update on Kitty and hypoallergenic food

stubbys mom

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A quick update and synopsis of Kitty; 13 year old Mainecoon. Vomiting twice a day for a few weeks. Weight reduced for 16 lbs to 12lbs. Losing fur and had dandruff. Feeding Wellness dry and varied can food. Took to vet, blood panel came out OK. Vet recommended Royal Cannin Hypoallergenic diet. It has been 3 weeks now on RC. Fur is growing back. Kitty is now only vomiting 2 or 3 times a week but she hates the RC food. My second kitty (a Manx, Stubby) hates the RC too. I went to Pet Smart and the girl there recommended the Nutro Kitten food. I am mixing the dry with some low sodium chicken broth as I have eliminated wet food. Does anyone have any comments about the Nutro or the low sodium chicken broth? Is that too much salt? I worry about kidney problems as both are males. Thanks in advance
 

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Originally Posted by Stubbys Mom

A quick update and synopsis of Kitty; 13 year old Mainecoon. Vomiting twice a day for a few weeks. Weight reduced for 16 lbs to 12lbs. Losing fur and had dandruff. Feeding Wellness dry and varied can food. Took to vet, blood panel came out OK. Vet recommended Royal Cannin Hypoallergenic diet. It has been 3 weeks now on RC. Fur is growing back. Kitty is now only vomiting 2 or 3 times a week but she hates the RC food. My second kitty (a Manx, Stubby) hates the RC too. I went to Pet Smart and the girl there recommended the Nutro Kitten food. I am mixing the dry with some low sodium chicken broth as I have eliminated wet food. Does anyone have any comments about the Nutro or the low sodium chicken broth? Is that too much salt? I worry about kidney problems as both are males. Thanks in advance
the nutro is probably not hypoallergenic. Luna just got put on the same thing, but it is so expensive that I've been researching other options. I was able to find her some evo 95% duck that the vet approves of. Also, natural balance makes two hypoallergenic formulas. So far, Luna's skin is healing.
 

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I second the Nutro not likely to be hypoallergenic but if it works you ll have WIDER options on feeding .. ie the likely culprits would be things like soy , artificial colors and flavors and chemical preservatives... Hypo = less NOT NONE so many foods classify ... NB IMHO uses the term too much as they use many common meats like duck and starches like potato but it will work for some

Chicken broth should be used SPARINGLY as most commercial ones have garlic and onion in them .... My vet s recommends chicken broth when sick for my animals but only till they eat and drink readily again( up to a week)
 
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stubbys mom

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Thanks. I have really tried to understand the hypoallergenic frenzy. Seems it is hit or miss. Just because it is hypoallergenic does not mean it hit the culprit. That is impossible. i have resorted to logic and reading labels. I had been feeding Wellness which is a very rich (probably over the top) cat food. My wet food consisted of chicken (tiki) various beef, turkey and seafood mixtures. The treats were crunchy Pounce. I seriously doubt the Royal Cannin or any hypoallergenic food is the cure all. I need to carefully eliminate food and find out what is causing the problem. The funny thing is that before the Chinese started killing our pets, I was feeding them garbage (Fancy Feast, Friskies etc) and had happy, healthy cats. Then I decided ti really get involved in the feeding process and now I have a very sick little friend. Kind of makes you scratch your head.
 

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Here is how I went down the OMG my "kid" has food allergies


First find a Basic food : one meat / one grain or starch

Chicken and rice
duck and potato

keep with the same for the wet food( this is harder but can be done)

Use the dry food as treats( you DO NOT want the comment my vet gave seeing the pounce in my cabinets)

try each food for about 8 weeks ( unless symptoms get really bad and stay really bad )

Which Wellness??


Most common cat food allergens

Artificial colors ( red dye 40 or FDA yellow 6 or red iron oxide with a #)

chemical preservatives( bha bht )

artificial and natural flavors ( they can be anything ... one company used beets as a base for natural garlic flavor
)

Wheat( barley and rye are the same gluten aka protein) , corn, SOY

Fish ( big category but common)

less common

rice , chicken , peas , potato
 

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Hi there,


another way to takle this would be to send in some blood and let a lab determine what your cat is allergic against.

