Cat with Food Allergies

Hi there. It's been a long time since I've posted (I generally lurk these days), but I'm in need of advice.

I've been reading the forums a lot lately, especially those posts regarding food allergies, but I can't seem to figure out what to do here.

I'm looking for a new food for my boys. My cat, Caster, seems to have food allergies as he scratches himself so hard that he removes his fur and skin until he's a bloody mess. It's really awful and I can't imagine what kind of discomfort and pain he's in.

There's a lot of background, but I'll just give the basics unless you want or need more info. (Even the basics are a bit long - sorry!)

Food he has been on:
Nutro Naturals (chicken flavor) - started this 5.5 years ago - seemed fine on it back then
Nutro Max (chicken flavor) - started this about 4.5 years ago - was okay, but started losing weight while on this
California Natural Chicken & Brown Rice Dry Cat and Kitten Food - started this during winter 2009/2010 - seemed okay for about 5-6 months, then I noticed the scratching again
Nature's Variety Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Medley (Prairie) - tried a month or two ago - the results were awful, went back to California Naturals
Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck formula dry food - tried this just this past Saturday - already started scratching - went back to California Naturals

I really wish allergy testing would help here, but my vet tells me that the results are very unreliable.

With the California Naturals food, it only has 5 ingredients really. Chicken meal, chicken, chicken fat, rice and brown rice. It does have sunflower seed oil and "natural flavors" as well as vitamins and minerals. But because of this, I would think he's allergic to chicken or some kind of rice.

So I thought we would see an improvement with the Natural Balance, since it has neither chicken or rice, and instead green pea and duck, but he has the same reaction.

I do see that there's a Rabbit Meal formula available from Nature's Variety in their Instinct line. It has a lot of ingredients though, including chicken meal and chicken fat. Although I don't know for certain that it's the chicken that Caster's allergic to. There was no chicken in the NB Green Pea and Duck food he tried. Could he have just been allergic to the rice and not the chicken? I've also read that fish-based foods aren't great for cats with IBD... and one of my other boys has been diagnosed with IBD, so I'm wondering if I should even try the Rabbit Meal formula since it seems to have both salmon and herring meal. *sigh*

I should mention that he won't eat the Hill's z/d dry prescription food for allergies, although he does eat the wet food once a day, and LOVES it.

He's also been medicated with the Depo-Medrol shot, and he's currently on yet another round of Prednisolone. He gets regular vet checks and he actually goes in probably once a month or so for a quick look and weight-check when I take in one of my other boys for his B12 shot.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have no idea what to do on my end now.
Thank so much!

I can talk to my vet about the Royal Canin Rx foods again. I only briefly mentioned moving to RC because of another issue, but I was told that the wet z/d was okay at this time. I didn't ask about the dry though.

And I know we may have to move to all different foods. I'm sure you understand the pains of having to do that though. With my husband and I being away from the house for work 10+ hours everyday, I'm not fond of the idea of not free-feeding. I do know that it does work for many families, it's just definitely not ideal for ours. My little Spike eats all day long, just a few kibble at a time. Caster has been losing weight over the past few years, so we have to keep him monitored (hence the monthly weigh-ins), and oddly enough, my chubby boy has lost 1.5 pounds in the past 2 months, so we're having to keep an extra eye on him as well. He's still 18.2 lb as he was a chunky kitty to begin with, so the vet isn't panicked yet, but we do need to keep an eye on him. He's the one with IBD. He has also suffered from struvite crystals and bladder stones.

I didn't realize that peas were a top allergen. It makes no sense that they're in foods made specifically for cats with food allergies.

Do you have any idea if the fish meals would be a problem with the struvite crystal issue in my other cat? He hasn't had this issue in awhile... he had his bladder stone removal back in December 2008 and as far as I can tell, he hasn't had a repeat problem.

I appreciate all your help.

I know what you're saying when you mention that 3 days may not be enough time to decide if the food is working or not. But the problem is that Caster is scratching himself so violently now that he's on this food that he's digging past his skin and is a bloody mess. He has a large wound between his eye and his mouth this morning that he didn't have when I went to bed last night. And I can tell you that for weeks before switching to this food and being on 2.5mg of Prednisolone every other day, he wasn't doing this. He's been on varied doses of the Prednisolone for the past two months or so.

I am following my vet's instructions that when we do try new foods, if I see an obvious reaction, I should not keep him on the new food. And honestly, it doesn't make sense to me to keep him on it for 6-12 weeks for a proper trial if he's scratching large wounds into his neck and face because of it.

Our goal is to find a food that he isn't allergic to so that he doesn't have to be medicated on a regular basis. I'm starting to think that this goal is not attainable.

What our vet has us doing is getting him back to 2.5mg of Prednisolone every other day without any issues. Once he's able to maintain that, I'm free to try a new food to hopefully find one that he isn't allergic to. If he has a flare-up reaction to a new food, I'm to remove him from the new food, and put him back on a higher dosage of the Prednisolone. (Usually a 5mg tablet the first morning and 2.5mg the first evening, followed by 2.5mg twice a day for 3 days... followed by 2.5mg every other day as long as he's not scratching.)

And while I can't say that I love z/d, if Caster would actually eat it and didn't have a reaction to it, I'd deal. And actually, wet z/d is the only wet food that my boys don't vomit. I can't even list all of the wet foods we've tried, only to have all three of them consistently vomit them right back up. I find it very strange, but I'm not complaining since they not only tolerate the z/d, but they actually love it.

