Allergies + Finding a Food is So Hard!!

[EmersonandEvie]

Evie has been biting her tummy for a while now. The vet has tries antianxiety medicine, flea prevention (in case of a flea allergy), and steroids. The steroids worked, but that's not a long-term solution.

The vet wants her to do a hydrolyzed diet + Apoquel. I cannot guarantee that she will only eat the hydrolyzed diet, since she is very food motivated and food insecure (residual from her days as a shelter kitten). I want to try giving her only red meat (beef, pork, lamb) to see if that helps with her allergies. I am honestly at a loss as to what her problems could be.

I have found ONE food that doesn't have poultry in it, plus is affordable. It's a Blue Buffalo product. I'm wary of them, simply due to all their recalls. However, if it helps Evie and gives her some relief, I'll continue to buy it and feed it to my three. Has anyone found a good, totally poultry free (I am suspecting the issue is chicken, but eliminating all things with wings for now) dry food that their cats enjoy?

Wet food, thankfully, is much easier to come by. If this doesn't work, I'll call the vet for an Apoquel script.

 

[Alldara]

EmersonandEvie Instinct has some LID wet foods. They actually have a rabbit wet and dry food with no chicken (ensure you grab the LID, as they have another non-lid version of the same food).Nature's Variety® Instinct® Limited Ingredient Cat Food - Grain Free, Rabbit | cat Dry Food | PetSmart


Merrick and Natural Balance both have fairly affordable LIDs as well.

Dr Elsey's clean protein has a dry and wet version too. It goes on sale pretty frequently.

I was feeding a combo of Dr. Elsey's and Instinct when Magnus needed the LID. Grabbing both when on sale.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

EmersonandEvie Instinct has some LID wet foods. They actually have a rabbit wet and dry food with no chicken (ensure you grab the LID, as they have another non-lid version of the same food).Nature's Variety® Instinct® Limited Ingredient Cat Food - Grain Free, Rabbit | cat Dry Food | PetSmart


Merrick and Natural Balance both have fairly affordable LIDs as well.

Dr Elsey's clean protein has a dry and wet version too. It goes on sale pretty frequently.

I was feeding a combo of Dr. Elsey's and Instinct when Magnus needed the LID. Grabbing both when on sale.

The Instinct LID rabbit was one of the first foods I looked at. It has gotten some odd reviews on Chewy. It apparently smells horrible and makes their poop smells horrendous?

Natural Balance has a dry venison formula, but the first ingredient is peas? That makes me feel a certain way.

Merrick only has fish and fowl based LIDs. Their rabbit wet food has chicken in it.

I will look into Dr. Elsey's! I looked at their rabbit kibble, but it had chicken in it. I didn't even think to look at their wet food! It's pricey, but if am only feeding it to Evie, it wouldn't be too bad.

I ordered these for her:

BLUE BUFFALO Wilderness Rocky Mountain Recipe with Red Meat Adult Grain-Free Dry Cat Food, 4-lb bag - Chewy.com

MERRICK Backcountry Grain-Free Morsels in Gravy Real Beef Recipe Cuts Cat Food Pouches, 3-oz, case of 24 - Chewy.com

TINY TIGER Pate Beef Recipe Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, case of 24 - Chewy.com

PURINA ONE Beef Recipe Pate Grain-Free Natural High Protein Canned Cat Food, 3-oz, case of 24 - Chewy.com

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

The problem with feeding her multiple proteins at the same time is that if she continues to have issues, you won't know which protein (if any) is causing the problem .

I have always heard that beef and fish are some of the things you don't want to feed when doing a food trial, along with chicken. And you are correct, it seems that all the limited ingredient foods have peas in them, so there must be a good reason. What that is, I have no idea.

So does Evie have any other symptoms of food sensitivities other than licking her tummy? Soft stools or vomiting? Has she had an ultrasound done just to make sure this isn't a health issue? I'm guessing you and your Vet have already discussed what, if any, health issues it could be. And I'm not suggesting it might be something other than food. Just trying to cover all bases.

 

[lisahe]

Well, the apparent fact that the steroids worked would seem to indicate that the problem is related to allergy/inflammation so at least that's a start.

I agree with mrsgreenjeens about avoiding beef and fish for the sake of a "clean" food trial. Then again if you've already ordered the foods with red meat and they work, you might have established that chicken is the problem. Part of what's tricky is that other ingredients -- thickeners and fillers -- can also cause problems.

Peas in cat food make me feel a certain way, too: queasy! They just don't belong in cat food.

In any case, good luck with Evie's food trial!

 

[Alldara]

The Instinct LID rabbit was one of the first foods I looked at. It has gotten some odd reviews on Chewy. It apparently smells horrible and makes their poop smells horrendous?