Here's a German lab that offers this test:

http://www.laboklin.de/frame.php?lang=en

(look under products -> allergy)


They offer:

Screening test for seasonal and perennial allergen groups, dog/ cat: additionally flea saliva

Allergy main tests : differentiation of seasonal and perennial allergen panels, insect allergen

Food allergy test: dog / cat
IgE- and IgG-antibody panels for 18 different allergens


or try out an elimination diet as sharky suggested by sticking to one type of meat source for 6- 8 weeks. This meat source should be uncommon in average cat food, so I personally wouldn't recomend duck or chicken as your cat's allergy could be against these meat sources. Pure horse meat would be better, Boos is a cat food brand containing pure mustang meat sold for this purpose (it doesn't contain Taurin either, you'd have to add this if feeding it long term). Venison or any other exotic meat source would also be OK, such as venison, ostrich, kangaroo ... but these are normally much more expensive and may be difficult to obtain. Also I wouldn't feed any treats what so ever, as these may trigger the allergy.

If your cat is OK after 6-8 weeks you can then add a new meat source and try this out for another 6 weeks, and so on ... slowly adding to your list of foods that are OK or not OK for your cat.

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/c...ood/boos/60631

(Not sure which food brands you can obtain easily in the USA, as I'm from Germany, sorry)


And yes- you may have very unhappy cat during the elimination diet ....

At any rate you are probably better of feeding your cat raw (BARF), as this will be the only way for you to have 100% control over what he's eating.


You should also keep a diary to help you figure out what could be causing the allergy- for example an allergy against pollen will be dedendent of the season. Also keep a close eye on possible fleas, as flee salvia is also a common cause of allergies.

Hope this has helped,

Christine
 

snake_lady

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Originally Posted by sharky

Chicken broth should be used SPARINGLY as most commercial ones have garlic and onion in them .... My vet s recommends chicken broth when sick for my animals but only till they eat and drink readily again( up to a week)
Just a quick question about the above statement.

Would watered down baby food be better? I've read about using baby food in the Cat Owners Home Veterinary Handbook in regards to using baby food during vomitting and such, so I was thinking it might be appropriate to water it down and use it instead of the broth. (even the low sodium has a heck of a lot of salt)

OR

make your own chicken broth
Very easy, and no salt added.
 
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stubbys mom

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Kitty took a turn for the worse today. At times I think I am losing her. She stopped eating 2 days ago so she never really ate the Nutro. She is throwing up clear liquid and sleeps all day. She feels warm to the touch, but could be my imagination. I home feed my dogs Dr Pitcairn's diet. He is a PHD animal nutritionist/vet. He addresses inflamed bowels and credit to over vaccinating/overuse of steroids and commercial food. He recommends a brown rice and raw lamb or raw turkey diet with animal supplements. My plan tomorrow is to go forward with some prednisone to get the inflammation under control and completely stop all commercial food and feed the very limited raw diet. Prayers please for my little Kitty that I love so much
 

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I am so sorry she is not doing well.'

Definately if she will eat raw then go for it.... It's the best choice out there if she'll eat it.

Many vibes for her to get well soon.
 

sharky

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For the chicken broth?? normally I make my own but the last time and the first time it was RXed I used commercial low salt


.... IMHO consult a nutrition minded vet ... I agree with Dr P but you have to go about it slowly ... for the meat Lamb can CAUSE more inflammation and IMHO should be avoided .. Turkey is good but Rabbit might be better or beef as turkey and chicken are nearly identical

Can you get ahold of either wellness or evo 95% meats??
 
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stubbys mom

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Had another vet look t Kitty today. She felt Kitty was way too sick for it to be a food allergy. She agrees Kitty may have a food allergy, but the severe weight loss, temperature of 103.5, nausea are not a result of a food allergy. She did not care what I fed Kitty, just need to get Kitty to eat. The only thing the blood work shows is anemia. She is hoping it is a rare flea bite disease (forget the name). If not something obscure, it is probably cancer. Her kidney and liver panels are fine. It has been a tough day to say the least and on top of that I have spent $1500.00 on vet bills over the past few weeks. My husband will blow a fuse when he finds out about that and his patience re running very thin with my dogs right now (they are Cairn Terriers and bark a lot). This has been a very bad day. On the positive side, we treated Kitty with vitamin B shots, antibiotics, an IV as she was terrible dehydrated and anti vomit meds. After all that, she still will not eat....
 
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stubbys mom

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AT 1:25 3/10 Kitty left this world and went to heaven today. My vet aand friend came to our home adn Kitty did with love and dignity. Hopefully she is up there with her friend Razzle, our beloved dog. It s a very sad day
 
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