And it's more important to me that Caster eats and maintains his weight as he's had quite a bit of weight loss, and that he isn't miserable scratching so hard that he's harming himself than me giving him a food that he's clearly allergic to just because it's a better food. I'd prefer giving all three of my boys the best food available, but I also have to be realistic about what they can tolerate.

Thanks for your help, I do appreciate it! I am leaning towards at least trying the Nature's Variety Rabbit variety. It's grain free (so no rice) and has no peas. It doesn't have any chicken meal, but does have chicken fat though. I'll have to call around to see if I can have it shipped in. If this doesn't work, I haven't a clue what to do.

Actually, I just noticed Peas lower in the list for the NV rabbit.

Yeah, that's the problem. When we tried the new food, that's when the flare-up happened. That's why I only gave it the 3 days. I'm not trying to put him on and take him off foods willy-nilly, I promise.

I can give him more wet z/d... my only problem is that I do need to leave something dry out during the day, and that's where I'm having the difficulties.

I don't think he's itching because of the Prednisolone. Way back when he had that first flare-up and was prescribed the Presnisolone, within 2 hours of giving him the tablet, I saw no itching. And before that he was going CRAZY. It was awful.

The vet did not test for environmental allergies. I think she really believes it's food-related, and I can see why she'd think that just watching the patterns here.

I would love to try a rabbit food. Does anyone know one without peas? I'm frantically searching the internet myself here. I can't switch him for at least a few weeks at this point, but I'd like to get an order in. Thanks!

Hey there Kyle
I'm no vet either! I'm just doing what I can here.

I feel bad that my posts are so long... there's just so much backstory.

Way back, Caster was doing fine on just a Depo-Medrol shot, every 4-6 months. Then I stupidly thought.. Hey! Why don't we look for a food that this boy isn't allergic to!?!

That's when we went to the California Natural food. And it's been pretty good for him. But I wanted better than "pretty good" for him.

So since he was doing pretty good for months at that point.. maybe 4 or 5, we tried the Nature's Variety. The outcome was awful. And since we had just done a new round of the Depo-Medrol, I couldn't get him another. That's why he was put on the Prednisolone.

We did start out at a higher dosage of the Prednisolone for Caster. He was on 5mg twice a day for four days. He then went to 2.5mg twice a day for three days, and then 2.5mg once a day for four days. (It was supposed to be for three days, but I couldn't get in touch with the vet and I didn't want to take him off the meds too soon.) So then we went to the 2.5mg, every other day. And that actually maintains him pretty well.

I did find out that if he secretly spits out his Friday dose and you don't notice until Sunday at his next dosing, he will have a reaction. Go figure.

Unfortunately, he won't eat the dry z/d. I know this because Pollux eats the dry z/d as "treats" after he takes all of his daily medications. *sigh*

On a completely separate note, how is your Franklin doing? My Pollux has IBD as well. I'm always looking at posts about allergies, IBD and crystals it seems.

Me too! I was SO wrong!

I can't agree more. I'm supposed to be on vacation this week from work. Sure doesn't feel like a vacation from research!

I'm glad to hear Franklin is doing well, and on so little medication too. Pollux was diagnosed 03/18/2010 (his birthday of all days too!). But for him, we do daily Prednisolone, Zenequin and Folic Acid. And B12 shots. The only good news I had today is that we can wait on his next B12 shot for a few months. We'll do another bloodtest in 3-6 months, depending on how he's doing, and we can do the Folic Acid every other day instead of daily! Sadly, this is exciting in my world. Hugs and scritches for Franklin.

Yeah.. I'm not finding one either. Thanks for looking though!

And I'm open to any suggestions if anyone has any!

If Caster didn't have the awful, almost immediate reaction to the new foods I'd definitely give them a longer trial.

I had wanted to try TOTW, but it has peas in it. Of course, I don't know if Caster is allergic to the peas or the duck in this last food. I guess it could be the duck, but if peas are a top allergen, I don't know if I should risk it.

I was looking at the California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato variety. He has the least reaction to the chicken one right now, so maybe the herring and sweet potato would work. I've read that fish can be a top allergen as well, so I've been reluctant. And of course, there's the fact that Natura was bought out. But hey, if it works, right? I'm adding that to my list to try once he's ready to try a new food. Thanks!

And I'm glad that the NV Prairie is working for Neko.

I guess it can't hurt to try, right?

We have a few weeks to get through to get him stabilized back on his meds, then we'll give this a go. I'll keep you posted.

And if anyone comes up with any other food ideas, please let me know. Thanks!

Hi Cat_crazy I've talked to my vet about a homemade diet if we do have to go that route. So far we're still trying to find a dry kibble that Caster isn't allergic to since I like to leave food out all day for the boys. My husband and I are away from the home a good portion of the day and we've had weight-loss issues with 2 of our boys, so I don't like the idea of not having something out for them.

I wish I had a few weeks off of work so that I could be home and try a homemade elimination diet. If he'd eat it, of course. He has "texture issues".

Thank you for the suggestion - it's definitely a good idea.

I understand what you're saying strange_wings, but non-free feeding will not work for our family at this time. We've discussed this with our vet and she agrees with this assessment for several reasons.

The reason I posted was to see if any of our knowledgeable cat site members had any ideas on a dry cat food that might work for Caster. I'm not looking for assistance on changing my boys' feeding schedule. I do appreciate the help, I know you mean well and have good intentions, but my question does focus on finding a dry food that will not cause an allergic reaction for Caster. Thanks.