Know any good chicken free cat foods????

kittycorner

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Does anyone know of a good quality cat food that does not contain chicken? I am currently using Iams Ocean fish and rice formula, but recently Uno has been having skin lesions and vomiting. I had not thought much about the food but when we biopsied his skin lesions to rule out cancer and whatnot, it came back allergic dermatitis and some other really big words that I am not sure what they mean. I had not thought about the food being an issue because when we found out he was allergic to chicken a year or so ago I checked and then it did not contain chicken. I checked the bag of food today-(figures we just bought 40 lbs of the stuff
)and sure as heck it contains TONS of chicken. So now I am forced to change foods but am not sure what to go with. I cannot go the raw diet route because we have 8 kitties and a baby due in June, so it would get too expensive but I cannot let Uno go on suffering because of his food. Any ideas????
 

sharky

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Natural balence venison and pea
Natures prarie lamb and I believe salmon
Sensible choice used to not sure if it is still out
 

sharky

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natural balence petco and small pet and feed stores

natures prairie small stores

sensible choice small stores some petco s and feed stores
 

cloud_shade

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I'm guessing you want a dry food, right? In addition to the ones sharky mentioned, California Natural has a chicken free formula--Herring and Sweet Potato. It's a nice simple food, so it may work for your kitty. They have a store locator:

http://www.naturapet.com/where-to-buy/
 
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kittycorner

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I cannot have any chicken of any kind or he breaks out in skin lesions and vomiting.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by littleraven7726

sensible choice is chicken meal & rice. i fed that for about a year and a half.
a few yrs back they had a lamb ... It may not be anymore ...
 

catsarebetter

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Just wanted to mention that it is possible for one cat to eat raw and not have the others eat it.. actually, it ends up being cheaper for us to feed raw than it is for us to feed a high quality dry food.. (that and we have one who boycotts anything but raw).. and certainly cheaper than canned/wet if you feed in the quantity they suggest. That being said, they eat raw chicken. Beef is also cheaper, but you'd have to look into what you wanted to feed, and if you just buy it outright, it's potentially more expensive.. but we shop the sales, prepare it, and toss it in the freezer.

Are you absolutely sure it's the chicken? Some cats are allergic to certain types of carbs and such that are found in dry foods. You may want to consider a "raw based" dry if there is one available without a chicken base. I don't know if there is or not. Innova Evo, I think, is chicken based, but there are a few others available.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by CatsAreBetter

Just wanted to mention that it is possible for one cat to eat raw and not have the others eat it.. actually, it ends up being cheaper for us to feed raw than it is for us to feed a high quality dry food.. (that and we have one who boycotts anything but raw).. and certainly cheaper than canned/wet if you feed in the quantity they suggest. That being said, they eat raw chicken. Beef is also cheaper, but you'd have to look into what you wanted to feed, and if you just buy it outright, it's potentially more expensive.. but we shop the sales, prepare it, and toss it in the freezer.

Are you absolutely sure it's the chicken? Some cats are allergic to certain types of carbs and such that are found in dry foods. You may want to consider a "raw based" dry if there is one available without a chicken base. I don't know if there is or not. Innova Evo, I think, is chicken based, but there are a few others available.
MOST likely cat allergies

wheat
soy
fish... Only one is a grain ...

corn is fifth or sixth... far less an issue in cats than in dogs.... Alll the low carb s are chicken based at this pt ....


Sensitive cats are usually helped by a one meat one grain or starch food ( wet preffered ) ...

Raw allergies are not always the same as cooked... My cat is allergic/ intolerant to raw chicken handles cooked chicken fine ... the dog is the same for rabbit .... Both can eat raw lamb but not cooked....
 

lionessrampant

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I use Evanger's Pheasant a lot. It's wet though.

I don't do dry...my cats don't do well on it. So unfortunatly I have no dry suggestions. I DO know that Nature's Variety Prairie comes highly recommended from several people and they have several flavors of dry. I doubt they throw chicken into everything like a lot of grocery store/pet superstore brands do.
 

jcat

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Originally Posted by lionessrampant

I use Evanger's Pheasant a lot. It's wet though.

I don't do dry...my cats don't do well on it. So unfortunatly I have no dry suggestions. I DO know that Nature's Variety Prairie comes highly recommended from several people and they have several flavors of dry. I doubt they throw chicken into everything like a lot of grocery store/pet superstore brands do.
Good tip! The Lamb Meal & Oatmeal doesn't have chicken: http://www.naturesvariety.com/conten...BC36MRu42BC914 There's also Salmon Meal & Brown Rice, but that contains chicken liver.
 

catsarebetter

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Originally Posted by sharky

MOST likely cat allergies

wheat
soy
fish... Only one is a grain ...

corn is fifth or sixth... far less an issue in cats than in dogs.... Alll the low carb s are chicken based at this pt ....


