chicken allergy -- dry food?

I've been reading and reading thru posts and topics and have run out of time and patience, forgive me.  My now 3 yr old cat, adopted last summer, seems to be allergic to chicken.  She was skinny when I brought her home from the shelter, where she was only offered chicken based foods (donated by Halo),  Initially she ate the same Taste of the Wild fish based kibble the two older cats ate at that time, but I stopped buying that one when both the boys were diagnosed with kidney disease (too much phosphorus).  Her vet recommended a Limited Ingredients Diet food, but the only ones I've found are chicken and peas!  She's eating Purina Pro Plan Focus for Sensitive Skin and Stomach now -- it's lamb based, but still has some chicken in it, seventh ingredient on the list, so not much.  She's itching and scratching a lot less than she was, but I'd like to see her not itching.  I'm cross eyed from reading labels, between finding foods for the CKD cats and searching for a chicken free dry food.  

Has anyone found one, does anyone know of one?

Thanks a bunch,

Cheri

Have you looked into Natural Balance? There's duck and pea as well as salmon and pea. Can you switch her to canned only?

Mogli can't tolerate chicken even in very small quantities, and it's been easier to find canned food without chicken and grain. We're in Europe and he gets German brands (mainly prescription), but you should be able to get something like Hounds & Gatos or Ziwi Peak without chicken.

It looks like Blue Buffalo Basics dry line is without chicken or chicken meal, though that also seems to be limited to fish, duck or turkey, and there's Nature's Variety Instinct Rabbit Meal Formula.

If your older cats were recently diagnosed with kidney disease, I would also suggest looking into wet foods. Last June, I began transitioning my cats from dry to wet because my four-year-old male had his second episode of very serious constipation. In February, he started throwing up and I suspected a chicken sensitivity, so for the past two months I've been feeding Nature's Variety Instinct canned foods: rabbit and Limited Ingredient Diet turkey and duck. Other brands with non-chicken varieties include Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet, Hounds & Gatos, Party Animal, Wild Calling, Nature's Logic. There are others, but I am aware of these because they do not contain carrageenan, to which I suspect my male is also sensitive.

For dry, Nature's Variety Instinct makes a limited ingredient dry in several flavors (turkey and rabbit, I think) that do not contain chicken. Natural Balance has duck and salmon varieties that may not include chicken (the ingredient list includes "natural flavor"). My cats ate the salmon for a while and loved it; my issue with it is that it's very high in carbohydrates. Orijen makes a regional red variety that does not include chicken.

Good luck!

I feel your pain, I just found out yesterday my 8 month old is allergic to chicken and it was what was causing his soft stools and coat to dry out a little. For a small amount of dry that I feed I'm looking into Orijen Red. I have been happy with the cat and kitten formula for my other cat. I just ordered a couple cases of Natures Variety Instinct Duck and venison. He has eaten them before and liked them. Only down side is the cost. $2.50 a can is a bit much. He doesn't care for Hounds & Gatos Rabbit. I like to feed at least 50% raw and now with the allergy I will have to switch him from Feline Natural to Stella and Chewy's Duck.

I will repeat the recommendation to move to wet food.

Beyond that, Nature's Variety has limited ingredient dry foods, as does Natural Balance. In Southern California one of the local pet stores (Centinela) makes something called Lotus that has a duck flavor without chicken. Centinela isn't big, but they're not really small, either, so there's a chance they distribute Lotus. Wysong makes a hypoallergenic food with lamb as its protein. Taste of the Wild makes a salmon formula, but that means keeping the other kitties away from it.

My kitty is also allergic to chicken wet food, but chicken based kibbles are ok with him, don't ask my why cos I don't know. I had been looking for non chicken wet and dry though and these are what I have come up with, some are what he is already eating.

Wet (non fish)
1. Addiction Venision
2. Addiction Brushtail
3. Wellness Core Turkey & Duck
4. NB LID[emoji]174[/emoji] Venison & Green Pea
5. Firstmate Turkey
6. Innova Evo Cat - 95% Venison

Dry
1. Feline Caviar Holistic New Zealand Venison Indoor
2. Addiction Grain-Free Viva La Venison (but has chicken fat)
3. Fromm Four-Star Nutritionals Duck A La Veg (has rice, chicken broth/fat)

The only thing I didn't like about Natural Balance L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets Green Pea & Duck Formula , is the 1st ingredient being peas. But I have read good reviews about this working well with cats allergy.

Thank you. Raintyger in Long Beach.  I have tried and tried to get this little girl to eat some wet/ canned food.  For a few months she would eat Blue Buffalo Wilderness duck -- which I only offered in desperation, as I don't trust this company.  (They refuse to give info on the phosphorus content of their foods, which people with CKD cats -- I have 2 -- have got to have.)  The two senior cats have wet food available all the time.  Missy Rosie walks right by it, won't even get closer to give it a sniff.  I decided to let it go for awhile, and am hopeful she will try some wet food again when she's been with us longer.  I don't know how long she lived with the feral colony she was found with -- long enough to develop some feral traits -- but it's not unlikely she was only eating dry food then.  In the shelter she didn't like and didn't eat the canned food (they only offer Halo's Spot's Stew, as it's donated -- a lot of cats don't like it).  So, she's used to dry food.  She's had to make a number of adjustments to new living situations in the past year, and may just need more time.  I don't want to push on making the change to wet food, by giving her less dry food, because if she doesn't like the food she won't eat it -- she was skinny when I adopted her, and has gained more than a pound since moving in with me and finding a decent food she likes and will eat enough of -- Purina Focus Sensitive Skin and Stomach, which is lamb based (with a little chicken meal and a little fish meal, but so far down on the list, has to be very little... ) some days scratches a little,  more others.  

I've offered the Natural Balance Duck and Pea,  a fresh serving in a clean bowl, every day for a couple of weeks -- she won't taste it.  I have the Instinct Rabbit on the way.  I refuse to buy the venison foods from New Zealand / Australia -- huge carbon footprint.  I've been hesitant to offer a fish based food, as fish is at the top of the list of meats cats are likely to be allergic to.  I'm still considering it, tho.

I've seen the Fromm foods for sale on line, and will probably try that brand next, Onemeow, thanks.

Cheri 

Tip: Often smaller, higher end stores will have sample packs available of the dry food.