starting cat on an elimination diet due to suspected food allergy

sidneykitty said:

 
I am not sure if this helps at all but often at my clinic we prescribe a Rayne (http://www.raynecanada.ca/) Novel Protein for cats with allergies in order to determine if it is the protein source causing problems. The main two are usually rabbit or kangaroo. The food is prescribed specially by a vet because it is usually only meant for the short term in order to identify the potential allergen although there are longterm options available if the cat does end up being allergic to other protein like chicken. It would be something to ask your vet about.

It looks like it is also available in the U.S. but the link to their US site is not working for me and I am not sure why...

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Yikes. That food is really not biologically appropriate for cats. Potatoes, veggies, nope.

Sigh. These vet's prescribing these completely inappropriate diets make me so frustrated. 

Because of the Columbus Day holiday, the local farm supply won't be getting an order of Rad Cat for another 10 days. I suspect likewise with the pet store. I may have to rush order food by mail. Lexi is eating the Hill's dry, so I guess she won't starve. Just really hate feeding dry.

Something that Dr. Martha Cline mentioned to me was that hypoallergenic foods are not always "clean" enough. Store-bought ones are not necessarily that, so I think it's good that you're working with your vet. 

I would not switch to raw or homemade until you've had your consultation. As long as it's a good limited-ingredient kind of food recommended by your veterinarian, I see no reason whatsoever to switch to commercial raw. You have no way of knowing just how "clean" their product is. As Dr. Cline explained to me, if they processed a batch of another type of protein on the same line, the food may be contaminated in terms of allergens. Dr. Cline is a certified pet nutritionist (veterinarian). 

I wouldn't judge any cat food by the criteria presented in pro-raw websites. They reflect the writers' opinions and not any actual scientific fact. Work with your veterinarian, and if you don't feel comfortable with his/her recommendations, seek the advice of a professional pet nutritionist (one with the right diplomas, not self-proclaimed). Here's a link to the list of such professional nutritionists in the US. I think some of them do phone consultations as well - 

http://www.acvn.org/directory/

Also, switching to raw is not that simple. There's a learning curve and possible reactions/side effects to deal with. IMO, you should not attempt that with a cat that's not currently healthy and stress-free. Yes, it works for some cats, and for many others it causes problems.

To those of you suggesting raw, please take a minute to read this again - 

 [thread="282314"]Recommending A Homemade Diet Hold Your Horses​[/thread]  

I have nothing against feeding raw responsibly. It can be a legitimate choice. However, there are good reasons why 98% of cat owners don't do it though, so please let's keep advice about raw feeding in the raw feeding forum. Thank you!

Thank you @Anne for the helpful information. I trust my vet, but when presented with food that my cat will not eat, I have to look elsewhere. The office closed early today, so wasn't able to discuss. It will be interesting to hear what she says tomorrow. Options appear to be limited given the wide variety of protein Lexi has eaten in the last several months. I'm guessing the vet will suggest sticking with the dry hydrolyzed protein, which Lexi is eating very reluctantly. I think a phone consultation with a nutrition expert would be great.

rawlins02 said:

 
Thank you @Anne for the helpful information. I trust my vet, but when presented with food that my cat will not eat, I have to look elsewhere. The office closed early today, so wasn't able to discuss. It will be interesting to hear what she says tomorrow. Options appear to be limited given the wide variety of protein Lexi has eaten in the last several months. I'm guessing the vet will suggest sticking with the dry hydrolyzed protein, which Lexi is eating very reluctantly. I think a phone consultation with a nutrition expert would be great.

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Absolutely. I've been discussing nutrition with several feline specialists lately and one key recommendation has to do with the cat actually eating the food   You may also want to read this article by Dr. Rachel Boltz. It's not about food allergies per se but if you jump to the recommendations part, a key element is finding a food that the cat will in fact eat...

 [article="33544"]A Scientific Take On Cat Nutrition By Dr Rachel Boltz​[/article]  

Good luck and I hope you keep updating the thread. It's quite the journey and I'm sure sharing the information here will help many members and visitors!

I see that the ACVN directory lists several vets affiliated with Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts University. Their phone consultations start at $200. No doubt, expert advice is available. The cost, though, is probably prohibitive to many. It would be great if vets can discuss cases with them free of charge.

http://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/make-an-appointment/

http://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/nutrition-service-forms/client-diet-history-form/

Lexi is eating the Hill's v/d dry. More than a week now. We did the transition rather quickly, and I have seen her vomit once or twice. But generally seems to be doing well. Clearly happy as ever. 

I spoke with vet last week. She suggested sticking with this food for the trial. Said we will try to get back to canned in time. That is important to me. Lexi is still scratching and shaking her head some. Sore on neck is healing but she still scratches at it good every few days. Appointment with dermatologist in about 2 weeks. Hope to know more about environmental allergens at some point.