Natural Balance has a dry venison formula, but the first ingredient is peas? That makes me feel a certain way.

Merrick only has fish and fowl based LIDs. Their rabbit wet food has chicken in it.

I will look into Dr. Elsey's! I looked at their rabbit kibble, but it had chicken in it. I didn't even think to look at their wet food! It's pricey, but if am only feeding it to Evie, it wouldn't be too bad.

I personally really like Instinct. I didn't notice any foul poos. The dry food had less filler so I actually noticed they pooed a bit less, but it was still soft.

I didn't try the Natural balance dry to be honest, just the wet.

Orijen also has some foods that are 95% the protein listed but I'm not sure which are without chicken.

Wellness has 3 allergy foods but I think they are chicken, turkey and salmon so not what you're looking for. And only wet versions.

My vet carries a lamb allergy food but I think it's a Canadian brand.

 

[lisahe]

A Alldara 's mention of lamb reminds me of Hound and Gatos food: they have canned food with pork, lamb, and even "paleolithic meat"! The huge upside is they're very low-carb. The downsides are that H&G isn't always easy to find, some cats don't like it, and it has agar-agar, which gives some cats (including ours!) stomach problems. We fed it sometimes to our cats before it had agar-agar and they sometimes loved it, sometimes didn't want it, then again, they're like that with lots of foods.

There's also Mouser, which makes a food with rabbit and mouse meats. You can buy it by the can from Incredible Pets. Our cats (and a fair number of others, it seems) go back and forth on Mouser but it might be worth a try.

 

[Alldara]

Stella and Chewys is also good if your cat will eat freeze dried..you add water to rehydrate.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

The problem with feeding her multiple proteins at the same time is that if she continues to have issues, you won't know which protein (if any) is causing the problem .

I have always heard that beef and fish are some of the things you don't want to feed when doing a food trial, along with chicken. And you are correct, it seems that all the limited ingredient foods have peas in them, so there must be a good reason. What that is, I have no idea.

So does Evie have any other symptoms of food sensitivities other than licking her tummy? Soft stools or vomiting? Has she had an ultrasound done just to make sure this isn't a health issue? I'm guessing you and your Vet have already discussed what, if any, health issues it could be. And I'm not suggesting it might be something other than food. Just trying to cover all bases.

She will occasionally vomit, but not frequently. Maybe once a month. I'm pretty sure that when that does happen, its because she inhales her food too fast...silly girl. Solid stools.

No ultrasound or other tests have been done. She is healthy in every other way. She plays, loves to eat, cuddles.

Re: not using beef in food trials oops lol.

Well, the apparent fact that the steroids worked would seem to indicate that the problem is related to allergy/inflammation so at least that's a start.

I agree with mrsgreenjeens about avoiding beef and fish for the sake of a "clean" food trial. Then again if you've already ordered the foods with red meat and they work, you might have established that chicken is the problem. Part of what's tricky is that other ingredients -- thickeners and fillers -- can also cause problems.

Peas in cat food make me feel a certain way, too: queasy! They just don't belong in cat food.

In any case, good luck with Evie's food trial!

The steroids were a godsend. She actually had a good bit of fur grow back, which has made her look a lot more normal. She is still biting, but not constantly like she was.

I hope the beef works for her according to Chewy, all of the foods above have no poultry in them, only new (to her) proteins like pork. If it doesn't work, oh well, guess I won;t have to buy the cats food for a long time!

A Alldara 's mention of lamb reminds me of Hound and Gatos food: they have canned food with pork, lamb, and even "paleolithic meat"! The huge upside is they're very low-carb. The downsides are that H&G isn't always easy to find, some cats don't like it, and it has agar-agar, which gives some cats (including ours!) stomach problems. We fed it sometimes to our cats before it had agar-agar and they sometimes loved it, sometimes didn't want it, then again, they're like that with lots of foods.

There's also Mouser, which makes a food with rabbit and mouse meats. You can buy it by the can from Incredible Pets. Our cats (and a fair number of others, it seems) go back and forth on Mouser but it might be worth a try.

Mouser is neat! Thank you for that link!

Stella and Chewys is also good if your cat will eat freeze dried..you add water to rehydrate.

They are hit or miss with Stella and Chewys. One day they love it, the next they don't care for it.

 

[ladytimedramon]

I understand where you're coming from.

Both of my cats have allergies. Delilah can't have any fish, even fish oil. She gets tummy issues. She'll only eat Fancy Feast but thankfully I can find flavors without fish. But she needs to lose weight, and finding a lower calorie kibble that doesn't have fish or fish oil was a headache.

