Nervous about novel protein diet

jack_and_gin19

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Hello! My poor kitty Ginger has not had the best 2021 so far. She was diagnosed with asthma in January and around the same time started having issues with vomiting and lack of appetite. She got put on a wide variety of meds to get the appetite back on track and asthma under control. She is now on prednisolone once every 3-4 days and her coughing is pretty stable but the vomiting has returned.

The vet thinks she has a food allergy (there was some intestinal inflammation on her ultrasound and she is an itchy kitty) and we initially tried eliminating certain proteins & grains without success. She vomits up a meal roughly 2 times per week. We just started introducing the royal canin single proteins last week and I'm just nervous that this won't help either.

Its been a super stressful journey so far always waiting to see if she's going to vomit or cough. I would love to know more about people's experiences and if the elimination diet didn't work for their cat what they tried next.
 

sweet jane flash

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I don't know if this will help you or not, but my cat vomits when she eats too fast. I fixed that problem by feeding her small meals 4 or 5 times a day instead of the usual 2. Yes, it is more work, but of course she is worth it. I feed her a grain free diet. I hope this helps you a bit. Good luck and we'll keep our paws crossed! :silver: 🌷🌻
 
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jack_and_gin19

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I don't know if this will help you or not, but my cat vomits when she eats too fast. I fixed that problem by feeding her small meals 4 or 5 times a day instead of the usual 2. Yes, it is more work, but of course she is worth it. I feed her a grain free diet. I hope this helps you a bit. Good luck and we'll keep our paws crossed! :silver: 🌷🌻
Hearing others stories is helpful! She currently gets 4-5 small meals as well. Initially that seemed to help and then the vomiting returned. We'll probably stick with at least 3 meals a day because now plopping down 3 ounces of food at once seems like so much!
 

artiemom

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I am sorry you are going through this.. My last guy had IBD... and was allergic to chicken.
He went on to develop other issues also.. not saying your guy will.. it was just Arties luck of the draw..

Just an FYI... RC prescription limited protein foods are in short supply.. worldwide.. I am talking the canned foods... so if there is one your baby will be ok with.. stock up on it...
RC did change proteins fairly recently.. I do not feel it was a good change..

My current guy, Geoffrey, has a vomiting issue, also... My gut feeling is that it is the beginnings of IBD.. I put him on prescription Food... and I free feed.
But, it seems the vomiting is really associated with furballs.. He hates to be brushed..

I still give him the RC prescription food, wet and dry... The RC canned food has dramatically changed formulas, to a point where Geoffrey refuses to eat it.. not matter what..

RC prescription foods are ok... but they new formula does have peas and coconut oil... and psyllium husks (for fiber)..... You baby may not be able to eat peas.. so just watch.. and see...
Personally, I find peas and pea protein harsh to MY system.. so I can imagine how it is to them..

I free feed.. it seems to work.. when Artie and then Geoffrey ate timed meals, they would gobble it down, and then vomit..

The worldwide shortage has done a number on novel protein diets.. All novel proteins are in demand, and very difficult to get.. again.. if there is something which works, then stock up... You can always donate it.. it is expensive, but.....

I wish you luck... You are doing the best you can for your baby... IBD is a terrible disease.. but once you find a food, it gets easier.. along with medications..
((Hugs))

I hope what I said helped a bit...
 

verna davies

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I tried the eliminating diet in one of mine because he constantly had diarrhea. It's a long process but worth the patience. I eventually found out mine is allergic to chicken. Both chicken and fish are high on the list of food allergies so might be worth starting there.
 
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jack_and_gin19

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I am sorry you are going through this.. My last guy had IBD... and was allergic to chicken.
He went on to develop other issues also.. not saying your guy will.. it was just Arties luck of the draw..

Just an FYI... RC prescription limited protein foods are in short supply.. worldwide.. I am talking the canned foods... so if there is one your baby will be ok with.. stock up on it...
RC did change proteins fairly recently.. I do not feel it was a good change..

My current guy, Geoffrey, has a vomiting issue, also... My gut feeling is that it is the beginnings of IBD.. I put him on prescription Food... and I free feed.
But, it seems the vomiting is really associated with furballs.. He hates to be brushed..

I still give him the RC prescription food, wet and dry... The RC canned food has dramatically changed formulas, to a point where Geoffrey refuses to eat it.. not matter what..

RC prescription foods are ok... but they new formula does have peas and coconut oil... and psyllium husks (for fiber)..... You baby may not be able to eat peas.. so just watch.. and see...
Personally, I find peas and pea protein harsh to MY system.. so I can imagine how it is to them..

I free feed.. it seems to work.. when Artie and then Geoffrey ate timed meals, they would gobble it down, and then vomit..

The worldwide shortage has done a number on novel protein diets.. All novel proteins are in demand, and very difficult to get.. again.. if there is something which works, then stock up... You can always donate it.. it is expensive, but.....

