Food Allergies - how fast should I do the switch IF…

I have a cat with very similar issues, a reaction to a vaccine, allergy to chicken, and he also has IBD with constipation.  The first of these issues was the allergic reaction to vaccines when he was 12 months old so I don't know if that was a trigger or if it was just the first thing that I noticed.

I can't find anything on the Wild Calling canned Turkey.  I found Chicken and Pheasant.  I do know that the Evo Chicken and Turkey does have herring in it.  It's well down on the ingredient list but if she is very sensitive to fish it could be enough to trigger a reaction.  Have you tried any of the very unusual proteins?  My boy can't tolerate beef and he has recently developed a chicken allergy.  Cats shouldn't be given too much fish even if they aren't sensitive to it.  I am now trying things like lamb and rabbit.  Natures Instinct makes LID diets is some unusual proteins.  I have fed the lamb.  The one thing that I like about them is that they use a matching liver in the food, like the lamb has lamb liver in it.Hounds and Gatos makes some in unusual proteins and they are cheaper than the natures instinct.  They have a pretty limited area as far as stores go but they can be ordered online.  They do use duck liver in their foods.  Have you tried Beef or Venison?

I have never heard of a cat being allergic to Miralax, I suppose it is possible but I think it's very unlikely.  I don't know much about digestive enzymes or probiotics.  Hopefully someone that knows more about them can expand on it.  I would check the ingredients on those.  I know some probiotics do have dairy or soy in them.

My experience with food allergies is that they seem to grow. My cat first developed an allergy to chicken and scratched at her bib, cheek and ears like her body was on fire. Then it was turkey. Then it was quail. I would encourage you to not give up but find canned or frozen raw foods with proteins like lamb, venison, pork, etc that your cat hasn't tried. Good luck.

If the plant enzymes are Prozyme original, they're in a lactose base. I don't know which probiotics you're using, but they may be in a lactose base. You may need to find allergan / lactose-free enzymes and probiotics.

As to the lysine, I don't think it's an issue of being allergic to it. But when we first rescued Chumley, he had what appeared to be food allergies. Lysine turned his diarrhea into explosive diarrhea. So you may need to stop giving the lysine.

If you want to try raw (which Chumley now eats, and it has resolved the inflammation from "allergies" to the point he doesn't have "allergies"), many cats don't recognize it as food at first. It has less smell, a different texture... it's best to mix a very, very small amount into food kitty is eating. If she eats it, then add a little tiny bit more every few days, and reduce the amount of canned in there just as slowly. It's not a race. :rub:

I forgot to mention she also had a reaction to peas in the canned food. Nature's Variety has peas in it. I have tried the rabbit and duck in the Wild calling, it does not have peas in it but she would not touch it. Because I am having so many problems with food right now she has stopped eating canned food and now is constipated so need to make a trip to the vet.

Denice, I was wondering how your vet figured out your cat has IBD? I just have a feeling there is something more going on with Peaches because she always races around the house screaming for an hour or more before going poop. It's like she is having cramps or in pain before going. I have talked with the vet several times about this but they just think it's because she is constipated. Another thing is she can still have bowel movements but throwing up and when I take her to the vet they find out she is constipated and full of poop. It just seems to be getting worse with her and I don't know what to do. I don't know how to get the vet to look into what is causing all her problems and I am running out of foods she will either eat or is not allergic too.

The enzymes and probiotic is called Animal essentials Plant Enzymes & Probiotics supplement for dogs and cats and has to be refrigerated. I was told to try a probiotic for her tummy problems. Should I just get a probiotic  without the Enzymes?  Peaches looks so uncomfortable right now with the face swollen and now constipated, not wanting to eat. I do hope the vet can give me some answers when I take her in.

