Possibly allergic to wet food?

amj75

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Hi there,

How did your cat's situation turn out? Have you received an accurate diagnosis yet? 

I'm wondering because my cat has been having the same issues for the past couple of years (he's currently 7 years old, this started happening about 2 years ago).

Same thing - overgrooming to the point of bleeding, he has a completely bare/ red/ sore / bleeding belly and hind legs as well as spots behind his front legs. He's scratched his chin and ears to the point of bleeding and losing chunks of fur/skin. I've taken him to 5 vets and we still can't figure out what is wrong. Put him on a hypoallergenic diet, checked for ring worm, no mange no fleas, given him salmon oil....the only thing that changed around the time that this started was that I started giving him wet food (his since been on different brands and flavors and no change)

Just wondering what your outcome was and if maybe it could be the same for my boy. 

Thanks!
 

catspaw66

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Hi there,

How did your cat's situation turn out? Have you received an accurate diagnosis yet? 

I'm wondering because my cat has been having the same issues for the past couple of years (he's currently 7 years old, this started happening about 2 years ago).

Same thing - overgrooming to the point of bleeding, he has a completely bare/ red/ sore / bleeding belly and hind legs as well as spots behind his front legs. He's scratched his chin and ears to the point of bleeding and losing chunks of fur/skin. I've taken him to 5 vets and we still can't figure out what is wrong. Put him on a hypoallergenic diet, checked for ring worm, no mange no fleas, given him salmon oil....the only thing that changed around the time that this started was that I started giving him wet food (his since been on different brands and flavors and no change)

Just wondering what your outcome was and if maybe it could be the same for my boy. 

Thanks!
Welcome to TCS. The OP has not been online her since April. I am going to have the moderators split your post off into a new thread. That way you will get the most replies. Do you have access to a cat behaviorist?
 
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amj75

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I live in NYC so I'm sure I could find one. I've been looking into dermatologists, but to be honest, the allergy tests and specialist costs are so far out of my budget right now.
 
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amj75

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and also thank you for the welcome and splitting my post off to help with replies!
 

peaches08

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He may have a food allergy. Have you tried limiting ingredients?
 

ldg

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I live in NYC so I'm sure I could find one. I've been looking into dermatologists, but to be honest, the allergy tests and specialist costs are so far out of my budget right now.
We work with several different vets, and they all agree - allergy tests in cats aren't reliable so totally not worth the expense.

In Western Medicine, this is likely an allergic reaction. We rescued a cat in 2010 that did the same thing - mowed his abdomen bare, empty spots on his forelegs, and he was never not scritching, itching or licking at himself. :( We tried the hypoallergenic diet, we tried limited ingredient diets - we were not able to pinpoint the source of his problem. And to top it off, he had horrible, chronic diarrhea. :( We worked with all our traditional vets for 6 or 7 months, and finally decided we weren't getting anywhere.

So we searched for a holistic vet, one that is a DVM, but additionally trained in Chinese Medicine and herbs. She diagnosed him as being "extremely spleen Qi deficient," and "extremely Yin deficient." These simply do not translate into western medicine terms, because they are based on energy meridians and balances/imbalances. She explained it to us this way: he's too hot (not like a fever), and trying to rip out all his hair. Yeah - he did sleep in the coolest places in our home. :nod:

The herbs she prescribed had his diarrhea resolved in 3 days. It was clear within one week that the herbs for his itching were working - that's a longer healing process. His overgrooming slowly stopped, and all his hair grew back.

We kept him on the herbal stuff for a year, and then we transitioned to raw food. He started refusing to eat his pills then, so we stopped giving them to him - and no return of the problems.

For many kitties, the switch to raw works, simply because it is almost by definition limited ingredient - and what I really think makes the difference is that it is unprocessed. I have asthma and allergies, and the more fresh, unprocessed food I eat (especially using things like unrefined oils and butter from grass fed cows, etc.), the better my skin (eczema, rashes, hives) and my breathing are. I see no reason we shouldn't expect the same for our cats - only for them, as obligate carnivores, the equivalent of fresh fruits and veggies is a raw-meat based diet (because it takes more than just meat to provide complete nutrition).

There are a number of commercial raw foods available - they make it really easy to feed raw. Some can be expensive, but Nature's Variety might be in the budget. It actually cost me less to feed NV raw than the canned foods I was feeding. Of course, making your own is the cheapest. We've saved a LOT of money switching to homemade raw.

Or you might consider searching to see if you can find a holistic vet you can get to - I imagine in NYC there must be someone trained in Chinese meds! You can search here: http://www.ahvma.org
 
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ldg

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Sorry - one last thing. He wouldn't be allergic to "wet food" per se, but an ingredient (or ingredients) in it. But basically allergies are an immune system that has gone haywire. There are two ways to approach it: identifying the triggers (the "allergies") or helping his immune system calm back down.

