Queen Eva has a food allergy

It is not a problem if your cat is allergic from chicken.The solution for this remedy is this that do not give her pure boiled food.You should give him food after mixing with other vegetables and other stuff.And during this time you may also consult with a vet for this.I do not want to give you a self advice because you have expensive pets and a great love too with them.So discuss with a quality vet first.

My eldest cat - Gabriel - has a chicken allergy too. He does well on the Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck, both hard food and canned. I really liked the idea of a limited ingredients food to address this issue with him. It's too bad the NB didn't work so well for Queen.

I've also heard of people putting wet food (that their cat likes) in the oven to make it more similar to hard food, never tried it myself.

She looks so regal in those pictures, what a doll.

Hi Otto,

I am actually in the same boat as you. I have one cat who is allergic to chicken, turkey and duck (I'm assuming poultry in general) and my other cat is on a chicken diet otherwise he gets sick. For my allergic girl I have tried numerous products and find she works best consuming venison or lamb and like you I also try and avoid fish (my other kitty once got mild mercury poisoning from a salmon blend). Right now she is on Ziwipeak which is a high protein diet with no unnecessary carbs or vegetables mixed with a dry crunchy which she laps up. If you mix the two, say a tablespoon of wet with dry the consistency may be more desirable for your kitty if you can't get shredded. I do really like Ziwipeak because its practically an all meat diet with the added vitamins and minerals, and it also decreases stool size, however its quite expensive. Another brand I would recommend is Blue Wilderness Duck or Blue Wilderness Turkey. They contain fewer fillers and contain actual meat. Hope that helps!

Hi otto, Ziwipeak is amazing food... Recommend 100% here... Both Bugsy and Hope did amazing on it... It is expensive but you also feed less.

Anyways, for Kibbles?:
Nature's Variety Prairie Lamb Meal & Oatmeal Medley Dry Cat Food



is one choice if you want to get out of the Limited Ingredients/allergenic food. Here in Dallas, I used to buy at Pet Supplies Plus - all my kitties loved it.
While it does have fish, it has a tiny bit of it - 9th ingredient. The first ingredient is Lamb Meal.
It is grainy, but no corn - the grains are oatmeal, brown rice and flaxseed.
Here is the info on it:
http://www.petfooddirect.com/product...y-Dry-Cat-Food

I am sorry I haven't been here before... I was much better on the no chicken deal - but since Hope had her massive diarrhea attack and had to be put on Z/D, Bugsy had his UTI and had to be taken off fish completely, he went on Z/D as well.
Now they both eat Royal Canin HP and Z/D for wet.

Bugsy did love ZiwiPeak and did well on it. He did have a problem with Duck as well, but funny - not with turkey! There is a Purina Naturals Turkey and brown rice that he loved it and never gave him problems. Turkey broth was ok as well. His diet had a lot of fish, which is the downside of being allergic to Chicken - the alternatives are either foods for allergies or fish based.
Buried somewhere here on TCS I do have a post with a chicken-free list of foods... I tried looking for it but couldn't find. I will try to find it again.
Anyways, Just wanted to give you this kibble choice, I know you are looking for one
hang in there

Thanks everyone, <taking notes on the food suggestions> but there is something just not right here.

She is not having any diarrhea. She is eating between 6-8 oz of canned a day of the two brands/flavors mentioned earlier (with sometimes a small amount of the FF garnish). She is tolerating the Evo Herring and Salmon kibble well, getting about 2-3 oz of it a day (2/16 cup - 3/16 cup).

This seems like it should be almost too much for a seven pound, one year old cat, even as active as she is. Her coat is glossy and her energy is high, though she is very slender, still. She never gets any fatter, but she's not emaciated either, just very slender and petite.

But.....

She is pooping two large poops a day, sometimes even 3 times in 24 hours. This can't be normal. What the heck is going on? The stool is not diarrhea, though sometimes it is softer than I would like, but it is formed. But there's so much of it!

I've been in contact with my vet over this of course, but haven't brought her in yet, just the stool samples

She has had her stool tested repeatedly for parasites. Besides, if she had some kind of parasites, the other cats would have them by now too, wouldn't they?

Could she be harboring some kind of bacteria? Do you think she needs a course of flagyl? Why didn't it show up when she was a kitten, why did it start now?

She seems normal in every way, except for all this poop. I never saw a cat poop so often!

Originally Posted by otto

She seems normal in every way, except for all this poop. I never saw a cat poop so often!