I am so sorry your kitty is feeling so bad now.  You said she isn't eating canned is she eating anything right now?  What sometimes happens with IBD kitties if a food makes them feel bad they then avoid it, we interpret that as pickiness.   I know constipation can cause nausea, it's kind of a chicken and egg thing, was the nausea first which then caused the constipation or the other way around.  IBD is a diagnoses of elimination unless a biopsy is done which I didn't have done.  The constipation is caused by decreased motility, the decreased motility is causes by the thickening of the lining of the digestive system.  I don't know if that is what is going on with your kitty but you could ask your vet about it.  My kitty went through six years of flares while I did the vet hopping thing trying to figure out what was going on with him.  I think the other vets didn't consider IBD because the more common symptom is diarrhea rather than constipation.

I would stick with the more simple foods that are both grain and vegetable free.  They are more expensive but they are 95 to 98 percent meat.  Foods like the Nature's Variety LTD or Hounds and Gatos in a novel protein.  The EVO 95 also fits but it has that little bit of herring in it which could cause problems for your kitty.

I know very little about the enzymes and probiotics.  Hopefully LDG will be able to comment on that.  I looked up what you are giving but I didn't really know what I was looking at as far as ingredients.

I looked up the Animal Essentials Plant Enzymes & Probiotic. It doesn't provide enough information to determine if there are any allergans in the product or not. You may have to read the ingredients on the label.

But right now, simple is best. I'd stop all supplements, and if you have no reason to suspect she's allergic to turkey, consider purchasing Beechnut Turkey baby food if you can find it. (Gerber's has cornstarch in it). It's not a balanced meal, but for a few days, it would be a way to settle her tummy, and get the miralax into her.

Is your vet able to see her today? :cross:

I was not able to get her into vet today but we go tomorrow at 10:30 in the morning. It's not that she isn't eating at all, she just takes 3 hours to eat her breakfast and she doesn't look well in the face. She is not swollen as bad or itching since I stopped the EVO that by the way did not know it had Herring oil in it. She cannot having any fish or fish oils in her canned food. I gave her just the Wild Calling turkey with a little Miralx in it. I do think she is constipated again as we go through this when ever I try to give her new foods. If she can't have peas then should I stay away from the Nature's Variety? I am just so confused why she is slowly becoming allergic to everything. A lot of the limited foods have peas so we are running out of canned foods and it's frustrating. I also gave her some lactolose this morning.

The thing that is confusing is she can still have bowel movements and be constipated and not feel well. She has never went daily but is doing good if she goes every other day. Last week she went every day but still didn't seem right, this week she went Sunday and Wednesday but nothing since. I was going to take her in last week and I guess I should have but it's so hard to tell when she is constipated or ill.

What questions should I be asking vet? Maybe she has IBS or IBD and nobody is picking up on it. She has had problems since she was a small kitten starting on solid foods and gets worse as she gets older.

Natures Variety is fine.  Their LID which stands for Limited Ingredient Diet would be the best because it is either 95 or 98 percent meat, very few fillers.  You're probably thinking of Natural Balance.  They have a food for allergies that basically has substituted peas for the rice that is in their regular food.

Foods that are basically meat and supplements are (though you will have to check the ingredients for fish oils)

Wild Calling
By Nature 95% meats
The By Nature Organics line have no carrageenan
Weruva - some flavors
Nutro Natural Choice canned foods (I think this has eggs)

There are probably more, but these are off the top of my head

LDG said:

Foods that are basically meat and supplements are (though you will have to check the ingredients for fish oils)

Wild Calling
By Nature 95% meats
The By Nature Organics line have no carrageenan
Weruva - some flavors
Nutro Natural Choice canned foods (I think this has eggs)

There are probably more, but these are off the top of my head

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Would Fancy Feast classics be a possibility? Sorry if it's already been mentioned, but I thought that I'd throw it out there.

For some reason, I thought chicken was an issue, and isn't FF mostly "poultry" by-products? Not sure if that would work for allergies. :dk: (Could be an issue in the others, I just don't know).

LDG said:

For some reason, I thought chicken was an issue, and isn't FF mostly "poultry" by-products? Not sure if that would work for allergies. :dk: (Could be an issue in the others, I just don't know).

