Rabbit and see how Ashley does on it. Thank you for telling me that venison can be an allergen... Interesting.

Russian Blue - I feel for Nikita! I'm sending her some hugs! I hope you can get to the bottom of her allergies. I know it is frustrating. It is interesting you mentioned chicken liver being an allergen. I noticed that after I fed Ashley a can of Natural Balance Chicken Liver Pate, she was itching quite alot... It could also maybe have been the eggs. Please let me know how Nikita is doing on the California Natural, as well as any updates on Nikita. The Wysong is something I will also look into. Thanks too for that info about the allergy tests.

Thanks again for the replies. It is so helpful. Best to you both, and to Gizmo and Nikita!

Heidi & Ashley

if she is grain sensitive avoid peas ... Venison and beef at least from what I am learning in oriental medicine are not close but I have meet a good number of allergic to venison animals...

Rabbit or something like markeral without grains would be best )( ie canned food ) for a 8 week trial of nothing but

GOOD LUCK allergies are so troublesome since our four legged kids cant talk ...

I have my Damita on NB Venison & GP. She isn't eating it right now, but that's a whole different problem. She likes it & has done well on it. I thought she was still having allergies as she lost hair on her bum, but it turns out she has litter allergies, too.

Hi there,

Thank you for the nice comments. I like Nature's Logic since it also uses all natural vitamins...possibly all these allergies can be caused or exacerbated by the chemical vitamins added to most cat foods.

I should mention that the dry Nature's Variety rabbit and possibly the canned version does contain some egg albumen. If this is a problem Nature's Variety Prairie is just as good and lacks, I believe, the egg. (the names are confusing but one company actually spun off from the other.) Both canned bunny brands are great. Nature's Logic prints their ingredients on the web site.

I'd avoid the Petguard since it contains rice. The other two use millet or other non-standard grains in the dry food. The canned contains no grain whatever. Gizmo is doing wonderfully on the Nature's Logic; I don't get paid to advertise them, but I will recommend their products highly.

I think that the elimination diet is the best way to go. When in doubt, try the Wysong Rabbit Au Jus. That is just pure bunny--so you'll have to add some nutrients in the food, or only use it occasionally as a supplement to the completer foods.

good luck

Hi!

It's great reading these suggestions!

Ashley has been doing better with her itchiness. I still have her on the NB Venison + Green Pea dry, so I'm thinking there was something in the wet food that set her off. I give her a variety of wet food, and I purposely haven't given her any wet food with rice or egg in it these past couple of days, and i think that seems to be helping.

Sharky - Thank you for the info, as well as for the mackeral suggestion... I hadn't thought about trying mackeral.

White Cat Lover - Good luck with Damita, and please update on how she is doing on the NB (if/when she starts eating it again! )

Gizmocat - Hi again! Thanks so much for writing about there being no egg in Nature's Variety Prairie. I am going to purchase some cans of the rabbit, as well as the Wysong. Also, fyi, PetGuard's Tender Beef and Wheat Germ Dinner can does not have rice, but I haven't fed it to Ashley so I can't speak for it.

Have a great end of the week everyone.

Just wanted to add one more thing. It's great to get so many suggestions on food sources but pick one and stick with it! A proper food trial lasts 8 - 12 weeks, with no additions. I would either stick with only dry or stick with only wet. Otherwise, too many variable are present.

Nakita, actually got worse at about the 3rd/4th week and then started getting better. I'm not sure if this is normal, but it's what I observed. At first I thought maybe the rice was the allergen, but now I'm not convinced since I'm leaning towards the chicken liver. Time will tell.

I'll keep you updated on Nakita's progress with the California Natural as well!

ashley was itchy again today... itching her ears, tail, licking her legs, and giving herself little bites. she also vomited once this morning. the vomit looked like chewed up dry food (no bile.)

russian blue - i haven't been doing the elimination diet because i have a suspicion that maybe the Green Pea + Venison is what is causing this. i didn't want to give her solely green pea + venison if this is what's making her ill.

i've been free feeding the green pea + venison dry and i give her a can of green pea + venison wet in the morning and a can of wellness at night. i thought maybe she has allergies to gluten/grain/egg/rice and the wellness has none of that, so that's why i'm giving her the wellness, and she likes it. she hadn't been itchy or vomited for 3 days, so i thought everything was getting better. yesterday she started scratching briefly again... and today she was very itchy and, as i wrote, she vomited.

i don't know if i should switch her dry food again so soon???... i switched it to the green pea + venison on December 3rd. should i take the dry away entirely and see how she does on just wet? thanks.