Fancy is the bigger problem. When I adopted her the first problem was getting her to a normal weight. She was 4.5 pounds as a full grown cat. But as her weight improved I noticed the worst smell ever coming out the litter box. We switched her to Instinct LID rabbit. Tummy issues cleared right up. But a new problem appeared. She started licking the fur off of her legs, as well as having a constantly runny nose. We tried an antihistamine but it did nothing. So now the vet and I discussed going to pea free food. The only pea free rabbit without fish oil (because despite the microchip feeders Delilah will try to steal Fancys food) is Stella and Chewy. Fancy won't eat the freeze dried when it's reconstituted but she will eat it dry. So I'm waiting for the Stella and Chewy Frozen Raw arrived (had to special order it because local stores don't have it in stock).

As to beef or lamb, the vet didn't recommend those. Delilah will occasionally eat beef but won't touch lamb.

There are a few other rabbit LID out there. Koha is one. It's all pate though (they do have shredded lamb, beef, and duck in LID though). If your cat doesn't like pate, like my girls, it will be a problem. The only non pate rabbit I've seen are Merrick Backcountry and Instinct minced but neither is an LID. They don't have poultry though, and the back country is rabbit, lamb, beef and potato instead of peas BUT it has salmon oil. The instinct minced rabbit has pork and peas.

If Fancy doesn't respond to the Stella and Chewy, next step is prescription food, with steroids as last resort.

 

[lisahe]

I understand where you're coming from.

Both of my cats have allergies. Delilah can't have any fish, even fish oil. She gets tummy issues. She'll only eat Fancy Feast but thankfully I can find flavors without fish. But she needs to lose weight, and finding a lower calorie kibble that doesn't have fish or fish oil was a headache.

Fancy is the bigger problem. When I adopted her the first problem was getting her to a normal weight. She was 4.5 pounds as a full grown cat. But as her weight improved I noticed the worst smell ever coming out the litter box. We switched her to Instinct LID rabbit. Tummy issues cleared right up. But a new problem appeared. She started licking the fur off of her legs, as well as having a constantly runny nose. We tried an antihistamine but it did nothing. So now the vet and I discussed going to pea free food. The only pea free rabbit without fish oil (because despite the microchip feeders Delilah will try to steal Fancys food) is Stella and Chewy. Fancy won't eat the freeze dried when it's reconstituted but she will eat it dry. So I'm waiting for the Stella and Chewy Frozen Raw arrived (had to special order it because local stores don't have it in stock).

As to beef or lamb, the vet didn't recommend those. Delilah will occasionally eat beef but won't touch lamb.

There are a few other rabbit LID out there. Koha is one. It's all pate though (they do have shredded lamb, beef, and duck in LID though). If your cat doesn't like pate, like my girls, it will be a problem. The only non pate rabbit I've seen are Merrick Backcountry and Instinct minced but neither is an LID. They don't have poultry though, and the back country is rabbit, lamb, beef and potato instead of peas BUT it has salmon oil. The instinct minced rabbit has pork and peas.

If Fancy doesn't respond to the Stella and Chewy, next step is prescription food, with steroids as last resort.

Now I see why you're feeding Fancy and Delilah in separate SureFeed feeders. Cats' diets can be so tough to manage.

Finding food without both peas and fish oil can be hard so I hope the Stella & Chewy food works for Fancy. Koha's shreds look pretty decent... I'd never seen those so thank you for mentioning them!

Fingers crossed for the new food!

 

[ladytimedramon]

Now I see why you're feeding Fancy and Delilah in separate SureFeed feeders. Cats' diets can be so tough to manage.

Finding food without both peas and fish oil can be hard so I hope the Stella & Chewy food works for Fancy. Koha's shreds look pretty decent... I'd never seen those so thank you for mentioning them!

Fingers crossed for the new food!

Thanks. Unfortunately the manufacturer delayed it a week. Meanwhile I'm giving her the freeze dry raw rabbit as her dry and the instinct minced rabbit. I wish she'd eat the freeze dry reconstituted.

I use the split bowls on the surepet with dry on one side and wet on the other. I'm planning to get the connected water dish after I get paid.

I found the Koha a while back. Delilah, before I adopted Fancy, was having a medical issue and we thought it was allergy related. It wasn't.

 

[lisahe]

Delilah, before I adopted Fancy, was having a medical issue and we thought it was allergy related. It wasn't.

I suspect that happens a lot.

And I hope the food comes in soon for Fancy!

 

[LadyLondonderry]

I feel your pain when it comes to finding chicken-free foods that your cat will eat!

If you and Evie are OK with beef, you might want to try Tiny Tiger Beef Pate. It's on Sylvie's current menu and she loves it. According to the Q&A on Chewy, it has some fish in it, but no chicken: "There is no chicken in the meat broth, liver, or meat byproduct. These 3 ingredients are all derived from pork."