Diet Question

Hello!

     I recently adopted my first cat and just had some questions about her diet. She is on a hypo-allergenic diet with made by purina. So I guess she is allergic to something but the shelter didn't say what. They just say she pukes from the other food they gave her. Anyway, she also has these treats with L Lysine. They told me to give her only limited ingredient treats. I asked why and they told me it is because the other foods have a lot of extra ingredients. Anyway, she doesn't really like the treats so I was wondering if anyone knows what these food mean and if I can feed her something else. I wanted to try boiled chicken for her since my friend's cat loves that and I figured her food has chicken in it already and she drinks water so she probably not allergic to that. I can take her to a vet to but I wanted to check around here first in case it helps save money. I spent lots already since I had no cat items to start off with but she is totally worth it.

L. Lysine is usually given to keep the herpes virus in check.  Did they say anything about her having herpes.  It's a chronic URI and they never get completely over it, their immune system keeps it in check.

Without know what she is allergic to it's really hard to say what a good diet would be.  Is she on the hypoallergenic wet food?  If not, getting her switched to the wet food would be a very good start.

Well there's nothing wrong with calling the shelter and asking for more information from the cat's foster parent, or even the medical records they have for her. Most shelters have quite a bit of paperwork on each cat that comes through, including medical and things like behavior analysis.

If she really is allergic to something, it's important for you to know exactly what it is. After all, you're her parent and caregiver now. A doctor wouldn't send a human patient home after an allergic reaction without telling them the source of the reaction and what to avoid. And it's not unheard of for shelters to push a certain brand of food if they receive funding from a company. Good luck!

What exactly is the Purina food? Is it a limited ingredient diet? If so, the ingredient list should give a few clues.

I'm not getting a very good impression of this shelter, Plan is right--they should at least tell you what it is she's allergic to. What if Purina were to change the formula for this food or discontinue it? You're supposed to blindly guess what allergies your furbaby has?

For now I would feed her the same Purina food. You need more information before switching. If she does have allergies then switching without knowing more could mean an expensive vet visit.

The Purina hypoallergenic diet is made with hydrolyzed protein as is most of the prescription hypoallergenic diets.  The proteins are broken down into their amino acids so the body doesn't react to the protein.  The Purina has chicken and soy protein but the theory is it doesn't matter what protein is used because of the way it is broken down.    I'm betting the shelter doesn't have a clue about what the kitty is allergic to or even if allergies are involved.

Well, they told me to get the food at the vet and that she pukes up a lot of food and basically that. I did get her vaccination records too. And thanks for letting me know about the protein breakdown. I never thought about it that way. I won't try to give her chicken now. D=  From the looks of it, I think taking her to a vet to figure this out is probably best. Thank you so much!

Congratulations on your new family member.  You should give the shelter a call, but we all have to remember it is a shelter and they have limited food sources, mostly donated from different companies, so their choice isn't huge.  As they told you it was the one canned food that she didn't vomit up which doesn't mean she is allergic but they had the special food on hand, tried it and your cat didn't have issues with it.  If your cat was vomiting perhaps the food they gave her was too rich for her system or was given too much.  I give my one cat L-Lysine because she has allergies, I break open the capsule and sprinkle on her food - it isn't for stomach problems though - it does help her dripping nose and watering eyes.

A friend of mine adopted a cat and she threw up a lot, after many different varieties of food finally "Maggie" found a food she ate without vomiting.  Cats are like people, some stuff just doesn't agree with them, we don't like everything and neither do cats.  My suggestion would be to purchase some small cans of wet food and feed her a little while weaning her off the prescription food and see if that works.  She would probably love the boiled chicken also because cats need meat all the time.  Many times the high quality, expensive brands are just too rich for a cat and can cause problems.  If she isn't vomiting now, try transitioning her to a different canned food over about a week and see how that goes.  Don't just give her a new product, mix it in with what she is currently eating and if she doesn't have problems by the end of the week you will have her changed over to a different, non-prescription formula.  Good luck