A minor note, I never, ever in my life thought I'd be breaking freeze dried minnows into thirds so the Big Guy can handle eating them, --sheesh 
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Protein "sensitivity/allergy" If Fed One Type Exclusively?
- Thread starter lakotawolf
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The things we do for our cats.A minor note, I never, ever in my life thought I'd be breaking freeze dried minnows into thirds so the Big Guy can handle eating them, --sheesh
I’m actually a really squeamish person when it comes to raw meat and don’t particularly like eating a lot of meat myself. I’m an animal lover who can’t stand seeing dead animal parts.
Well... I picked up a pair of rabbit ears as a treat the other day and realized how well my cats have trained me to serve them as I was pulling them out of the bag and putting them in their dishes....
mschauer
, I wish I could triple-purraise your post... and yours, too,
A
Azazel
, for raising the question of truth/myth. I couldn't agree more about needing to find/cite sources and, perhaps more important labeling opinions as such rather than claiming that they're fact. I'm far from perfect on this point, too, but do try!
I decided for $25 I was going to make lobster tails for the entire family vs going to a restaurant. They were good, but it grossed me out so hard because SEA ROACHES. I don't know that I'd ever do it again.
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Trust me, when we started feeding raw I was squeamish.
I got a raw beef heart one day from the butcher, I was all excited. I brought it home, stared at it, drove it BACK to the butcher and lied my butt off and said the pet I had bought this for had no teeth and could they pretty please grind it as I didn't think I could chunk it into appropriate sized pieces? They obliged.
When I first dealt with beef liver I almost vomited. Liver is gross.
Even handling raw, plain meat or bone in meats was odd. It wasn't "gross" but it was weird because IME I was supposed to cook it and serve it, not hand it over raw to a bunch of vacuum cleaners that hogged it down!
We had a pair of fake stuffed rabbit ears for a stone cat that we dressed up (yea, we're weird), and one of our cats found it and turned into a playful crazy nut case. It was adorable. He had a riot with those stupid fake ears, and has a bigger riot with the real deal!
I hope you didn't misunderstand me and think I was saying I don't think protein allergies in cats is real? That isn't it at all. Protein allergies in cats are very real. What I question is if there is really any reason to believe what many people say about how feeding a particular protein with great frequency, as would be the case with a diet that consists of only 1 or 2 proteins, can cause those allergies.
Thanks! I always try to make clear if what I say is just speculation, whether mine or someone else's, or is a known, proven fact. Research is essential before we act on anything we read online unless we know with absolute certainty we are getting information from a knowledgeable source. Of course that opens up the issue of how some people have pretty low standards when it comes to labeling someone as knowledgeable and trustable. Oh well, it's an imperfect world!
Hi! - so you're saying it's (the allergic reaction) genetic?
...thinking out loud here because this is a landscape of terms and feline issues that is new to me - an intolerance or sensitivity isn't the same as an allergy, right?
No, I've never said that. I have no idea why a cat becomes allergic to a protein.
If I'm not mistaken, an allergy and an intolerance are not the same thing. My vet says "allergy or intolerance" so I assume they are different things. Also if I'm not mistaken, they can present with similar symptoms however.
Lets not get off track here though. I'm not suggesting I have any special knowledge on the cause of food allergies or intolerance. All I've said is that I know of no proof that feeding a particular protein with great frequency can cause an allergy to that protein. I also don't know of any proof that feeding a particular protein with great frequency won't cause an allergy to that protein.
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I think I did, sorry about that!
And yes I do agree with you above. Our cats eat a lot of proteins but a few of them cannot, one can't handle much difference at all and has been very good on a very limited diet. Our cat that pukes up beef has never developed an allergy to chicken, turkey or rabbit (all he has) in many years.
Got it, ok, thank you.
This sums up my thoughts/opinions/understandings on both these subjects, too. It's my impression that allergies and intolerances to foods (in both humans and cats) may manifest themselves with similar symptoms... but the mechanisms that cause the symptoms are different. The Mayo Clinic sums that up here. I've learned a bit about this because of my own minor "issues" with foods!
The Feline Nutrition Foundation has a fairly recent article about the differences between a food allergy and a food intolerance.
Food Allergies and Intolerances Explained - Feline Nutrition Foundation
Food Allergies and Intolerances Explained - Feline Nutrition Foundation
I'm not sure the distinction is terribly important at least not when a vet is talking to a client. The long term treatment is the same, eliminate the offending ingredient from the cats diet. Of course if it is a true allergy and scratching is involved, short term treatment can include an antihistamine which would be no help at all with an intolerance. But when talking to the client vets may just get in the habit of saying allergy when in reality they know it could be an intolerance. And of course it could be that the vet says intolerance and the client, not knowing there is a difference, calls it an allergy. So, rather than allergy being over-diagnosed it could be that clients over report allergy.
What I'm suggesting is that maybe clients are reporting a diagnosis of allergy from their vet but in fact that isn't what the vet said.
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That is a good article, particularly because it addresses the issue of other ingredients, like fillers and colors.
And I suspect
mschauer
has a point about imprecise use of "allergy." I also wonder if "sensitivity" doesn't sound concrete (or perhaps even clinical) enough to some people for describing a problem! When I mention that Edwina can't eat potato, I tend to say it makes her barf rather than saying that she seems to have a sensitivity. Beyond the fact that I don't know what she has, be it allergy, sensitivity, or some other weirder problem with potato, to say that she barfs sound a lot more definite and recognizable than saying she seems to have a sensitivity.
I've also seen people say that certain foods "upset her tummy" when the cat has IBD.
I hope I’m not pulling us too far from the original topic but the Feline Nutrition article really caught my attention because of the distinction between sensitivity (or intolerance) and allergy. One of mine scratches constantly but when I brought it up with my holistic vet as an allergy, he corrected me and said allergies are rare and it was probably a sensitivity. He’s got her on a chicken elimination trial because he says chicken has a lot of inflammatory properties.
I agree with
mschauer
that the distinction isn’t as important as finding the offending ingredient, but after reading the article, I wonder if Lily would find some relief with an antihistamine. I’ll have to follow up with my vet, both holistic and traditional. In the meantime, her no-chicken trial continues, and Iris gets her chicken-only diet...and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that she doesn’t get tired of it!
I agree with
mschauer
that the distinction isn’t as important as finding the offending ingredient, but after reading the article, I wonder if Lily would find some relief with an antihistamine. I’ll have to follow up with my vet, both holistic and traditional. In the meantime, her no-chicken trial continues, and Iris gets her chicken-only diet...and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that she doesn’t get tired of it!That's even more interesting if a cat has a real/clinical IBD diagnosis but uses lay terms. Given that many people confuse IBD and IBS, I can definitely see how "upsets her tummy" becomes a good choice, particularly because not much explanation is required.
Tobermory
, yes, I definitely see your point on the treatment side of things! Is Lily's itching abating with the no-chicken diet?
Yeah, I hesitated to mention IBD because I see lots of problems with how people use that term. Often people will say their cat was diagnosed with IBD when really they weren't.
