Feeding allergy prone cat home made high protein diet

Hello

My unspayed female seems to be very sensitive to the food she eats.  I have been told to lose the dry food and focus on a high protein diet with meat like venison, rabbit, pheasant, and duck.  I had been feeding her cooked egg, chicken, and beef before this, which was all organic, cage free, non antiobiotic.  The dry food was always Praegers or Blue Wilderness, and I tried primal a few times.    

My biggest questions is where do I even find these sort of meats? Is there really a big difference between raw and cooked? Should I lose the egg, chicken or beef? Is there a blood test I can get done to check for allergies to specific foods?

I am pretty sure her allergies and health problems are related to the food she eats. She has always been a bit skinnier, with visible hips. She gets hot spots on her neck and grooms and scratches all the time. Ive had to keep a sock around her neck the past few weeks to stop her from scratching at a wound she kept picking at, but it has almost completely healed up. When I take the sock off though shell keep scratching at her neck.  I have gone to multiple vets. She has been checked for fleas and nothing.  I use diatomaceous earth and Apple cyder vinegar just in case of mites.
I am hoping she is just allergic to the dry food, but people have been telling me cats can be allergic to beef chicken and/or egg. I live near kent/akron Ohio. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

I am certainly not an expert on raw food & have been asking a lot of questions myself.  Look at the catinfo site.  Somewhere in there I read that there is no such thing as allergies; that dry & low quality canned foods are the problem.  Don't know if this is true.  Also, I was told by my vet not to buy grocery store food because of the bacteria.  Humans cook the food & that kills the bacteria.  There are four raw food companies that I know of: Rad Cat, Primal, Stella & Chewy's & Instinct.  I ruled out Primal for my cat because many of the offering were mixed with fish.

There are a lot of people on this site who know a lot about raw food so I am sure you will get some better answers than mine.

Good luck!

My cat also suffers from food allergies. My vet put him on a food elimation diet. If you are looking for a do it yourself version, the program I did for him is similar to this site http://communityvet.net/2010/03/diy-elimination-diet-for-the-dog-an-cat/ It is suppose to help with skin allergies too. 

Though I never did it, as he is doing good now,  I had thought of having a saliva test done. I don't know how good they are but here is a reference to one that does the test.http://www.nutriscan.org/   I think you can order it online.

I make my own food and do mostly raw. I get most of my meat from Hare Today and they sell the meats you are looking for.

For can food I think a lot of people use Natures Variety. There is also Ziwi Peak.

I do some cooked and I think it is a matter of choice. But I do think my cats do better on raw. But that just my opinion.

Romsoccer,

I'm sorry to hear about your kitty. Wow, your situation sounds very similar to what I've experienced with both of my four year old cats, one more so than the other. Our vet diagnosed a chicken allergy several years ago. I don't want to write a long dissertation here so I will summarize a few things I've learned and read, what has helped and where we still stand.

The most common food allergens (non-meat) are corn, soy, wheat, grains. Cats are obligate carnivores as you know, it's all about meat for them. They have zero use for grains, minimal to no use for carbs, starch or even veggies.

Kibble goes through intense heat processing. Even the "best" or highest protein, grain free kibble is starchy.

There are different theories regarding protein allergies in cats and dogs.

One has to do with the denaturing of proteins in cooked or processed foods. Some cats, for example, cannot eat any kind of e.g., processed chicken -- kibble, canned, grain-free, low starch chicken (e.g., Tiki Cat), or even home cooked, but do fine on raw chicken. The theory is that the immune system is responding to the shape of the denatured protein in processed chicken which causes the allergic reaction. They do okay with the raw chicken because the protein hasn't been denatured. There are other cats who cannot eat any kind of chicken, raw or processed so that would suggest a genetic component.

Another theory is that cats being such hearty meat eaters, other what little vegetable matter they would consume from the stomachs of their prey, *if* they consume the stomachs at all (smaller prey, mice, baby birds, yes, larger prey, rabbit, etc, not typically), the theory is that it's the starch in the processed foods that's causing the reaction.

I have had our cats on mostly freeze dried raw and some frozen raw plus and about 25% of Natures Variety canned rabbit. To this day, they are still a bit itchy, but less so. My male cat suffers the worst. (I had a custom made bib done for him, to protect his neck area.) His allergies were so bad at one point he ended up with a staph infection and twice also required steroids. Two spots on the base of his neck, opposite sides. Vet ruled out parasites, fleas, ringworm. Some vets do offer allergy (blood) testing although will say that it's only 80% effective. Take the 80% if you can find a vet who will do it and you can afford it. Prices vary, our vet (I haven't been able to afford it yet but hope to do it soon) will do a food and environmental allergy panel.

I also wipe my cats down with ACV.

Since I have not been able to afford the testing, I am now doing pet food energetics, (based on Chinese medicine, a topic for another time).

Every week when I remove Mikey's little bib to wash it, he goes right to the two bald spots to groom (but of course he would since he is not able to groom that area with the bib). Cats have rough tongues like sandpaper, hence his licking opens up a new wound, that begins to itch, he scratches, I treat and clean, a scab forms, scabs are itchy...you see? It's a viscous cycle.

But a raw diet has helped. I use rabbit, turkey occassionally and most recently pork.

You can order foods online, if you don't have access to an indy retailer maybe begin with a freeze dried raw, Primal, Stella & Chewys, K9 Naturals, Fresh is Best, are a few options.

I hope this helps, keep us posted.