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You know, it's been so long since I bought commercial cat food that I gotta plead ignorance on this one. All I remember is Fancy Feast classics tend to be meat and vitamins, and I include meat by products as meat in my head. I was thinking grain or vegetable intolerance rather than a novel protein diet. Forehead slap!

Peaches actually started having bad bouts of constipation on Fancy Feast. I have tried that food twice now and both times she ended up having to have an enema. We now stay away from Fancy Feast.

Peaches goes to the vet this morning so I hope it turns out good and it is something that can be treated. She just doesn't look good but is still eating a little food when I give it to here.

I was just checking to see what the vet had to say about Peaches.

Peaches was at the vet all day today, I just picked her up an hour ago. She did have to have stool taken out manually or however you spell it. They gave her fluids through an IV all day. Her blood work came out all good. They gave her something for the nausea. We discussed IBD or IBS but without going to a specialist and having a test done we will not know if that is the problem. We were looking back in her records and she has this problem about every 5 or 6 months apart. Peaches biggest problem is she will not drink water at all. I have tried water fountains and right now I have bowls of water around the house but she will not drink out of any of them.

Denice, I was wondering what you have done to help your kitty? What things should I try? Peaches is so picky when it comes to food and then she has so many allergies to foods, I'm just frustrated.

I know this is really frustrating.  I didn't get the biopsy done for Patches so technically he has suspected IBD.  Unfortunately there is no other definitive diagnostics for it.  Patches is on a low dose of a steroid.  Cats seem to generally tolerate long term steroid use well but it isn't without risks.  The main risk for cats is developing diabetes.

Finding a way to control the symptoms is very specific to the cat.  Some people have had very good luck with a raw diet, others have their IBD kitties on a raw diet but they still need the steroid.  I was feeding Patches a cooked diet for awhile, not exclusively but some.  Then he developed a chicken allergy and he can't tolerate beef so at the moment I'm not cooking for him.  Another member here is going to try cooking rabbit for her kitty.

If you have a holistic vet in your area it might be worth getting a consult from him or her.  Of course holistic vets are the same as conventional ones, some are very good some not so much.  They are more expensive than conventional vets but normally you don't have to go to them nearly as much as a conventional vet.  That is probably why they charge so much for that initial consult.

Peaches is not really wanting to eat this morning. She will eat a bite or two and walks away. The vet and I did discuss trying a small dose of steroids but she put it up to me if I wanted to try that and then told me that is does come with some risks. I told her I wanted to wait a while to see if Peaches bounces back from this episode. I also was wanting to get some advice here with people who have had their cat on steroids. She has just been laying around since I brought her home and still not acting like herself. Maybe I should try the steroid??

I can't even get Peaches to eat much canned food anymore and wouldn't even go near the raw I got a sample of. Peaches want's fish food as that is her favorite but she is allergic to it. When she smells Fancy Feast chicken or Friskies poultry she goes crazy and will eat it all gone but for some reason that food has made her constipated and the fact it has some fish in it. I think that is the only reason she likes it so much. Not sure what canned food to try to get her excited to eat again. She was liking the Wild Calling Turkey but now has lost interest in that too. I did go to Petco yesterday and the Nature's Variety does have peas in all the cans of food. I have already tried rabbit in the Wild Calling and that was a no go.  I just want her to start feeling better.

Thanks for all your help.

Do you add water to her food? Also, have you tried different water sources? Some bottled waters taste funny to me, it's got to be the same way for cats.

As far as steroids, if she currently has inflammation then I would try it.

For the Nature's Variety foods, the peas are whole (as are the carrots) and you can pick them out. (Though if small bits or their very presence can trigger a flare, it's not worth trying it).

Lazlo had cancer, so we keep him on 2.5mg - 5mg of pred (it changes based oh how he's feeling). He's been on a daily dose of pred since August 2011. If you feed a high protein, low carb diet, the risk of diabetes is very low. Cats generally tolerate steroids very well.

I hope she'll eat soon!