Proteins least likely to cause allergies

[sarah430]

Hello all,

I recently in the past few months switched my two cats from mostly commercial frozen raw (with canned wet every few days) to all canned wet food. I did this mostly for cost reasons. The price for raw has nearly doubled in the past few years and I've since become semi-retired. They are 7 years old and I've been feeding them mostly raw from when I adopted them at 6 months. Originally I fed them a variety - chicken, duck, turkey, pork, venison and rabbit. (They never liked lamb or beef). But as the raw got more expensive it was mostly chicken, turkey, pork and duck. Now that I've switched them to canned the proteins are mainly chicken, turkey and fish (whitefish and salmon).

They don't look infected but I've noticed since the switch, my cats eyes are more watery and gunky in the corner. Again I'm pretty sure there isn't an infection - eyes aren't red and the gunk is the normal gray/black eye boogers. I'm wondering if they are developing mild allergies to the new diet. And if so, it's probably the fish. That's the only protein that is new. I can stop that but stopping chicken too would certainly cost more. I'm really trying to find a good balance between what's healthy for the cats and my budget. I'm thinking I need to eliminate the fish (if that could be the allergen) and add in some more variety that isn't poultry. And are there other additives to wet cat food that might cause an allergic reaction? The brands I'm feeding them right now are mid-range and grain-free. So not Friskies or Purina, but not the highest level either.

Open to any and all advice. Thank you!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

The primary culprits are beef, fish, chicken and dairy. Sounds like you are not serving beef, so you're ok there. And some people have actually found that their cats could eat raw chicken, but not canned. I can't explain why that is, but it might have actually been something else in the canned food, like some of the gums (thickeners) that were actually the problem rather than the chicken. With the thickeners though, I think most of the issues created were more diarrhea than eye goobers.

I know even canned food is really expensive now. Shockingly so! But I still feed one of my cats raw and the other canned, just because that's what they will eat. For the raw, have you been buying it already "prepared", or do you just buy the meat and add a premix to it. I have always been told (although never verified it myself), that it is actually much cheaper to make your own raw meals than buy any cat food (raw or otherwise). I used to buy my meat, cut it up into chewable size pieces and then add in a premix which added in everything needed for supplementation of organs and bones and whatever else is needed. That was when I had four cats eating raw. Now that I'm down to just one eating it, I take the easy way out and buy it all ready to eat. Yes, it's a lot more expensive to do it that way, but it sure saves me a lot of time (and calloused fingers!) from cutting meat all day. Just thought I would mentioned about making your own in case you aren't aware.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, I don't know the current price of it but you could try Mouser, on a rotating basis to help the budget. It is mouse combined with another protein. They have four versions last I checked.

Pate style foods have a few less unwanted ingredients such as the various glutens and gums mentioned above used as thickeners in the gravies .

 

[ShrimpusMinniemus]

Catnutrition.org has great info on making raw food at home for a fraction of the price of commercial raw. This recipe seems to have been emulated in quite a few commercial raw foods. Has instructions and pictures
catnutrition.org/recipes/

Hare Today is a great resource for meats, organs, etc (incl. novelty proteins for pets with allergies). Some people just buy the organs (hearts, liver) here and the meat at a local store. However, the hearts can be substituted with Taurine if needed and liver is relatively easy to find locally or replaced with Vitamin A (that info and instructions are located at the catnutrition.org link above). Of course, the real thing is better, but there are options if organ meat is unavailable.
hare-today.com

Hope this helps!

 

[sarah430]

Thanks for the replies! Gives me ideas to consider. I didn't think about pate being less unwanted extras but that makes sense. Right now I'm buying a mix of textures but my cats like pate fine so I will stick to that.

I was doing commercial frozen raw - usually Small Batch. I'd considered it but for various reason cannot make my own and will likely not go back to the commercial raw either. (Convenience is another reason I stopped the raw - I used to work near the store that has the best price on it.)

I'd never heard of Mouser but a quick search it looks like $2.69 a can which isn't bad. Right now my goal is to keep costs to $1.50 per can which is doable with coupons, specials and rebates, but can go up to the occasional $2 a can or would even get the Mouser to get in some variety. Hound & Gatos used to be pretty reasonable and they have a lot of variety beyond chicken and turkey.

Thanks again!