One of my poor kitties has been dealing with food allergies for quite some time, almost a year.  She was initially diagnosed with something else, but after some skin biopsies, it was confirmed to be an allergy.  With some more time and looking into it, confirmed to be food allergy.

She was put on Z/D and ate both the canned and dry for about 6-7 weeks, 2 of those weeks she was taking prednisone, and was itch free, symptom free happy and normal. It was a great break she definitely needed!  Unfortunately the scratching started to come back, and soon was back in full force.  In the process of research and trial and error I tried a few new protein can foods.  I tried two different brands of limited ingredient diets, of two different novel proteins.  Venison being one of them, and Rabbit another.  

The itching, hot spots, and skin problems became much worse than they had ever been in a very short amount of time.  Then I read up on Raw diets, and wanted to try Darwin's, except none of their proteins where really novel.  Ordered it, but it took almost 10 days to arrive.  So in the meantime I found a canned food by Evanger's, Rabbit which is just: Rabbit, Water, Rabbit Liver, Guar Gum. It took a few days for my cat to eat that without mixing it with something else, but 3 days later she has mostly stopped itching.  

Now the Darwin food is here.  I don't want to mess with a good thing since for once it seems that there might be some progress.  Anyway, as far as food goes, this is one good option I found that doesn't have grains or vegetables.  I ultimately want to get her fully on raw food.  

I would like to know if any cats with food allergies didn't express such allergies once transitioned to a raw diet?  There seems to be some mention here and there, but not enough.  I do feel like the fillers in canned food may have been main problem.  Maybe it isn't the protein source.  Anyway.  I guess I'm hopeful.  I just wanted to say that even those hypoallergenic foods are very often not the answer.  And if it is it's only for a short time.  

I sympathize with you since I went through the same thing with my cat. She had her neck scratched raw also. The vet said food allergy, likely fish, chicken or beef. Only turkey was mentioned as likely to be safe. I won't buy their Hill's Science and my cats are as picky as anybody's so it takes time to figure it out. Eventually what seemed to work for my cat was simply no fish flavors of anything at all, treats, food, toppers....and the itching stopped, as well as the vomiting that wasn't hairballs. What I was also able to do was slowly introduce some novel protein, and had success with duck and a lamb/turkey combination. Again that seems to keep the vomiting really under control. There are rarely even hairballs anymore. It wasn't a great brand (Nutro Max Cat) but they ate it and along with no more fish it seemed to work. There is a lot of chicken in the duck flavor, wheat gluten and potato starch since it is a gravy base. There was also good acceptance of Natures Variety Instinct Liimited Ingredient Diet - turkey flavor. Another Limited Ingredient Diet brand is Natural Balance. They have canned and dry. I had no luck whatsoever with their canned flavors, but I use the green pea and duck dry formula as their treats and they all love it. It really is just duck. There seems to be a few companies you can find online that make limited ingredient diets and once you know what you are looking for many pet stores do carry it, as well as Chewy.com.

I tried to get them to eat a raw diet and tried every brand out there in pet stores. My outdoor cats would sort of accept it, but not the indoor cats. One brand I had to order at a healthfood store almost got accepted but then, nope.:smshfrk: try again. I became uncomfortable with the raw because once it's defrosted it won't last in the fridge if they aren't eating enough of it and I was worried about how fast it might become contaminated, so gave up on that.

Having had a cat that had hyperthyroid and IBD that wouldn't eat anything but fish, then another cat with the skin issues and vomiting it's hard to figure out what to do. There were times I felt almost panicked with all the vomiting. And you never know, as has been said it might not be the protein, it might be something else in the food, so try different brands. Just keep trying, go slow. Give each change you make several days to see if something is working and the itching has stopped. Good luck...

Yes I understand food allergies can be a challenge. Lexi is doing well on the Hill's z/d dry. It's been about 4 weeks on that exclusively. Hopefully only another 7-8 more weeks on that food only. The sore on her neck from scratching has healed. There's just a small spot where hair has not filled in, and tiny scar. For first time since June she has no raw sores on head or neck from scratching. Her appetite is very high. I think the dry is not giving her a full feeling like the wet food that I add a touch of water to.

Tomorrow we go to an animal dermatologist. See what they have to say. Not looking forward to taking Lexi on a 1.5 hour drive. I understand cats can get motion sickness. I won't feed her within 3 hours of departure.

An update. We're at 8 weeks on the food trial. Scratching is much less than in summer. Lexi no has no raw spots/sores. Four weeks ago the dermatologist recommended continuing with the diet until 8 week mark. Will soon reintroduce food as advised. That said, an environmental allergy can not be ruled out, especially given the seasonality in scratching. If no obvious food allergy emerges soon, then it's likely we'll do blood testing for environmental allergens next summer, if the scratching returns, per vet's recommendation. I now have a better understanding of various treatments, if needed. An isolated food allergy would be the easiest to fix. We go back to the dermatologist this week. Hoping the wet food is more satisfying, as right now on the dry, she never seems to get enough. Have to watch her weight. When on the wet food, she would finish her portion and go on her way. Not so now.

