Need help with food allergies

[bfish29]

Hi everyone! I hope someone has an idea on what I can do next in regards to CJ's (who is 4) food allergies. In a nut shell, this started last September, with excessive scratching to the point of baldness on his sides, belly, inside of legs. My vet gave him a cortizone shot, and said no tuna or corn. Six weeks later (which is how long the shot is supposed to last), it started again. This time, we did a chicken only diet and another shot. Six weeks later, scratching was back. So, we went to a beef only diet (and another shot). The only beef I could find is Fancy Feast beef in gravy and I do give him raw beef on occasion. Now, the scratching has started again, but minimual. I am really at my wits end. My vet said we can do a test to determine the exact cause, it runs about $300. Before spending that, I was hoping someone may be able to tell me something to try that I haven't tried. I am almost thinking to give him a few more weeks to see if his own system may take over to adapt to the food(?). It such a tedious task testing various foods to find one he likes, and he really does like this beef diet best of all. He is full of energy, plays a lot, etc. I feel like the cortizone may be running his body, and he needs time to build his own resistance(?). Any input would be GREATLY appreciated!! By the way, my vet of 20+ years has been great thru this, she actually only charges me $31 each time for the injection only, no office visit charge, etc.
Bobby
By the way, he doesn't look like his picture below now, his sides and legs are about bare

 

[sharky]

what food s have been feed and for how long?

wet or dry

 

[white cat lover]

There are a few brands out there that make "allergy diets". Natural Balance is one that comes to mind - they make both canned & dry. IMO, I would try a higher quality food than Fancy Feast, as it likely has fillers & added "junk" that he may be reacting to. When my vet was doing allergy trials with one of my cats, he said it needed to be fed for 8-12 weeks before you could definitively see any results or not & either move on or stick with the diet.

Also, have you ruled out environmental allergies?

 

[bfish29]

Thank you all for your input. It has been about 6 weeks that he has been on the wet fancy feast beef (1 can in the am, 1 in the pm) , and ProPlan dry (which is corn free) free-fed for all three cats. I had done some other searches yesterday, and discovered that wheat gluten is a high allergin, and the fancy feast has that as the THIRD ingredient. So, I found one today called Wholesome Goodness (beef with various vegetables) that has no additives except a preservative as one of the last ingredients, so I am going to start him on that this evening and hope it works. I think the I looked at Natural Balance awhile back, and it has corn in it, which my vet said is probably one of his allergins. His scratching this time is a lot less intense then previous times, it is mainly licking right now. As far as environmental, I haven't changed anything I use around the house (cleaners, litter, etc) but my vet said the test she spoke of would find that if necessary.

 

[sharky]

Common cat food allergys

wheat
soy
fish
are the top


peas
potatos


chicken
corn
rice
are lower

 

[bfish29]

These Wholesome Goodness I just got don't have any of these you listed, thanks for the info. Before this all started back in Sept., he would only eat seafood stuff, so we think that is a MAJOR culprate. I have elimanated all seafood (which was a TOUGH job). I did see the Natural Balance wet, even the Chicken has salmon in it. Thanks again for your all's help!
Bobby
and the Gang

 

[taryn]

Natural Balance doesn't have corn in it.

From my bag, which is the Ultra-premium(not their allergy food):
Chicken Meal, Chicken, Brown Rice, Duck Meal, Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Potatoes, Carrots, Lamb Meal, Salmon Meal, Canola Oil, Natural Flavor, Dried Egg, Brewers Yeast, Whole Ground Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Spinach, Parsley Flakes, Cranberries, L-Lysine, L-Carnitine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Kelp, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid.

There are green pea and duck; green pea and chicken; green pea and salmon
those are their allergy formulas

This the ingredients in green pea and duck
Peas, Duck Meal, Duck, Canola Oil, Flaxseed, Natural Flavor, Methionine, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D Supplement, Folic Acid (Vitamin B)

The only difference in ingredients for the allergy foods in the source of meat(chicken meal for the chicken, salmon meal for salmon) other than that the ingredients stay the same.

Not sure if any of those would work but thought I'd let you know what they contain. As I said Natural Balance doesn't have corn. I won't feed mine anything with corn, they don't need it.

Taryn

 

[bfish29]

Thanks for that Taryn. I did look on their website, and the canned has Salmon Oil in it... he isn't supposed to have any seafood, and that ingredient concerns me, even though I have never heard of it. The ingredients in the ProPlan dry he eats are basically the same as the Natural Balance. I have to go to Petsmart for the ProPlan, and I don't recall seeing Natural Balance there. Where do you buy it? Is it online only?
Thanks again for your help
Bobby

 

[sharky]

salmon oil Technically is 100% fat... allergens Technically are proteins thus oil Usually is not a allergen outside of processing issues

petco and other small pet stores carry NB...

can you link the pro plan as I do not remember a grain free or at least on free of the top allergens

 

[taryn]

I have a 7 year old son named Bobby. So I like your name.

