Allergy?

Hi all!

My cat has been diagnosed with IBD. Finding foods that work for him has proven to be very difficult, because he also has past urinary issues. He was eating Royal Canin Urinary SO dry and I had him on Wellness canned food (because he refused to touch the urinary so canned). This worked and prevented more urinary issues for about 3 years. He started vomiting a lot and his stool very soft, so after discussing it with my vet, we switched his food to Acana dry. Unfortunately, 3 weeks later, he was blocked again... so back on Urinary SO he went. 

His diarrhea continued to get worse and worse, so of course, to the vet we went. Now we have him on a new Royal Canin diet, Multi-function - Urinary SO and Hydrolyzed Protein. I took him off the Wellness as well, because he mainly ate chicken, chicken & beef, or the Turkey formulas. Since I wasn't sure exactly what was causing his issues, we wanted to try a different protein. 

I found ZiwiPeak. I bought both the Venison and the Lamb.  After feeding him the lamb for a few days, I noticed his ear was a bit red and felt a bit warm. A couple more days, the fur on the back of his ear is coming out from all his scratching,  and it really red, and a bit swollen. I stopped the lamb right away, and called the vet (Which I have an appointment to bring him in on Friday). His ear is looking better now, so I have to assume it was the lamb cat food. A little scared to try the venison now. There are also mussels in the food, which I suppose could be the issue as well. I'm not sure.

I switched him to Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Rabbit canned now, and he seems to be doing okay. Stool is still soft, but not close to as bad as it was before. 

Any suggestions on what foods would be  good  for him. I'm really paranoid to take him off the urinary dry food, because as much as I know dry isn't good for him, the other RC urinary SO food DID help him and keep him healthy. 

I'm at a loss here. Debating if I should just ask them to run an allergy test and find out exactly what he's allergic to.  It's pricey though, but may be my best option?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

So it sounds like he's got multiple issues going on here. 

1)  Prone to stones

2)  Food allergies, probably

3)  IBD

Boy, that IS an issue. How long has he been on the NV canned rabbit?  When switching foods, I wouldn't expect his stool to firm up right away, so if only a week or two, and it's already firming up, I take that as a good sign.  Are you giving him probiotics along with it...that might help.  Or are you giving any meds for the IBD at all? 

OK, so the canned food is obviously BETTER for the urinary issues than dry, but is it low enough in magnesium is the question, I guess.  It's good for items 2 and 3, no question. 

To me, the main issue here is to keep him from blocking again, with a change in food.  Most cats with allergies don't get that expensive allergy test, they just figure it out by food trials.  But the biggies are corn, wheat, soy, beef and even lamb.  I think you'd probably be ok to feed that venison.  That green lipped mussel is probably ok...not honestly sure.  Seafood is considered a culprit, but not really sure where green lipped mussels fall.  You can actually buy that in powdered form as a supplement, and I never heard of being able to buy salmon or tuna etc in powdered form.   I've also heard that chicken is often a trigger, although I can't seem to substantiate that right now. 

So, bottom line, for the IBD, you need to stay away from grains, and you already know what to do for the stones.  For food allergies, if he does well on rabbit, keep that in rotation, then try venison and/or duck.   Those are about the only limited ingredient proteins out for for cats with food allergies

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
So it sounds like he's got multiple issues going on here. 

1)  Prone to stones

2)  Food allergies, probably

3)  IBD

Boy, that IS an issue. How long has he been on the NV canned rabbit?  When switching foods, I wouldn't expect his stool to firm up right away, so if only a week or two, and it's already firming up, I take that as a good sign.  Are you giving him probiotics along with it...that might help.  Or are you giving any meds for the IBD at all? 

OK, so the canned food is obviously BETTER for the urinary issues than dry, but is it low enough in magnesium is the question, I guess.  It's good for items 2 and 3, no question. 

To me, the main issue here is to keep him from blocking again, with a change in food.  Most cats with allergies don't get that expensive allergy test, they just figure it out by food trials.  But the biggies are corn, wheat, soy, beef and even lamb.  I think you'd probably be ok to feed that venison.  That green lipped mussel is probably ok...not honestly sure.  Seafood is considered a culprit, but not really sure where green lipped mussels fall.  You can actually buy that in powdered form as a supplement, and I never heard of being able to buy salmon or tuna etc in powdered form.   I've also heard that chicken is often a trigger, although I can't seem to substantiate that right now. 

So, bottom line, for the IBD, you need to stay away from grains, and you already know what to do for the stones.  For food allergies, if he does well on rabbit, keep that in rotation, then try venison and/or duck.   Those are about the only limited ingredient proteins out for for cats with food allergies

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He's been on the NV canned rabbit for a week now. Before that, was the ZiwiPeak.  The vet had him taking Fortiflora, but it didn't seem to help. He currently has me giving him B-12 injections. We did that once a week for 6 weeks, and now we're doing once a month for 4 months. He did originally give him Metronidazole, but it didn't help, and was traumatizing for both me and Shamrock. He hasn't suggested any other meds at the moment. Waiting to see how he does on his new diet.

Went to the vet yesterday. Vet thinks it's just an ear infection, nothing to do with the lamb, so that's a plus. Have drops and ear cleaner for his ear. Hopefully I can get the infection cleared up soon. He's not a happy kitty right now.