Using limited ingredient diets or hypoallergenic food may help you stop feeding him the triggers. Using a holistic vet or a raw diet may calm down his immune-system-gone-crazy.
 

teeveecat

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Hi there,

How did your cat's situation turn out? Have you received an accurate diagnosis yet? 

I'm wondering because my cat has been having the same issues for the past couple of years (he's currently 7 years old, this started happening about 2 years ago).

Same thing - overgrooming to the point of bleeding, he has a completely bare/ red/ sore / bleeding belly and hind legs as well as spots behind his front legs. He's scratched his chin and ears to the point of bleeding and losing chunks of fur/skin. I've taken him to 5 vets and we still can't figure out what is wrong. Put him on a hypoallergenic diet, checked for ring worm, no mange no fleas, given him salmon oil....the only thing that changed around the time that this started was that I started giving him wet food (his since been on different brands and flavors and no change)

Just wondering what your outcome was and if maybe it could be the same for my boy. 

Thanks!
Remember that even one flea in the house can cause a major reaction in a cat that has allergies to fleas.   My cat also didn't have any fleas, yet was scratching and licking to the point of creating oozing, bald patches on her skin.     My vet diagnosed her with a "lick granuloma" or a form of eosinophilic granuloma.  She would lick her hind leg until it was bald and raw.    I think we tried one shot of depo medrol and that cleared it up for awhile.  Another time she licked the same spot raw, and scratched off almost all the hair on her cheek until it was very scabby.    As the vet wasn't keen on Depo Medrol shots because the effects take awhile to wear off, he switched to prednisolone pills (and eventually to another corticosteroid).  He had me bringing her in every week and then every other week for several months to check on her and to make sure he could slowly reduce the steroid dosage and get her off of it.   I tried creams, ointments and some natural stuff  but nothing seemed to work.  We were even thinking of giving her cyclosporine off label.   The vet stressed that different food proteins had to be tried.   

I think I may have purchased one can of the prescribed hypoallergenic diet and she didn't like it.  I tried a few other brands, first looking for foods without preservatives, then foods that were grain free,  It wasn't until I put her on a canned rabbit formula that she stopped the severe licking and itching.  She hasn't needed the steroid pills for years and only has a small spot that she licks.  She still scratches near her ears, but she no longer creates bald spots or hairloss.  For the occasional itchy spot or scab, I use Zymox. 

From what I understand, once you have an allergic cat and all other possibilities are ruled out, you have to go to the novel proteins like venison, rabbit, or duck.  Some say that many cats are just allergic to eating anything that has wings.   Others suggest that a raw food diet is the thing that clears up allergies.  I have a feeling  that if you try raw, you've got to start them on it when young, and my vet isn't a fan of raw food diets.  He said he would recommend it if nothing else worked, though.

Have you tried canned  rabbit yet?    There are several smaller pet food brands that have a rabbit formula.  My cat will only eat Nature's Variety Instinct Canned Rabbit.  Some here won't recommend it because the protein is sourced from China, but my cat just won't eat any of the other brands and she's hardly eaten anything else for a number of years now.

You stated that you live in NYC.  There's a great holistic pet food store in lower Manhattan called Whisker's.   They stock all the boutique brands of pet foods, so you don't have to order cases before you try them and can buy them by the can.  There's also a very knowledgable owner who sits in the front dispensing some good advice.    PM me if you want more information.
 
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amj75

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Thanks everyone!

I have put him on a hypoallergenic diet (rabbit was the canned food he was given) for several months with no change in his licking. He was fine for years, never doing this. The only changes I made right before he started were: 

Added (more like forced because he wasn't so interested in) wet food 

and 

I changed his food bowl. I was feeding him in plastic bowls and ended up buying him this "throne" food stand that was more of a metal material with a bronze color. I also bought him a new water bowl that was metal. 

I just took him off the wet food and am only feeding him dry food today (same dry food he's been eating for years before this started). And I will be picking up some plastic or glass bowls to try instead of the metal. 

I tried him on flea medication for months and there was no change, so my Vet said that probably wan't what the cause was. They tested him for ring worm - negative. I looked into the allergy tests, but they are INCREDIBLY expensive - I'm looking at AT LEAST $400 with no guarantee that it will even be conclusive.

When this started he was also having an issue with his anal glands being full. I had to take him to get them expelled every few months up until about a year ago. Last time the vet checked them, they were fine, and she didn't think one had anything to do with the other.

I will look into changing him to a raw diet and see what that entails. 

Thanks everyone! I'm open to any and all suggestions at this point. 
 

mewlittle

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this may sound crazy maybe he is allergic to metal?

and whats the ingredients in the wet food you feeding?

what brand of dry are you feeding

are you bathing him at all if so what kind of soap that could do it
 
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