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I wonder if the align would help with that? It seems her body is not..using...the food. Except, her coat is beautiful and her eyes are bright, if she was malnourished she'd certainly look it, wouldn't she?

Hi otto!

At petco the other day I saw that wellness has a new line of all grain-gree canned food that comes in different textures, including sliced! Your Queen Eva (the name makes me chuckle... my name happens to be Eva too!) might enjoy that. It comes in 3 chicken free flavors - turkey, salmon, and turkey & salmon together:

http://www.petco.com/product/115495/...atFFB_Wellness

Just an idea! Good luck figuring out what's going on with your girl!

Obviously you'll discuss this with your vet - but maybe it's something her immune system was fighting off so it's only now showing up????? I think the Align probiotic couldn't hurt as she's already on a probiotic.

I just saw the thread so wanted to pop on just to send - but also noticed, reading through it - and am surprised, I must say - to see that no one has suggested the Instinct foods! I can't help with the kibble (though I think Instinct has kibble too), but they have complete foods that are only 5% the stuff cats don't need, and ALL individual meats: Rabbit, Turkey, Venison, Duck, etc.

Let me go find the link.

OK - here's the link to the cats' product page: http://www.naturesvariety.com/products/cat.

I just looked at the kibble page - they all have chicken meal EXCEPT the nerw limited ingredient - and it ALSO has coconut oil. I know that's not a natural "food" for cats - but it IS easily digestible for them given its' medium-chain fatty acid content. It's chock full of lauric acid (produced in mother's milk), and has antihistamine, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties. I take several tablespoons a day and it works WONDERS for my allergies, and I confirmed with Chum's vet that it IS safe for cats. The dose would be one tablespoon a day (if you wanted to add it as a supplement for her. Some cats love it and just eat it plain). IF you want to think about the coconut oil, it MUST be a RAW, VIRGIN, COLD-PRESSED version made from FRESH coconut, NOT the dried chopra (or whatever they call it). One brand that is less expensive than others is NUTIVA, and some Walmarts carry it.

Anyway, you can try the Instinct limited ingredient dry as her kibble treat.

And the Instinct cans have lots of choices that include no chicken. (Our kitties go nuts for the rabbit and the venison). It's easy to pick out the peas and carrots.

I'd just like to say one thing very quickly RE

She is pooping two large poops a day, sometimes even 3 times in 24 hours. This can't be normal.

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No, it isn't. It can be caused by two things. The food is not getting properly digested, or there is a reaction to just one or possibly even more than one ingredient. And that ingredient can be anything. Absolutely anything.

(Large poops even cause litter box related issues because many cats with this problem will poop outside the box. When this happens behaviorists insist on a thorough check of the whole digestive system to rule out underlying disease.)

Anyway, if the food is not getting digested it can be a problem that comes from IBD, but in my experience perfectly healthy cats can also have this problem because of food sensitivity without any serious underlying disease. Same thing when just one single ingredient can totally turn the whole digestive process upside down.

A specialist would advise an elimination diet, a very serious attempt to get to the bottom of this issue. This would be a good way to go. I hate to say this, but under no circumstances should snacks or extras be included because the smallest amount could sabotage the whole attempt to find out what's going on.

Just checking in on The Queen...

Thank you everyone for taking the time to offer your suggestions and support.

I brought in another stool sample and this one has been sent off to a lab for every culture and test applicable. Queen Eva also has an appointment next week to see the vet.

She continues to act "fine", she has not lost weight (she is a petite cat and naturally slender), her appetite is good, her coat is lustrous and shiny and her eyes are bright, and she is lively as ever, though I think she is tiring faster, seems to need little 30 second rests in between her head-long romps, but I'm not sure if she's always done that and I am just looking for something to worry about, or if it is new.

So I have the appointment scheduled, but if she suddenly takes a turn for the worse I can just bring her in.

Will update when I hear back about the lab results.

Originally Posted by LDG

Obviously you'll discuss this with your vet - but maybe it's something her immune system was fighting off so it's only now showing up????? I think the Align probiotic couldn't hurt as she's already on a probiotic.

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I was thinking exactly the same thing LDG. It sounds like something that is hard to find. The large amount of waste is not a normal thing either. I'm wondering if it might be a bacterial infection of some kind. Sure hope she gets better.

The resting thing may be because she is growing up and calming down. One of mine didn't calm down and stop acting like a kitten until he was 2 yrs.

