- Joined
- Mar 12, 2021
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sorry in advance for formatting, I’m on mobile.
So basically when we got my boy he was eating kitten chow (protein - chicken) and nothing else. At this point he was having no allergy issues. We wanted to spoil him so we did some research and settled on a limited ingredient, “high end” brand and decided on wellness core kitten food (protein - chicken and turkey) and he loved it. After we started feeding him the dry food he wouldn’t even bother with his fancy feast pate anymore, so we went ahead and got him some wellness kitten pate and he loved that too and all was well for maybe three weeks. We then noticed him itching excessively and specifically, he was developing vertical patches of dry skin and scabs on his back legs. We took him to the vet shortly after and he said it’s pretty common for cats to have allergic reactions like that from certain proteins, and to take him off anything with a bird protein, so he went on some steroids to help give him some relief. The hope was that after he got off the steroid and was fully transitioned to his new food, everything would even out and be good. Unfortunately that’s not how it went. We did exactly what the vet said - we got instinct limited ingredient salmon dry and wet food. We also got him some freeze dried sprat for treats. No more bird of any kind. He LOVED the food but After the first or second serving of his dry food, he started throwing up everything. Even the tiniest amount of the dry food and he would throw it up within minutes. We thought maybe he was eating too fast (it had freeze dried, raw salmon pieces in it)so I bought him a slow feeder, but that didn’t make a difference. He was still throwing up. We thought about it and realized it might have been turkey that was causing him problems, because when he was on the kitten chow, (which was chicken) he had no issues, and it wasn’t until the wellness core (turkey and chicken AND some turkey sticks I was giving as treats) that he started having issues. We made another appointment with the vet right away, and went out and got him some food with just chicken, since fish was a no go and maybe the turkey was a no go. Well after he was done with the first round of steroids, eating the chicken cat food, the patches of dry itchy skin came back on his legs. Back to the vet. He told us the same thing as before and gave us more steroids. We were browsing the foods, checking all the ingredients, and realized all the food we had been giving him EXCEPT for the kitten chow all had PEAS of some sort. Pea protein or dried peas, pea powder... This is something we didn’t know when we were at the vet, so we weren’t able to share this with him and get his opinion. Well, apparently peas are a pretty common allergy for cats. Unfortunately Almost Every single one of the more expensive brands of food have some form of peas. We found 1 food that had no peas but it was chicken, so we took a gamble, against the vets advice. As of right now, he is on the steroid and is healed, but there’s no way to know whether this is ok until he’s done with the treatment, which won’t be for another week. Last time the itchy skin came back pretty much as soon as the steroid was done.
if this doesn’t work idk what to do, I’m at a loss. Anyone have similar issues or have advice? I feel so bad for him because even when we slowly transition him over to a new food he still h
So basically when we got my boy he was eating kitten chow (protein - chicken) and nothing else. At this point he was having no allergy issues. We wanted to spoil him so we did some research and settled on a limited ingredient, “high end” brand and decided on wellness core kitten food (protein - chicken and turkey) and he loved it. After we started feeding him the dry food he wouldn’t even bother with his fancy feast pate anymore, so we went ahead and got him some wellness kitten pate and he loved that too and all was well for maybe three weeks. We then noticed him itching excessively and specifically, he was developing vertical patches of dry skin and scabs on his back legs. We took him to the vet shortly after and he said it’s pretty common for cats to have allergic reactions like that from certain proteins, and to take him off anything with a bird protein, so he went on some steroids to help give him some relief. The hope was that after he got off the steroid and was fully transitioned to his new food, everything would even out and be good. Unfortunately that’s not how it went. We did exactly what the vet said - we got instinct limited ingredient salmon dry and wet food. We also got him some freeze dried sprat for treats. No more bird of any kind. He LOVED the food but After the first or second serving of his dry food, he started throwing up everything. Even the tiniest amount of the dry food and he would throw it up within minutes. We thought maybe he was eating too fast (it had freeze dried, raw salmon pieces in it)so I bought him a slow feeder, but that didn’t make a difference. He was still throwing up. We thought about it and realized it might have been turkey that was causing him problems, because when he was on the kitten chow, (which was chicken) he had no issues, and it wasn’t until the wellness core (turkey and chicken AND some turkey sticks I was giving as treats) that he started having issues. We made another appointment with the vet right away, and went out and got him some food with just chicken, since fish was a no go and maybe the turkey was a no go. Well after he was done with the first round of steroids, eating the chicken cat food, the patches of dry itchy skin came back on his legs. Back to the vet. He told us the same thing as before and gave us more steroids. We were browsing the foods, checking all the ingredients, and realized all the food we had been giving him EXCEPT for the kitten chow all had PEAS of some sort. Pea protein or dried peas, pea powder... This is something we didn’t know when we were at the vet, so we weren’t able to share this with him and get his opinion. Well, apparently peas are a pretty common allergy for cats. Unfortunately Almost Every single one of the more expensive brands of food have some form of peas. We found 1 food that had no peas but it was chicken, so we took a gamble, against the vets advice. As of right now, he is on the steroid and is healed, but there’s no way to know whether this is ok until he’s done with the treatment, which won’t be for another week. Last time the itchy skin came back pretty much as soon as the steroid was done.
if this doesn’t work idk what to do, I’m at a loss. Anyone have similar issues or have advice? I feel so bad for him because even when we slowly transition him over to a new food he still h