Natural Balance is sold at Petco. They also sell it on their website petco.com and on amazon.com

If fish is an issue I'd avoid all fish and anything derived from fish.

Taryn

 

[taryn]

I though Pro Plan had corn in it.

Taryn

 

[bfish29]

Here is the link for the ProPlan I use, it is actually ProPlan Select, which is corn free the bag says.
http://www.proplan.com/products/Chic...ce_DryCat.html

I just called the Pet supply store up from my office, and they carry the Natural Balance, so I am going to go and pick that up this afternoon. I hope he likes it!

Thank you all again for your help and ideas!

Bobby (and, yes Taryn, Bobby is a way cool name

!)

 

[sharky]

Off that link the food contains NO ground corn but it has the protein of the corn corn gluten... plus rice, oats, wheat and fish

If I were trying NB I would use the chicken and pea

 

[white cat lover]

The below is quoted from the ingredients (I could only get a portion of them). The third ingredient in the Pro Plan is corn gluten meal. If possible, I'd try to find a grain-free dry, I think Natural Balance's Limited Ingredient Diets are grain-free.

Chicken, brown rice, corn gluten meal, chicken meal, wheat gluten, oat meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), dried egg product, fish meal, ground wheat, natural flavor.....

Here is a link to Natural Balance foods. They have a Green Pea & Chicken as well as a Green Pea & Duck. So you could avoid both the fish & the grains.

When looking at Natural Balance, make sure you pick up a LID (limited ingredient diet), not just the regular Natural Balance.

 

[bfish29]

Thanks Sharky and white cat lover, the chicken and pea is what I thought too. I am going to the pet store above my office to get a bag of it today. Hopefully, it along with the new wet, will help him. He had been on the ProPlan select salmon dry until Dec, then ProPlan select Chicken dry since than, so it very well could be a culprite.
Thanks again
Bobby

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by white cat lover

The below is quoted from the ingredients (I could only get a portion of them). The third ingredient in the Pro Plan is corn gluten meal. If possible, I'd try to find a grain-free dry, I think Natural Balance's Limited Ingredient Diets are grain-free.



Here is a link to Natural Balance foods. They have a Green Pea & Chicken as well as a Green Pea & Duck. So you could avoid both the fish & the grains.

When looking at Natural Balance, make sure you pick up a LID (limited ingredient diet), not just the regular Natural Balance.

They also have the LID Venison and Green Pea. For me, IMO, and in my vets opinion, the best one to try, since venison is not an allergen (which chicken sometimes can be (my cat is allergic to chicken for example), and being a novelty protein, rarely can be found in other foods, so chances are, that is not what she is allergic to. They have wet and dry.
See, The idea is to put her into a diet with limited ingredients, preferably that she never had before, so that you can pinpoint what she is allergic to once you re-introduce that into her diet.
She should be on this diet for a good 6-8 weeks. Then you start adding ONE protein at a time, and see what happens to her.
This is a slooooow process, be patient! When you notice a reaction, remove that ingredient, and see if she goes back to normal. Wait a couple of weeks for her to clear it up, and introduce that ingredient again. If she has that reaction again, Bingo - you got the culprit.

You can do a pre-elimination by reading the ingredients on the foods you fed her, and see the usual suspects, also eliminating all grains will already keep her away from a bunch of allergens.

Good luck!

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by carolinalima

They also have the LID Venison and Green Pea. For me, IMO, and in my vets opinion, the best one to try, since venison is not an allergen (which chicken sometimes can be (my cat is allergic to chicken for example), and being a novelty protein, rarely can be found in other foods, so chances are, that is not what she is allergic to. They have wet and dry.
See, The idea is to put her into a diet with limited ingredients, preferably that she never had before, so that you can pinpoint what she is allergic to once you re-introduce that into her diet.
She should be on this diet for a good 6-8 weeks. Then you start adding ONE protein at a time, and see what happens to her.
This is a slooooow process, be patient! When you notice a reaction, remove that ingredient, and see if she goes back to normal. Wait a couple of weeks for her to clear it up, and introduce that ingredient again. If she has that reaction again, Bingo - you got the culprit.

You can do a pre-elimination by reading the ingredients on the foods you fed her, and see the usual suspects, also eliminating all grains will already keep her away from a bunch of allergens.

Good luck!

Did they come back out with the venison? in a dry formula? I have not seen it but then again I have not looked hard

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by sharky

Did they come back out with the venison? in a dry formula? I have not seen it but then again I have not looked hard

You got me! I checked and no, They didn't... So I take it back... Venison and pea is only on a canned formula...

 

[taryn]

They have green pea and duck in dry. Duck isn't a very common ingredient in pet food so you could try that.

Taryn

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Taryn

They have green pea and duck in dry. Duck isn't a very common ingredient in pet food so you could try that.

Taryn

duck is a weird one... many with chicken sensitivity will also have duck issues .. and many cat not do the fat in the duck... just a FYI