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- Oct 1, 2016
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So we suspect our cat's vomiting problem is due to possible food allergies. The full story of what all we've been through is below. This is my first experience with owning a cat with food allergies. She's currently on no treats boot camp (unhappy kiddo) and a hydrolyzed prescription food diet (which she hates...she will barely touch the dry and is less than thrilled with the canned). So far the vomiting has stopped since putting her on the hydrolyzed food. In another week or so we'll try introducing one ingredient at a time and see how it goes so we can try to figure out what she can and can't eat and try to find food options that won't make her sick that she actually likes.
From the research I've done so far, there seems to be a good selection of canned limited ingredient foods to try, but not as much as far as dry foods. And I'm definitely looking for some dry foods, because she is very much a grazer. Even with canned food it can take her an hour or more to eat a tablespoon of it, so I worry about canned food starting to spoil if we give her that as her only food supply morning and night (we both work during the day). She really likes to just nibble here and there all throughout the day and isn't an overeater either. So I'm looking for a dry food for her main food source, canned foods are more of a treat to her. I'd prefer not to go the raw food diet if we can help it.
So what's your suggestions for limited ingredient dry foods to try?
But here's the other thing, I get trying novel proteins like duck, rabbit, venison. That part I understand. But many of the limited ingredient foods I'm finding have peas in them. But then I read posts that peas are bad and shouldn't be fed. Many of them have potatoes in them. But then I read posts that potatoes are bad and shouldn't be fed. So now I'm just confused by this whole limited ingredient diet thing. If peas, potatoes, etc are bad, then what should I look for instead of those things, and why are they in so many of the limited ingredient foods if they're bad?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And for those that want to read the full story......
We adopted our kitty from a rescue a couple months ago. She's a 6 year old DSH tabby. A few days after we adopted her, she started throwing up every other day or so. She seems completely fine otherwise, plays and acts normal, coat and skin seems great, no itching, no loose stool, no parasites or fleas, a happy cat, all things normal, just throwing up. She's UTD on everything, is on Revolution spot on, is an indoor cat (other than occasionally going out for walks around the house on her harness), and our only furkid (she hates other cats).
We've been back and forth to the vet several times trying to figure out the throwing up since adopting her.....
A few days after we got her she was throwing up everything she ate. After 24 hours of not keeping anything down we decided to go to an emergency vet, rather than waiting for Monday for our regular vet. Bloodwork looked fine. X-rays didn't show a blockage and looked fine. They gave her IV fluids and kept her for observation, she kept down everything they fed her (cheap canned food), and sent her home.
A few days later, she started throwing up again every other day or so. Off to our regular vet. At first they suspect inflammation from stress from going through the rescue, being at the Petsmart for a month waiting to be adopted, and settling into her new home. We did a week of Fortiflora probiotics and she did great for a week, then throwing up again. When we got her she was on Authority Adult dry at the rescue. We slowly started to transition her to Blue Buffalo Adult dry since we had great luck in the past with Blue Buffalo Senior for a senior citizen barn kitty we took under our wing at the barn where I boarded my horse.
Since she did good on the probiotic the week she was on it, we decided to try the probiotic long term. That worked for about a week, then throwing up again. We had tried some Blue Buffalo canned foods, but with the canned food, she seemed to throw up not long after eating it. Vet suggested stopping all canned food and just stick to the Blue Buffalo dry and continue the probiotic. But still no luck. Only difference was with the canned food on the days she got sick, she threw up shortly after eating, but with the dry only diet, on the days she got sick it was usually an hour or two later that it came back up.
So next step we switched her to Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Formula Dry. And that was been hit or miss. Sometimes she'd go a handful of days and be fine, then she'd barf two or three days in a row.
And we've pretty much ruled out scarf and barf. Because she's very much a grazer. She'll eat a few bites, then leave and come back later, eat a few bites, come back later. Even with canned food. But just to make sure, we put an X shaped rubber dog bone in her dish that she has to eat around to make sure she's not scarfing, but no difference in the barfing. Hairballs don't seem to be the issue either.
Back to the vet, and we did bloodwork for the full gastro panel. Everything looks good there. And she's been with us a few months now and happily settled into our home, so inflammation from stress really shouldn't be a factor at this point. So we're suspecting food allergies and setting out to try to figure out what she can and can't have.
So we're on no treats boot came right now. We decided to try two weeks of the Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Formula Dry only and nothing else and see how that went. No luck. While she likes the stuff, she was still barfing every few days on the EN only diet.
So we switched to Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets HA Hydrolyzed Formula Dry. And she hates the stuff. She'll barely eat it. So we added some Hill's Prescription Diet z/d Original Skin/Food Sensitivities Canned food to try to get her to eat better, and while she will pick at it and eventually eat it, she's obviously not thrilled about eating it. But at least she's eating something, because the dry stuff she really doesn't want to touch.
On the upside, since starting the Hydrolyzed diet we've gone a full week with no barfing. Our vets goal is to go two weeks on the Hydrolyzed diet with no barfing, then try introducing one ingredient at a time and see if we can start figuring out what she's allergic to so we can try to find her some food options that won't make her sick that she actually likes. Hence my questions above.....
