Cat Allergies

Hello All,

I am new to this site and hoping to get some good advice. I have a one year old cat that has had food allergies most of her life. I have tried food elimination, but can't seem to find the exact cause. I am leaning towards a chicken allergy. The vet put her on an oral med Atopica, that seems to keep her symptoms on the mild side. I also have a 16 year old cat that seems to have evolved allergies as well.

The currently free feed on Merrick dry and get Tiki canned twice a day. Vet has suggested a prescription diet, but with 5 cats total, I would like to avoid that. I have been considering a raw diet-starting with something they haven't had before like venison. How would I transition them off the dry? I am currently adding raw in with their canned diet, slowing increasing the raw and eliminating the canned and they seem to be excepting of it. Pet store owner suggested mixing freeze dried (not rehydrated) in with the dry until I eliminate it all together.

Confused.....Any advice on cat allergies, food, and transitioning to raw would be welcomed!! Thank you!

-Sara

Hi and welcome to TCS! There are quite a few on this site who feed raw, some to treat issues, others to help prevent issues from starting. A novel protein limited ingredient diet is a great way to treat/figure out food allergies, and it doesn't get any more limited ingredient than a single source raw protein. You may also want to ensure the meat is organic/grass fed.

There is a raw feeding resource sticky at the top of the Raw and Home-Cooked Cat Food forum that has a ton of great info as well as some raw food transition threads that may help you.

Great!!  I will check there.  Thanks so much!