Sensitive cats are usually helped by a one meat one grain or starch food ( wet preffered ) ...

Raw allergies are not always the same as cooked... My cat is allergic/ intolerant to raw chicken handles cooked chicken fine ... the dog is the same for rabbit .... Both can eat raw lamb but not cooked....
I haven't done a lot of research on allergies.. and have picked that up on what small amount I do know from raw sites. So, presumably, this is one-sided, lol, but I admit that freely. This is one of the portions I got that from, though, in case anyone was interested:

"If my IBD cat was “allergic†to anything, it was to the glut of excess grains, byproducts, and questionable additives that are packed into virtually all commercial diets, especially kibble. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not saying that there arenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t cats with bona fide food allergies or cats that derive some minimal nutritional benefit from kibble, but in our case—and in the case of many people whom I have counseled as they try to safely troubleshoot diets for their very sick animals—calling bad digestive reactions to ingredients that shouldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t be in a carnivoreâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s diet to begin with an “allergy†is a misnomer. If I get sick from eating ground up glass shards, would my physician declare that Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m “allergic†to them? Or that Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]d mysteriously developed a hypersensitivity to glass shards? Of course not. My doctor would roll his eyes, instruct me to stop eating glass shards because theyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re not what Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m physiologically designed to derive nutrition from, hopefully offer me some sound nutritional advice, and then have a good giggle later with his colleagues about the nutcase in his office. (I hold open the possibility, however, that if I went to a veterinarian with the problem, I might very well be sold a pricey bag of “Prescription Formula Glass-Shard-Hypersensitivity-Diet.â€)" ~this was from catnutrition.org under handouts for the vet.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by CatsAreBetter

I haven't done a lot of research on allergies.. and have picked that up on what small amount I do know from raw sites. So, presumably, this is one-sided, lol, but I admit that freely. This is one of the portions I got that from, though, in case anyone was interested:

"If my IBD cat was “allergic” to anything, it was to the glut of excess grains, byproducts, and questionable additives that are packed into virtually all commercial diets, especially kibble. I’m not saying that there aren’t cats with bona fide food allergies or cats that derive some minimal nutritional benefit from kibble, but in our case—and in the case of many people whom I have counseled as they try to safely troubleshoot diets for their very sick animals—calling bad digestive reactions to ingredients that shouldn’t be in a carnivore’s diet to begin with an “allergy” is a misnomer. If I get sick from eating ground up glass shards, would my physician declare that I’m “allergic” to them? Or that I’d mysteriously developed a hypersensitivity to glass shards? Of course not. My doctor would roll his eyes, instruct me to stop eating glass shards because they’re not what I’m physiologically designed to derive nutrition from, hopefully offer me some sound nutritional advice, and then have a good giggle later with his colleagues about the nutcase in his office. (I hold open the possibility, however, that if I went to a veterinarian with the problem, I might very well be sold a pricey bag of “Prescription Formula Glass-Shard-Hypersensitivity-Diet.”)" ~this was from catnutrition.org under handouts for the vet.
No issue just sharing the info both read and learned thru one of my jobs dealing with animals
.ANd from my vet... .. I am not an expert cept for my girls
....Yeah I learned long ago go to all aves and see if anything is the same
..lol..
 

tags

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In my experience, you have to be careful with some of the foods that do not have chicken in the name, but may have chicken fat or flavorings that have chicken in them. My cat is extremely reactive to many things. We did allergy testing on her (bloodwork) and she has 40+ allergies. Chicken, venison, corn, cotton, hemp, grass, etc. We've always had problems with food until the vet recommended Hill Z/D, which has chicken listed, but it is denatured, so it it basically not recognized as chicken to my cat. She still has issues with the environmental allergens, but at least she doesn't vomit all the time like she used to.

Also, even feeding your cat salmon, or duck for awhile might help, but they can develop an allergy to that down the road. It is complicated and makes me wonder why all these cats are having so much trouble. I am thinking about maybe going grain-free/chicken-free and seeing what kind of results I get. Also, being that my 2 kitties are 12 years old, they need a little more moisture, so I am looking into wet food to give once-in-awhile.

Good Health to you and your pets!
 
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