I hope that the tests come back normal, and that she is just a odd ball that poops alot. lol.

*hugs*

Originally Posted by KatKisses

The resting thing may be because she is growing up and calming down. One of mine didn't calm down and stop acting like a kitten until he was 2 yrs.

I hope that the tests come back normal, and that she is just a odd ball that poops alot. lol.

*hugs*

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That's what I was thinking too. And my vet, but then she hasn't examined Queen Eva yet either.

I spoke to vet today. Labs aren't in yet. Because of the constant food rotation (Queen Eva will not eat the same canned food more than one day in a row, if that, so I have to keep changing up) vet has suggested I try feeding her ONLY the dry Evo, which she seems to eat with consistency. I am not happy about that, as I hate having cats on a dry diet. But vet thinks we need to get her on ONE and only one food for a while, to see if that makes a difference.

Ugh. I haven't given her ANY Evo in a couple of days, so it will take a few days to transition her to all dry.

And in the mean time we wait for the lab results to come back. Oh phoooey, forgot to ask about the probiotic.

Thank you everyone, for your support and feedback.

*fingers crossed*

Get well soon Queen Eva, you are such a cutie patootie!

Queen Eva's diarrhea stopped once I took her off the chicken cat foods. But she continued to have too many bowel movements. She was having these HUGE poops three times a day, and eating twice as much food as a cat her size needs. And not only huge, but still too soft. Not diarrhea any more, but....I think the description is "soft serve ice cream" consistency.

Clearly she was not digesting her food properly, since she was pooping it all out, and eating so much to try to make up for it. But what on earth was causing it?

Because she is so finicky I had to keep giving her different canned foods, which she would eat a ton of for one day, then refuse the next.

I had a rotation of three canned foods going, with sometimes a garnish of (ugh) some fancy feast classic fishy flavor to encourage her to finish. She was also getting a small amount of Evo salmon and herring grain free kibble every day.

I brought in yet another stool sample to the vet and this one got sent out to the laboratory for every test and culture there is. In the mean time, my vet advised me to limit her diet to ONE food. I explained the difficulty with that, but she insisted I try this. She wanted me to put Queen Eva on the Evo kibble, since she seemed to eat that so readily. I compromised and stopped all canned foods except the Before Grain Beef, and the Evo grain free kibble.

When Queen Eva, inevitably, started rejecting the single canned food after repeat servings, I garnished it with a few Evo kibble. This seems to be working okay, though now she is starting to reject the kibble sometimes. But I am following vet's orders. Vet said, when Queen Eva rejects a meal, put it away and then offer it to her again at the next meal time, instead of trying something else, or offering it again in a short time. I hate doing that, because Queen Eva is so thin. But since my vet seems to end up being right about everything she tells me 99% of the time, I tried this. And....it's working!

So. Queen Eva has been on the limited diet now for 6 days. Just the Merrick Before Grain beef, and the Evo grain free Herring and Salmon kibble. When she refuses to eat, I pick it up and put it away and offer it again at the next meal time. She usually then will eat! She is down to two bowel movements every 24-36 hours, and they are normal, smallish in size and solid! Once again my vet is right, LOL.

She has gotten a bit thinner though. But I am hoping as she gets trained to eat only these foods she will stop skipping meals and start to fatten up again.

As for the lab results, all negative. No parasite of any kind detected. No bacteria of any kind detected. No toxin of any kind detected.

Now we continue with the limited diet and see what happens. Queen Eva has an appointment scheduled for Friday July 8. I made that appointment last week, envisioning a need for blood work, x rays, ultrasounds.....worst case.....exploratory surgery. Up until this moment I have not put my fears into words, but now that she is doing better, I feel hope that it's not as serious as I feared and these things won't be necessary. I won't cancel that just yet, until I see how things go this week.

When looking at these two pics I can see she has gotten thinner in the past week.

......June 24, 2011........................... July 2, 2011


I just love this one of her face

Queen Eva has had one normal poop every 24 hours or so for the past 48.

She is learning to eat just the two foods (merrick before grain beef, EVO herring and salmon grain free kibble) every day.

I love my vet!

Aw that is GREAT news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

otto, I would like to offer some thoughts on the problem youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re dealing with. And please believe me when I say Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m offering these thoughts with love in my heart and best wishes for success. Absolutely, definitely not to try to ruin any happy feelings you may have when you see improvement from the new diet youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re feeding now.

