Yet another trip to the vet and this time, a different diagnosis...

[artgecko]

Thanks for the replies

Sharky- what other way could I test for allergy to herring? I think most of the cans just have herring oil, but not herring meat... Or would he react to ANY fish if allergic to herring?

What about the cal. natural chicken/rice? IF he's not allergic to chicken? I like its ingredients better than those in the NB (and it would be less expensive in the long run).

Could I mix in both types of the cans? (venison/peas & duck/peas)?

Iluvdevons- I tried all of the EVO 95% cans with the cats when I was looking to order some in bulk. The flavors they most like are the chicken/turkey and beef... The chicken/turkey shares ingredients with his dry food (chicken and turkey) so it's a no-go, the beef SHOULD be ok if he's not allergic to it... I'll have to wait and test. Can't remember if he liked the venison, but I know he didn't like the duck or rabbit much (too gamey maybe).

Thanks again for your help!
Art

 

[sharky]

I go to my vet for non invasive testing... that is how I do it ... PM me I might be able to explain it

oil typically is not an allergen

I would think both cans should work

cal natural has changed adding some ???able allergy ingrediants..

 

[artgecko]

I'll pm you... not sure if my vet does allergin testing as she didn't mention it...

Here's the Cal. Natural chkn/rice ingredient list from their website:
chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, rice, chicken fat, "natural flavors", sunflower oil, flaxseed, vitamins, potassium chloride, minerals, taurine, DL-methionine, rosemary extract

Which of the ingredients might be an allergin? The only thing that looks suspect to me is the "natural flavors" (digest maybe?)... Maybe the rice...but I don't think the nutro or the EVO had rice in it.

Thanks,
Art

 

[sharky]

Rice yes .... but the flax and rosemary concern me more... Nutro has rice and some have flax

 

[glitch]

I hope you find a diet that works for you!! Good

 

[artgecko]

Thanks again for the info and vibes!

I went to petco today and got the green pea/duck dry food and some cans of the venison/pea and duck/pea for him to try. Luckily enough for me, petco had a sale going on some of the natural balance dry formulas (and sizes) and the 5lb bag of duck/green pea was $3 off, plus, they had $1 off coupons on some of the bags so, woohoo..a $13.99 bag for only $9.99. I should have gotten two, but wasn't sure if he'd eat it or not.

I fed him some when I got home and he ate it (the dry). I haven't tried the wet foods yet, so we'll see on those. At $1.19 a can at petco, they're pricey. Petco does sell "cases" but not sure if it is much if any disount over the per can price (they didn't have a case or a price listed for either of the green pea types).

My game plan so far, is to keep him on the NB duck/green pea dry and the venison/pea and duck/pea cans for about 1 month. If he looks like he's getting better, I will look into ordering some online with my order of EVO for the kittens (if it is cheaper, mabye going local for the dry food). If he shows marked improvement, I'll stick with the diet above, plus the EVO 95% venison cans and then slowly add in some different things (chicken, turkey, potato, corn, etc.) into the wet food to see what he reacts to. Still not sure what to do about the "herring"... I might order a bag of the cal natural herring/sweet potato dry food and use that as the test (I can feed it to the kittens in any case).

IF, on the other hand, he doesn't improve, I'll have to assume that it's an environmental allergy not a food allergy and I'll try (first of all) changing back to regular clay litter and other modifications. Other than the litter, I can't think of anything else that it could be.

Does that sound like it would work? I'm crossing my fingers that he'll like the $$ wet NB food.

Art

 

[iluvdevons]

Sounds great!! I hope he likes the NB wet - I know my guys love it

 

[artgecko]

Well, back to the vet today... I thought some of the spots where he'd been grooming looked irritated.

They took photos so we'd know where he was missing hair (for future reference) and she gave him a steroid shot.

The vet was telling me that sometimes, if a cat is allergic to chicken, they can also be allergic to duck (something about crossing over, etc.) same with beef and venison/beef and suggested finding a rabbit diet. She said that they can get the hills z/d in rabbit.

I think we're sticking to the nb duck/pea & vennison/pea for right now...I want to do a full 6 weeks if possible, so 4 weeks and some change to go. If he still shows a reaction after that (when the steroid has worn off) we'll know that he is either allergic to something else in the environment or it's the duck or venisen.

The good thing about giving him the steroid shot, is that it will definately tell us if it's allergies or something else... i.e. I was thinking maybe neurological, since it started after his last seizure... If it is neurological, the shot won't make any difference in his behavior.

We'll see.

Art

 

[misskiwi67]

Originally Posted by artgecko

I think we're sticking to the nb duck/pea & vennison/pea for right now...I want to do a full 6 weeks if possible, so 4 weeks and some change to go. If he still shows a reaction after that (when the steroid has worn off) we'll know that he is either allergic to something else in the environment or it's the duck or venisen.

Just a note, it takes 3 months to decide if an allergy diet is going to help. I would stick with the diet for longer than just a month unless your kitty has some major problems with it.

 

[artgecko]

The vet said at least 6 weeks, so that's what we'll shoot for... If all is still going well after the steroid shot wears off (in ~21 days) and he's not tearing himself up afterwards, we'll stick with the duck/pea longer to make sure that he isn't reacting to it. If, on the other hand, he is still tearing himself up once the steroid wears off, we should have a pretty good idea by then that it's either the food he's reacting to or an environmental allergin...

I'll just have to be patient and wait.

If he's doing fine on the duck/green pea, I plan on keeping him on that diet (plus the duck/green pea and vennison/green pea cans and EVO venison cans) for at least 3-4 months so that all of his coat has grown in, etc. Then I'll start introducing the possible allergins and see what he reacts to.

Art