We did contact the rescue again and they said she had problems with throwing up while in rescue on the Authority Adult and they suspected food allergies and suggested that she should be on a limited ingredient food. Unfortunately they didn't tell us any of this this when we first adopted her, so we've had a long rough road getting to the suspected food allergies conclusion.....
And this turned into a book.....sorry about that!
From the research I've done so far, there seems to be a good selection of canned limited ingredient foods to try, but not as much as far as dry foods. And I'm definitely looking for some dry foods, because she is very much a grazer. Even with canned food it can take her an hour or more to eat a tablespoon of it, so I worry about canned food starting to spoil if we give her that as her only food supply morning and night (we both work during the day). She really likes to just nibble here and there all throughout the day and isn't an overeater either. So I'm looking for a dry food for her main food source, canned foods are more of a treat to her. I'd prefer not to go the raw food diet if we can help it.
So what's your suggestions for limited ingredient dry foods to try?
But here's the other thing, I get trying novel proteins like duck, rabbit, venison. That part I understand. But many of the limited ingredient foods I'm finding have peas in them. But then I read posts that peas are bad and shouldn't be fed. Many of them have potatoes in them. But then I read posts that potatoes are bad and shouldn't be fed. So now I'm just confused by this whole limited ingredient diet thing. If peas, potatoes, etc are bad, then what should I look for instead of those things, and why are they in so many of the limited ingredient foods if they're bad?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And for those that want to read the full story......
We adopted our kitty from a rescue a couple months ago. She's a 6 year old DSH tabby. A few days after we adopted her, she started throwing up every other day or so. She seems completely fine otherwise, plays and acts normal, coat and skin seems great, no itching, no loose stool, no parasites or fleas, a happy cat, all things normal, just throwing up. She's UTD on everything, is on Revolution spot on, is an indoor cat (other than occasionally going out for walks around the house on her harness), and our only furkid (she hates other cats).
We've been back and forth to the vet several times trying to figure out the throwing up since adopting her.....
A few days after we got her she was throwing up everything she ate. After 24 hours of not keeping anything down we decided to go to an emergency vet, rather than waiting for Monday for our regular vet. Bloodwork looked fine. X-rays didn't show a blockage and looked fine. They gave her IV fluids and kept her for observation, she kept down everything they fed her (cheap canned food), and sent her home.
A few days later, she started throwing up again every other day or so. Off to our regular vet. At first they suspect inflammation from stress from going through the rescue, being at the Petsmart for a month waiting to be adopted, and settling into her new home. We did a week of Fortiflora probiotics and she did great for a week, then throwing up again. When we got her she was on Authority Adult dry at the rescue. We slowly started to transition her to Blue Buffalo Adult dry since we had great luck in the past with Blue Buffalo Senior for a senior citizen barn kitty we took under our wing at the barn where I boarded my horse.
Since she did good on the probiotic the week she was on it, we decided to try the probiotic long term. That worked for about a week, then throwing up again. We had tried some Blue Buffalo canned foods, but with the canned food, she seemed to throw up not long after eating it. Vet suggested stopping all canned food and just stick to the Blue Buffalo dry and continue the probiotic. But still no luck. Only difference was with the canned food on the days she got sick, she threw up shortly after eating, but with the dry only diet, on the days she got sick it was usually an hour or two later that it came back up.
So next step we switched her to Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Formula Dry. And that was been hit or miss. Sometimes she'd go a handful of days and be fine, then she'd barf two or three days in a row.
And we've pretty much ruled out scarf and barf. Because she's very much a grazer. She'll eat a few bites, then leave and come back later, eat a few bites, come back later. Even with canned food. But just to make sure, we put an X shaped rubber dog bone in her dish that she has to eat around to make sure she's not scarfing, but no difference in the barfing. Hairballs don't seem to be the issue either.
Back to the vet, and we did bloodwork for the full gastro panel. Everything looks good there. And she's been with us a few months now and happily settled into our home, so inflammation from stress really shouldn't be a factor at this point. So we're suspecting food allergies and setting out to try to figure out what she can and can't have.
So we're on no treats boot came right now. We decided to try two weeks of the Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Formula Dry only and nothing else and see how that went. No luck. While she likes the stuff, she was still barfing every few days on the EN only diet.
So we switched to Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets HA Hydrolyzed Formula Dry. And she hates the stuff. She'll barely eat it. So we added some Hill's Prescription Diet z/d Original Skin/Food Sensitivities Canned food to try to get her to eat better, and while she will pick at it and eventually eat it, she's obviously not thrilled about eating it. But at least she's eating something, because the dry stuff she really doesn't want to touch.
On the upside, since starting the Hydrolyzed diet we've gone a full week with no barfing. Our vets goal is to go two weeks on the Hydrolyzed diet with no barfing, then try introducing one ingredient at a time and see if we can start figuring out what she's allergic to so we can try to find her some food options that won't make her sick that she actually likes. Hence my questions above.....
We did contact the rescue again and they said she had problems with throwing up while in rescue on the Authority Adult and they suspected food allergies and suggested that she should be on a limited ingredient food. Unfortunately they didn't tell us any of this this when we first adopted her, so we've had a long rough road getting to the suspected food allergies conclusion.....
And this turned into a book.....sorry about that!
