Cat Allergies! What says you?

I recently rescued a 10 year old Cornish Rex cat, who has chronic runny nose, itchy ears, and weeping eyes. My first suspect was food allergies so I promptly had an allergy panel run. I had a similar problem with my dog way back, and had this allergy panel run only to find out that she can basically eat one type of Solid Gold food and that is it, but her problems went away within a couple of weeks of a food change.

Hehehe, here is what she is allergic to:

Alfalfa

Brewers Yeast

Lamb

Pork

Tuna
Wheat

White Potato

Tomato

I am a bit of a food snob when it comes to my dog's food (without going raw or using ziwipeak.... I don't have a snobbish wallet unfortunately), but I am out of my depth with cat food.

What do you guys recommend or brands of cat food? For me, personally, I trust Blue Buffalo and Solid Gold but I want to be able to put her on a reliable dry food as well as canned. If anyone is interested in suggesting a nice, holistic, nutritious and yummy dry brand let me know!

She is currently on generic adult science diet (what she was being fed before).

Love my new little addition and want the best nutrition for her old Pterodactyl-butt,

Thanks,
Emerald

Hmmm, one problem is that a lot of the higher quality dry foods do have alfalfa, or tomato pomace, or potato, or "ocean fish" (which may include tuna). Every food I looked up has at least one of those ingredients . I think you're just going to have to pick up every bag at the store and read the ingredient list. Or maybe just stick with canned food. . .nothing wrong with that!

I have a list that they sent me of foods (dry, canned, and treats) that are safe for her to have. I am researching all of the foods that I am not familiar with, and compiling my thoughts. Also, reading each label thoroughly. ^_^ Dedication. At this point I am going to go ahead and feed her the approved wet foods, so maybe she can get some nasal relief!

Thanks for your post, I firmly believe that the best place to find quality information (aside from the vet, with whom I live) is from fellow cat owners. I always appreciate others information!

What about Instinct's new Limited Ingredient Turkey dry food for cats, I don't think it contains any of those ingredients?

Some other dry foods that I don't think have those ingredients you listed:

California Natural Grain Free Chicken formula

California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato

EVO Herring and Salmon

Healthwise Chicken & Rice

Canned foods should be easier, they seem to have a lot more variety and you can often find ones that are mostly meat. I think some of the California Natural and EVO canned foods should be ok for example.

Post the list of approved foods here and we can look into them. . .a few more eyes can't hurt!

Any food with fish in it could be a problem. Consumer Reports just had an article saying that most of the fish available at the grocery store for human consumption isn't the species they say it is (they did DNA tests). I'd imagine that goes double for fish meal in pet foods. Could be tuna in that salmon meal. If she's not very allergic to tuna it might not be a problem. . .but if she has trouble after eating a food containing fish, keep that in mind.

Another variation is you go in for doing her food yourself.  RAW or BARF- alike.  That isnt that difficult if you are decided for it.

Another vote for going raw.

A cat's digestive physiology is beautifully designed for ferreting out every bit of nutrition available in the tissues, bones and organs of their prey. The flip side to having such an incredibly efficient digestive system is that it doesn't take much to muck it up; throwing high-carb foods into a system not built to handle even a minimal carb load can and does cause all kinds of issues.

For more info, you can see TCS's raw food subforum, or check out the sites CatInfo.org and Feline-Nutrition.org.

Best regards, and good luck!! Trying to find a healthy cat food on today's pet food shelves is too akin to tripping through a mine field. :-{

AC

Hi Emerald – my cat has similar issues and I would highly recommend Natural Balance grain-free L.I.D. Green Pea & Duck dry and canned food for your cat.  (Natural Balance specializes in foods for cats and dogs with special needs.)  I just checked my bag and I don’t see any of the ingredients that you mentioned your cat being allergic to listed on the bag.  The main ingredients are peas, duck, duck meal, pea protein, canola oil and flaxseed.  The green pea in there is great as it’s a good carbohydrate source.  My cat is 9 years old and suddenly started licking the hair off his front legs and his skin was flaky and red.  I switched his food to Natural Balance L.I.D. and his issues cleared up.  He also loves it – he eats all his food and licks his plate clean!  I highly recommend the Green Pea & Duck for your new baby. 

If you aren't comfortable making your own raw, Feline Pride, Rad Cat, and Primal are all great raw foods that are pre made frozen. Blue Buffalo also carries a limited ingredient diet, Turkey and Sweet Potato and some other different ones.

Franklin doesn't have any defined allergies, but does better on novel proteins, like duck or venison. That's how I found Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets. They're made for cats with allergy issues are grain free and reasonably priced.