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!

Some cats can't have any poultry. So while chicken is the main suspected allergen, duck and turkey aren't handled well either.

You also have the option of prescription diets, such as the ones Royal Canine make.

It may also end up that you just have to feed your cats different foods. I currently have 3 different dry foods in house.

Peas are a top allergen in cats... No I have no idea why food companies use them in allergy formulas, outside of most cat foods added veggies into the mix within the last ten years.....

I agree chicken and duck are too close for me to use one when the other causes issues...

IBD and fish is dependant on the cat.... Mine dont do well but I know someone on here that hers eat nothing but fish

Originally Posted by sharky

Peas are a top allergen in cats... No I have no idea why food companies use them in allergy formulas, outside of most cat foods added veggies into the mix within the last ten years.....

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The same reason soy is. It's cheap and there's leftover that can't be used for human consumption because the quality isn't high enough.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

You also have the option of prescription diets, such as the ones Royal Canine make.

It may also end up that you just have to feed your cats different foods. I currently have 3 different dry foods in house.

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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.

Originally Posted by sharky

Peas are a top allergen in cats... No I have no idea why food companies use them in allergy formulas, outside of most cat foods added veggies into the mix within the last ten years.....

I agree chicken and duck are too close for me to use one when the other causes issues...

IBD and fish is dependant on the cat.... Mine dont do well but I know someone on here that hers eat nothing but fish

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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.

Originally Posted by jgaruba

I didn't realize that peas were a top allergen.

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I didn't either. I have never seen peas listed in a list of usual allergy suspects. The reason they are included in limited ingredient/allergy foods is that they are novel source of carbohydrates. The goal in an allergy food trial is to fee a novel protein, like duck, rabbit or venison, and a novel carb source, like green pea. I'm not sure if 3 days is long enough to determine whether a new food is working. My Franklin was thought to be allergic to some proteins, ate Natural Balance Duck & Green Pea and Venison & Green Pea. They both helped control his itching and his intestinal issues, for a while. The last try was z/d which is nasty stuff Turns out he has IBD so food allergies were a wild goose chase, but he is eating Natural Balance Chicken & Green Pea...

Originally Posted by KyleW

I didn't either. I have never seen peas listed in a list of usual allergy suspects. The reason they are included in limited ingredient/allergy foods is that they are novel source of carbohydrates. The goal in an allergy food trial is to fee a novel protein, like duck, rabbit or venison, and a novel carb source, like green pea. I'm not sure if 3 days is long enough to determine whether a new food is working. My Franklin was thought to be allergic to some proteins, ate Natural Balance Duck & Green Pea and Venison & Green Pea. They both helped control his itching and his intestinal issues, for a while. The last try was z/d which is nasty stuff

Turns out he has IBD so food allergies were a wild goose chase, but he is eating Natural Balance Chicken & Green Pea...

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They will soon be on the regular list... only since novel protein and carbs went mainstream did the pea allergies sky rocket ( along with nearly every maker puts them in a food ( mainly wet)... Peas are not normally tested in the first round of tests as those usually are meat and grain... I only knew the pea allergen from having to find foods for cats whose owners did testing ... Pea allergies were as frequent as wheat ..Then I started talking to the local vets who all said the same thing peas are in fact a top allergen...

3 days Is Not enough time.... the cycle is 6-12 weeks ( if things get worse you change prior )

Originally Posted by KyleW

I didn't either. I have never seen peas listed in a list of usual allergy suspects. The reason they are included in limited ingredient/allergy foods is that they are novel source of carbohydrates. The goal in an allergy food trial is to fee a novel protein, like duck, rabbit or venison, and a novel carb source, like green pea. I'm not sure if 3 days is long enough to determine whether a new food is working. My Franklin was thought to be allergic to some proteins, ate Natural Balance Duck & Green Pea and Venison & Green Pea. They both helped control his itching and his intestinal issues, for a while. The last try was z/d which is nasty stuff

Turns out he has IBD so food allergies were a wild goose chase, but he is eating Natural Balance Chicken & Green Pea...

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by sharky

3 days Is Not enough time.... the cycle is 6-12 weeks ( if things get worse you change prior )

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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.

Originally Posted by jgaruba

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.

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I suggest, since it sounds like he's flaring up pretty badly right now, that you just keep him on the z/d wet for a while. Let his body settle down then try a new food.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I suggest, since it sounds like he's flaring up pretty badly right now, that you just keep him on the z/d wet for a while. Let his body settle down then try a new food.