Thank you for the updates. I am dealing with something very similar with my 11 year old Siamese. He's licked spots of himself raw, and the vet just keeps prescribing steroids to heal the hot spots, but I haven't got a clue what might be causing it. He eats a wide variety of canned wet foods, almost always chicken flavor (he hates the rest) and won't touch raw food. I have been working to heal his hot spots for about 6 months now and the last one just won't go away. I am not looking forward to an elimination diet, but I believe that will be my next step for him...

Hope the food trial provides you helpful information. I'm really glad to be consulting with a specialist that's close by.

missmimz said:

 
Yikes. That food is really not biologically appropriate for cats. Potatoes, veggies, nope.

Sigh. These vet's prescribing these completely inappropriate diets make me so frustrated. 

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Actually, @missmimz  the food is technically appropriate for cats since it is prescribed for cats and approved for them. Only the diagnostic foods which contain VERY few ingredients are not nutritionally balanced for a cat over the longterm and that is the food that would be used in an elimination diet to identify potential protein allergy triggers. Particularly the kangaroo is good as the majority of cats in North America have never been exposed for kangaroo as a source of protein before.

However, the point of this thread is not to debate the nutritional merits of any particular food, be it commercial, veterinary, raw or homemade, but to offer advice to @rawlins02  . I am happy to hear things are improving for your kitty! I hope she continues to improve and you manage to find some answers. It can be very difficult dealing with a food or other allergy in a cat and I commend your patience! sending you good vibes for Lexi.

sidneykitty said:

 
Actually, @missmimz  the food is technically appropriate for cats since it is prescribed for cats and approved for them. Only the diagnostic foods which contain VERY few ingredients are not nutritionally balanced for a cat over the longterm and that is the food that would be used in an elimination diet to identify potential protein allergy triggers. Particularly the kangaroo is good as the majority of cats in North America have never been exposed for kangaroo as a source of protein before.

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The wet foods look okay, their kibbles are awful (probably all i looked at originally). I don't know why anyone would pay for RX foods like that that aren't nutritionally balanced when for half the cost or less you can buy a pre-mix and meat and make food yourself that's completely balanced and doesn't contain the veggies and you could easily tell whether or not it's a protein allergy. 

At the dermatologist visit last week we decided to keep the current diet for another 10 days, to reach the 10 week mark. It's pretty clear that Lexi is scratching much less. Next week I will reintroduce a non-prescription wet food. I'd previously fed Nature's Variety (duck, rabbit, lamb), in addition to Merrick. We noticed that the Nature's Variety duck contains turkey liver. I'll probably go grab some of the Limited Ingredient version. The vet said that it's rare for a cat to be allergic to grains. So plan now is to feed different proteins, one at a time, 2 weeks at a time for each. It sure is nice to see Kitty without open sores around her head. 

Oh I primarily think of the wet foods, @missmimz  and don't think of the dry as much. Home cooked food would probably do well, too! I suppose it must be overwhelming for many people who find out they have to do these food trials and it is probably much easier for them to buy the food pre-prepared especially if they are already used to doing so. One less of a stress for a very stressful process I imagine. 

Oh glad to hear Lexi is scratching less! Well done for doing the 10 weeks. I hope introducing some limited ingredient foods works out well for you. Let us know how she is getting on!

Today I noticed some blood just below Lexi's bottom. I see two large stools in the box with a drop or two of bright red blood on one. Seemed firm as well. We have an appointment with vet tomorrow. Coincidentally, today is the last day on the z/d dry. Total of 10 weeks. Hoping this is constipation. She seems well. Very glad to see her run around the house playing for well over 30 minutes after having half a can of Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Duck as we challenge to determine whether she has a food allergy. Having to address another issue has got me a bit down. But of course, health care for my little girl is paramount. 

How did the Vet appointment go?  Usually fresh blood like that is indicative of constipation, and nothing to worry about.  Hopefully that was the case and nothing new to worry about. 

Thanks for asking @mrsgreenjeens. There was no blood evident during the visit. I can't recall what the Vet said about Lexi's glands, which she "examined". Was told that blood is often due to straining, as you say, and Lexi's bowel movement at time blood was noticed was fairly substantial. And she may have been holding it for a day due to snow outside, where she often "goes". Vet said occasional blood (eg. every couple months) is not uncommon. Also that colon tumors in a cat her age (2.5 years) are extremely rare. They just called and said no evidence of parasites or parasite eggs was found in the stool. So I'm going to monitor and hope for the best.

So glad she's back on wet food. Seems much more satisfied after a meal. Onward with the food challenge(s)...