Cat with possible allergies (bites, scracthes, overgrooming), need help picking new food

Hello,

We just moved back to the US from Europe and feel that I can finally try something different for our cat Cassis.

Cassis has been overgrooming for a few years now, she is pretty much hairless on the underside of her underbelly as well as parts of her legs.  She bites herself. She also scratches her neck/throatcreating scabs. She bites her claws too. sometimes it slows down, and sometimes it flares up. We are changing the litter soon to Precious cat clumping litter. 

She is a big eater, always hungry. We had to put her on a diet  as she was  over 16lbs she is now  a little under 14 lbs

Quick history:

We first tried wet food  when she was young and she would regurgigate all the time. Switched to the cheapest 9 lives dry food for a couple weeks, she LOVED it. we did not. it did not feel right. it was full of crap, they ate too much..etc..

We tried a variety of wellness, nature balance wet food, she was really picky.

We switched to wellness dry food which worked  for a long while, tried a couple others "grain free" options in the mix.

I think she started overgrooming/biting when we moved for the first time but can't be sure. (we have moved a lot since)

She still regurgitate often but we think it is due to hairballs mostly  (from overgrooming) and eating too fast. We have to give her little food at a time, otherwise it is a "clean up" for sure..

Anyway, since then we have seen countless vets, both in the states and in france. She has been put on royal canin vet diet Urinary s/o  for about 18 months after they saw a gall stone (she got surgery) back in france. It is the moderate calorie dry option. That is what she eats now. The US version seems slightly different and they apparently need more of it.

Now we are back in the US, we dont have tons of money and we feel wet food would be better for her as far as water intake and future urinary issues.

While we are not sure she has allergies (she is also an anxious cat), it sounds like most vets were leaning toward a combination of stress and allergies by now.

We have been advised before leaving france to put her on the Royal Canin hypoallergenic  vet diet food.

I was thinking of trying some wet food, grain free with a change in protein: maybe rabbit or duck?
HUsband is refusing to keep spending $60 on cat food (we have 2 cats, it ads up) every time we buy it.

Can anyone recommend something? Am I going at it the wrong way? Should i be concerned about certain ingredients that could cause more gall stones?

I was looking at  nature variety instinct grain free or pride  by instinct.. but did i read right that I would need to give her 4 cans a day ?? that seems insane..especially given they cost $28 for 12, which would be 3 days worth of food? so like $300 a month??

• 5.5-oz cans:  For adult cats, feed approximately 2 cans per 7 pounds of body weight

I can't offer much in the way of advice, but your last question stands out to me. That seems excessive. How many calories are in each can? For your cat's size, I think she should be getting around 240 calories per day. Have you considered trying to add some raw to her diet?

Have you considered raw or home-cooked? Not only is it a "cleaner" food but you can work it as an elimination diet to find out if your cat is allergic to certain proteins too.

doreet said:

hi, yes, I have over grooming in my three-year-old Burmese; but guess what, all the other cats around here do the same thing! She takes all the hair away from over her eyes and around her eyes, and I thought there was something wrong but other people all tell me all their cats do the same thing. Somebody else said "she probably has dry skin from dry food, put some olive oil over her food." Now I'm not sure she will eat it. (She's also hooked on this horrible bunch of commercial cat treats, which I'm trying to wean her off of.) All talk about this more later I have to go!

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If all the other cats in your area do this, then you need to do some Erin Brokovich type investigating for the cause.

I think 4 cans a day is too much, pet food companies even the good ones tend to do this.  For most adult cats 20 calories per pound per day is sufficient.  If I remember right the natures variety instinct is around 200 to 220 calories per 5.5 ounce cans.  Nature's Variety is one of the more expensive ones.  Hounds and Gatos is a little cheaper but they have limited distribution for store sales which means buying online.  http://houndgatos.com/

Evo also makes a venison and duck variety in their canned food and it is also cheaper than the Natures Variety.  It's available in most pet stores.

One good thing about the Nature's variety is that the liver matches the protein.  The Hounds and Gatos uses duck liver.  One thing you have to watch with the more unusual protein foods is the source of the liver.  Some still use chicken liver.  Some just say liver which doesn't tell you anything.

For anyone looking for advice, just wanted to say that we end up getting a diagnosis. Cassis had an auto immune disorder that kept getting worse (at some point her entire belly was raw/red from biting), and a fairly high dose of attopica was what helped. She has been on it for 3+ years now and it has made a world of difference. Everytime we lower the dose or switch it, she starts back up though. So while this is usually a short term treatment, we have had to stay on it.

Kirikara, over grooming js never natural. It's almost like a nervous tick. The constant moving just be very hard on your baby. My family moved cross country twice with 11 cats in a 6mo period. It was hard on most of them.
As for a food, I use very little wet food due to most refusing it in our family. But I can help you with another aspect. Cbd has some great effects for our pets and it's all natural so no bad side effects like with prescriptions. Here's an article that gives lots of great info on it. I use it for several cats with different problems. 1 takes it with Cancer& ibd. Another has stomatitis (has had NO flare ups since taking it) & kidney failure, another with hyperthyroidism and ibd.
Roughly, it helps anxiety, depression, inflammation, aches & pains associates especially with old age and arthritis.
Do know! That I've found too much cbd has had 1side effect when increased too quickly. Over grooming. But if you take it slow, it should go smoothly. Like my Cancer baby. She takes only 2mg twice a day. Twice I've tried to increase it past that. Twice she's begun taking off. A lot of fur on her beautiful, long tail. I just had to cut back to the 2mg. Aside from that, nothing bad. It also works as a natural appetite stimulant, which is awesome.
For the throw up? Look in it to see if you see an actual hairball. That's how you'll know if your baby is just having hairballs or it's something else.
By the way, congrats on her weight loss! That's a real hard thing with cats.

To Doreet, you might want to try a raw treat. My cats love them. If they're too costly, Fancy Feast makes a treat that is actually pretty good and looks like chocolate squares. The ingredients are limited and there's even a beef one for ibd kitties.