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I second that...can you get him to eat enough of the wet>?

here is a off thought... I itch terribly on pred ....

Rabbit is a great meat as it is cooling... and can decrease inflammation

has the vet tested for things like dust mites , pollen , etc?

First things first; I ain't no vet! That said, 5mg prednisolone every other day is the maintenance dose that Franklin is currently taking to control his IBD. To get to the maintenance level we first had to get it under control. His first dose was 5mg 2x/day for 4 weeks followed by 5mg 1x/day for 4 weeks. Then we switched him to 5mg 1x/every other day. 2.5mg every other day does not seem like it would be enough to control Caster's severe symptoms. I would ask the vet about upping the dosage.

As to the food roulette, I understand your frustration. I went through countless varieties, and related stress, trying to find some food that wouldn't make him sick. I would see if the vet will up his pred dosage and get Caster calmed down and then go on the food quest. Just one man's opinion.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I suggest, since it sounds like he's flaring up pretty badly right now, that you just keep him on the z/d wet for a while. Let his body settle down then try a new food.

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Originally Posted by sharky

I second that...can you get him to eat enough of the wet>?

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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.

Originally Posted by sharky

here is a off thought... I itch terribly on pred

....

Rabbit is a great meat as it is cooling... and can decrease inflammation

has the vet tested for things like dust mites , pollen , etc?

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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!

Originally Posted by jgaruba

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.

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z/d comes in dry too. I know cuz i have an unopened bag in my closet

Originally Posted by KyleW

First things first; I ain't no vet!

That said, 5mg prednisolone every other day is the maintenance dose that Franklin is currently taking to control his IBD. To get to the maintenance level we first had to get it under control. His first dose was 5mg 2x/day for 4 weeks followed by 5mg 1x/day for 4 weeks. Then we switched him to 5mg 1x/every other day. 2.5mg every other day does not seem like it would be enough to control Caster's severe symptoms. I would ask the vet about upping the dosage.

As to the food roulette, I understand your frustration. I went through countless varieties, and related stress, trying to find some food that wouldn't make him sick. I would see if the vet will up his pred dosage and get Caster calmed down and then go on the food quest. Just one man's opinion.

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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.

Originally Posted by KyleW

z/d comes in dry too. I know cuz i have an unopened bag in my closet

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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.

I thought having a cat or two would help me reduce stress Chasing this stuff can fray your nerves, can't it... Franklin is doing really well on the maintenance dose of prednisolone. He was diagnosed on 5/23 of this year and started the pred right away. He hasn't thrown up or had diarrhea since! He wouldn't eat the z/d dry either. Franny on the other hand thought it was very tasty and started to plump up

Originally Posted by KyleW

I thought having a cat or two would help me reduce stress

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Me too! I was SO wrong!

Originally Posted by KyleW

Chasing this stuff can fray your nerves, can't it...

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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!

Originally Posted by KyleW

Franklin is doing really well on the maintenance dose of prednisolone. He was diagnosed on 5/23 of this year and started the pred right away. He hasn't thrown up or had diarrhea since! He wouldn't eat the z/d dry either. Franny on the other hand thought it was very tasty and started to plump up

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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.

Originally Posted by jgaruba

I would love to try a rabbit food. Does anyone know one without peas?

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I've not found a dry yet, maybe sharky knows of one.

So far the pattern on limited ingredient drys are + pea or fish + potato. The only other rabbit I know of tends to be in the premade raw diets.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I've not found a dry yet, maybe sharky knows of one.

So far the pattern on limited ingredient drys are + pea or fish + potato. The only other rabbit I know of tends to be in the premade raw diets.

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

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

Originally Posted by jgaruba

And B12 shots.

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I forgot about the B12 shots. He got 10 weekly shots. We'll check that again in about 3 months

Just posting my experience and hope you find a food that works
Neko is allergic to peas and she did more biting on her legs and paws then she did scratch. We had to switch from TOTW to NV Prairie and it DID take almost 12weeks for the itching/biting to stop, for her at least. I did notice a gradual decrease in itching too. We also rotate the 3 prairie flavors but i noticed Prairie didn't work for your little one. How about California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato? Its so stressful that alot of foods now have peas!! grrr... I'm the one in the food isle reading all the labels to catch those pesky peas. Good luck