So, in the continuing saga of Rajah...
A little background if you missed it - to make a long story short, she developed anorexia after dental surgery rather than eat the wet food she was supposed to eat, and also refused her old dry food (Iams - wish i had realized how much it sucks earlier), and many other brands of dry that i offered her until i finally found one that she likes - Chicken Soup. Her weight has come back up from 6 lbs 1oz to 6lbs 12oz today, she's eating normally and she looks much better.
Except... her poor little head. She's been scratching it and has big bald patches all over it. The last time i took her in for it was right after she had started eating the Chicken Soup - since she had just started eating the vet wanted to approach it conservatively, he didn't want to risk doing anything that might upset her and put her off her food. He gave me some eyedrops with hydrocortisone and an antibiotic to put on the bald areas, and the hair on those spots grew back, but then she got new spots and i ran out of the drops. I took her back to the vet for it on Monday and he did a scrape to check for mites and said it was negative. Her ears are clean, no mites there either. He suspects food allergy. And Chicken Soup has multiple protein sources in it - chicken, "ocean fish", salmon, turkey, duck, egg, plus some more exotic grains and veggies. Now, as i understand it, cats develop allergies to foods they have eaten for a long time, and that of the foods she has been exposed to for a long time, fish is the most likely culprit. He prescribed a topical oatmeal spray and antihistamine and recommended a food trial.
She refuses to eat the Venison and Green Pea Natural Balance. So here's what i'm going to try, tell me if you think it's a good idea. I'm switching her to California Natural chicken and rice (i bought some yesterday and mixed some of it into the Chicken Soup and she didn't seem to care, she ate both). I figure with the ingredient list so simple that while it won't work as a true food trial, it will help me to at least figure out if it's the chicken (or possibily the rice) versus everything else that's in her current food. If that doesn't work, i was thinking of ordering Nature's Logic rabbit as recommended by that poster here with the Gizmo cat that's allergic to poultry. Unfortunately it's not carried at the convenient local stores. Do you think that would work? Should i just move on to the rabbit formula and not waste time with the California Natural?
A little background if you missed it - to make a long story short, she developed anorexia after dental surgery rather than eat the wet food she was supposed to eat, and also refused her old dry food (Iams - wish i had realized how much it sucks earlier), and many other brands of dry that i offered her until i finally found one that she likes - Chicken Soup. Her weight has come back up from 6 lbs 1oz to 6lbs 12oz today, she's eating normally and she looks much better.
Except... her poor little head. She's been scratching it and has big bald patches all over it. The last time i took her in for it was right after she had started eating the Chicken Soup - since she had just started eating the vet wanted to approach it conservatively, he didn't want to risk doing anything that might upset her and put her off her food. He gave me some eyedrops with hydrocortisone and an antibiotic to put on the bald areas, and the hair on those spots grew back, but then she got new spots and i ran out of the drops. I took her back to the vet for it on Monday and he did a scrape to check for mites and said it was negative. Her ears are clean, no mites there either. He suspects food allergy. And Chicken Soup has multiple protein sources in it - chicken, "ocean fish", salmon, turkey, duck, egg, plus some more exotic grains and veggies. Now, as i understand it, cats develop allergies to foods they have eaten for a long time, and that of the foods she has been exposed to for a long time, fish is the most likely culprit. He prescribed a topical oatmeal spray and antihistamine and recommended a food trial.
She refuses to eat the Venison and Green Pea Natural Balance. So here's what i'm going to try, tell me if you think it's a good idea. I'm switching her to California Natural chicken and rice (i bought some yesterday and mixed some of it into the Chicken Soup and she didn't seem to care, she ate both). I figure with the ingredient list so simple that while it won't work as a true food trial, it will help me to at least figure out if it's the chicken (or possibily the rice) versus everything else that's in her current food. If that doesn't work, i was thinking of ordering Nature's Logic rabbit as recommended by that poster here with the Gizmo cat that's allergic to poultry. Unfortunately it's not carried at the convenient local stores. Do you think that would work? Should i just move on to the rabbit formula and not waste time with the California Natural?