 I'll still keep him only on the rabbit for now though, and hopefully see more improvement in his stool. My vet wants him ONLY on the RC Urinary + Hydrolyzed Protein dry food, but  I refuse. He's 13 years old and has always been a wet food eater. I have 2 other cats, so eliminating wet for only him would be extremely hard. Not to mention, with his urinary issues, I can't see that being beneficial.  His suggestion was simply add water to the dry food for him. It's really frustrating that these vets don't take the time to learn more about nutrition and educate themselves on the foods out there. One of the vet assistants there actually told me corn was perfectly fine for cats. I wanted to scream. 

Thank you for the advice. I will continue with the diet he is on, then possibly rotate the venison back in. Still a little scared to try the lamb again, but we'll see. I was really excited to find ZiwiPeak and feel so good about their food, so I'd love to be able to rotate some back in eventually. The employees at the pet store I go to have been amazing in researching and trying to find foods that might work for Shamrock. Currently, they're looking into getting Kangaroo canned food as a possible protein to try at some point for him. 

OK, now that I have more information, I want to ask you this question.  HOW did your Vet diagnose Shamrock with IBD?  Did he do a biopsy, or did he just assume it's IBD because he isn't responding to the FortiFlora and/or the Metro to stop the diarrhea?  I'm not trying to criticize your Vet here, because I think many Vets may diagnoze IBD based on symptoms rather than do an actual biopsy, but just want to make sure he actually has IBD rather than suspected IBD.   But either way, I'm a little surprised he hasn't tried putting Shamrock on a low dose of a corticosteroid, which is the KEY to helping with IBD.  Yes, Vitamin B12 is also good,but the Corticosteroids are KEY (along with the proper food)  Check out this website for things IBD related:  http://www.ibdkitties.net/guidelines/

It would actually be great if Shamrock has an ear infection rather than a food allergy, so you wouldn't have to worry about limiting his food quite so much. 

If he is used to canned food, I'm sure they make an S/O food in canned.  Why isn't he on that?  If not Royal Canin, there are other brands that make S/O.  Science Diet for certain makes it. 

FYI, I have a cat right now who has been having diarrhea for 2 weeks straight now, ever since he had a dental and started his antibiotics.  We had him on probiotics even while on the antibiotics, yet he still got diarrhea.  Our Vet had us immediately stop the antibiotics, yet the diarrhea persists.  After 2 days of it, our Vet had us start feeding him a higher fiber diet, adding canned pumpkin if he'd eat it (THAT was a battle) and adding in a packet of FortiFlora each day.   The "pudding" is starting to get a little thicker after about a week of this routine .  This is not satisfactory to me, so now I am giving him 2 full capsules of slippery elm bark per day (one in the morning and one in the evening, dissolved in a little water), of course continuing with his normal probiotics, JUST feeding him chicken cat foods, which he's beginning to really dislike, having to coax him along with FortiFlora on top.  Slippery Elm Bark is high in fiber, and coats the intestinal walls to help with both diarrhea AND constipation. It's been called the "Natural" Pepto Bismol .  Anyway, I'm hoping this is going to do the trick.  If not, we may have to go the Metro route .  And speaking of that, another poster here said the way she got her cats to take it was to wrap the pills in  pieces of American cheese slices and then roll them in FortiFlora.  I'll definitely try that if I have to give that medication, rather than try to shove the pills down his throat.

Yes, he was diagnosed with a biopsy and blood work. We did this after the Metronidazole wasn't working. He's not on the S/O canned food because it's chicken, as is the Hill's. We're eliminating chicken from his diet because we're not sure if this is what was causing his diarrhea. The urinary issues plus the IBD have really made diet changes for him difficult. RC's Urinary + Hydrolyzed Protein is a new diet (at least here in Canada), which is why we were able to switch his dry to something the works for both his urinary problems and IBD. Unfortunately, they don't make a canned food to pair with the new dry formula yet.  

He has been doing a lot better since we took him off the old Urinary S/O food. He was in and out of the litter box all day, and it was pure liquid most of the time, which caused him to miss the box at times. His stool is still soft, but not hasn't been liquid since the switch. 

I am very relieved that his ear is just an infection, and not due to the food. 

As for steroids, they wanted to try the diet changes first, as they said steroids can be tough on his kidneys, and with past urinary issues, it's something they want to be careful of. Unfortunately, I don't know much about this stuff, so I have to hope they're treating him the way they should be. I'm doing my best to be patient and see how he continues with the new dry and the one protein of rabbit in canned. I think my biggest problem was trying to rotate in a couple of new proteins at first, and not just sticking with one for a while, and slowly rotating in one or two more later on. 

Do you think I should suggest the steroids or wait a little longer and see how he does? 

Good luck with your kitty! I hope it works for him. I know how frustrating it can be. I wasn't aware of how bad the liquid form of Metronidazole was when he prescribed it. I prefer liquids usually, I find them a lot easier to give. Did I ever regret that choice. I did ask for the pills, but they told me they're huge, and would be really hard to give to him. I hope I never have to experience Metronidazole again. Terrible stuff. 

It seems your Vet is well up on things, so if he wants to see how Shamrock does first with the diet change, and you're up for the wait, and since he's gone from liquid to pudding or maybe even better on the new diet, why not give it a chance?  BUT, if I were you, I would at least try to become well educated on IBD by thoroughly reading the information on that website I provided above.  It is owned by a member here at TCS and is full of very valuable info.  She even addresses kidney issues and IBD.  Having just recently lost a kidney cat (3rd one), I know how important it is to be well educated in chronic diseases to be able to work with the Vet's when anything arises.