So…….first and foremost, Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m happy you seem to be getting results. But I also have some concerns and I would like to talk a little bit about those concerns.

When Queen Eva, inevitably, started rejecting the single canned food after repeat servings, I garnished it with a few Evo kibble. This seems to be working okay,

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So. Queen Eva has been on the limited diet now for 6 days. Just the Merrick Before Grain beef, and the Evo grain free Herring and Salmon kibble. When she refuses to eat, I pick it up and put it away and offer it again at the next meal time. She usually then will eat!

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First, when some cats donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to eat the same food twice or several times without anything different being offered, they may seem finicky, but the real reason may be that because of what they are experiencing while the food is being digested, they are instinctively looking for relief from something they canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t explain to us. (Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve seen this with my own cats, its relationship to health problems, and eventually changed my thinking about fussy, finicky eating.)

As for the new diet youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re trying, Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m concerned about the fish because fish is higher in histamine than some other protein sources and for this reason more likely to cause inflammation and allergic reactions. In my mind it may not be the best, safest thing to offer fish as a steady part of the daily diet because over time problems coming from inflammation may develop. On the other hand, it might just work fine without causing any problems down the road. Youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll have to see.

Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m also concerned that at times she refuses to eat. Even if she eats the food later, this is not a good sign. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m afraid it might lead to missed meals and eventually complete food refusal.

Food refusal can be one big problem with mono diets.

Another potential problem (hopefully you will never have to deal with it) can be an addiction to a single food that at one point makes the cat reject all other foods.

And a potential health problem. Allergic reaction to the single food (or in this case two) being fed. Normally it takes time for such an allergy to develop. It can take weeks, even months. Sometimes the need for abandoning the diet becomes clear and urgent by the end of the first six months.
This kind of thing usually happens when a cat has allergies to begin with and the mono diet is an attempt to deal with the reactions. But the problem is, reactions develop depending on how often a certain food is being used, and so feeding just one food and nothing else for an extended period can at one point cause a sensitivity to something in that food to develop. It doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have to happen, but it can.

Since the new diet seems to be making a difference I would like to suggest something. You now have an idea what might work long-term, so make a complete, easy to read list of all the ingredients in the other foods you were feeding and carefully compare those ingredients with the ingredients in the canned and dry food youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re feeding now.
The answer to the problem youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re trying to deal with is somewhere in those ingredients.

Also, I believe it might be a good thing to think ahead and think about/look at some foods that might also work in case you run into a problem with this diet that you canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t solve.
The ingredients in the foods that didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t work could serve as a very good guide.

Hi Violet, thank you for your post. I am aware of the problems associated with feeding fishy foods to cats and up until now I have not fed fishy foods to cats for 26 years. However, sometimes (like Mazy with her c/d) we have to make "lesser of the two evils" type decisions.

I needed a grain free kibble for Queen Eva that does not contain chicken or other poultry/fowl, that she will eat. My resources where I live are limited, and after an exhaustive search the only food that fit the bill is the Evo herring and salmon.

The Evo kibble makes up about 1/4 of her daily intake. Currently she is eating 1/4 cup or less of the kibble and 5-6 oz of the Before Grain beef. The more of the canned she eats, the less of the kibble.

I also know about the dangers of a cat not eating. So far, following my vet's advice about this, when she refuses a meal, it appears it is just because she is not hungry, when it is offered at the next meal she eats it with every evidence of enjoyment and cleans her dish. But I will keep in mind your suggestion that the food may be bothering her.

I also know the benefits of feeding a variety of foods, and the reasons for it. I spout that advice to people all over the internet, LOL. But again, we come back to the lesser of two evils. While Queen Eva was eating a wide range of foods she was having all these intestinal issues. Cutting her back to only two foods has, so far stopped the issues.

I would, at some point, like to introduce a wider range of foods to her, but I am not in any hurry at this point. As you say, it can take months for issues to show up, so constantly changing her diet is not going to be beneficial to her.

I am ALWAYS looking for foods to introduce to my cats, to add to their rotation, it is a never ending quest. Your idea about comparing foods ingredient by ingredient is very good, and I will work on that, thank you.

I have saved your post for future reference, in the event that Queen Eva develops more problems.

By the way, Queen Eva has begun to put back on the weight she lost last week as she adjusted to me not following her around begging her to eat. Her padding over her ribs has returned. She'll be seeing the vet on Friday, and I'll get a weight on her then.