I wish you luck... You are doing the best you can for your baby... IBD is a terrible disease.. but once you find a food, it gets easier.. along with medications..
((Hugs))

I hope what I said helped a bit...
Can I also what else Artie developed and what he ended up taking for IBD? I'm trying to make my peace with the reality she may have IBD and the novel protein won't fully solve her problems. I don't love the peas in the RC, but there just aren't many options. Ginger has stayed on the appetite stimulant as we've been making the transition as she not a fan of pate and it has at least pushed her to eat. Some of Ginger's vomiting does appear to be connected to hairballs, but not all. I've been trying to get her used to combing to get some of her loose hair out.

I noticed that I can't find the RC rabbit right now. I'm reaching out to the vet to see what they have in stock. It is really hard to get your cat transitioned to a diet and have it suddenly unavailable.
 
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jack_and_gin19

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I tried the eliminating diet in one of mine because he constantly had diarrhea. It's a long process but worth the patience. I eventually found out mine is allergic to chicken. Both chicken and fish are high on the list of food allergies so might be worth starting there.
That was what the vet tried first! No chicken and no fish, we thought that we had it pretty under control with a rotation of turkey/beef/rabbit, but unfortunately the vomiting returned. She's starting the royal canin venison and rabbit, which will hopefully soothe her GI system. Trying to find the triggers is such a challenge! It would be so much easier if it was an instant reaction to narrow things down a bit. I'm glad to hear that you got your kitty sorted out!
 

artiemom

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Can I also what else Artie developed and what he ended up taking for IBD? I'm trying to make my peace with the reality she may have IBD and the novel protein won't fully solve her problems. I don't love the peas in the RC, but there just aren't many options. Ginger has stayed on the appetite stimulant as we've been making the transition as she not a fan of pate and it has at least pushed her to eat. Some of Ginger's vomiting does appear to be connected to hairballs, but not all. I've been trying to get her used to combing to get some of her loose hair out.

I noticed that I can't find the RC rabbit right now. I'm reaching out to the vet to see what they have in stock. It is really hard to get your cat transitioned to a diet and have it suddenly unavailable.
RC Rabbit is out of stock, worldwide.. I was told that from a Petsmart Manager. it is due to a shortage of materials. I think Covid finally caught up to the supply chain. It is not only RC, it is affecting many other brands..

I do not know how to advise you on this.. I really do not...
Some people have really good luck with Instinct, LTD...
Personally, I could not use that for Artie because it does contain some bentonite clay. His stools were getting so hard, and he was constipated from the clay...

You really do not want to know all of Artie's issues... he had one on top of another.. lived to be
14 years old..Before he went to the Bridge.

For IBD, his issues were diarrhea and vomiting... of course weight loss, and sick feelings...

I ended up going to an Internal Medicine specialist, and having an endoscopic biopsy done, which showed IBD. I did not start him on any IBD meds, until after the biopsy..

Let me see if I remember them all: Cerenia, Prednisolone, Reglan, Mirtazapine... I think that was it...

Reglan is horrible tasting.. Got the Cerenia, Pred and Mirtz in an empty gel cap.. I had to use a pill gun for dosage.. I put the meds in an empty gel cap, into the gun, and then gave a small syringe of water after, so the gel cap would not get stuck, or irritate his esophagus....

There are many many threads on here about IBD...
There is also a website: IBD Kitties...
and a Facebook page...

They suggest not to start with the prednisolone or any other meds before a biopsy, because it may mess up the results..

Also, many people raw feed for IBD. I cannot.. due to freezer space, and the fact that I free feed.

If you really think it is IBD, I would suggest a consult with an Internal Medicine Vet... one who is afdficliatetd with a Vet school would be great... I was lucky and found one at
MSPCA-Angel Memorial, in Boston..

I originally had another one in a suburb, but did not care for her.. had several bad experiences...
Ended up with a wonderful Specialist...
 

artiemom

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Oh, to let you know.. and to get the word out. I tried a new brand of Novel Protein.. it is a new company, named Freely.. It seems good.. no fillers..

Geoffrey loves the rabbit.. much better than the new formula of RC....

There is a run on rabbit canned food. Cannot get it anywhere...

Just spoke to customer service at Freely.. they are out of stock, but will be sending out new batches soon.. so, if you can grab it, try it.. I just ordered a bunch of it...

I would recommend it... Also Hound and Gatos, Koho, and a few more.. which are good companies with limited ingredients... novel proteins...

I would suggest you stick with only one novel protein at a time... mixing them up may mess up with his digestive tract.. and try to stay with one company...
This is important. We do not want to introduce any more 'unknowns' to his diet...

AS my Awesome Internal Med Vet says: "Change one thing at a time" I learned the hard way, with Artie...
 

Kieka

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I noticed my cats favorite topper was out of stock too. Spent half of Sunday driving to all the stores who stock it and getting enough to last two months.... hopefully.

To the subject, food eliminations are slow going and trial and error. My crew is basically no poultry and no shellfish. Chicken makes Fury vomit daily. Turkey makes Link imitate the Poltergeist (we are talking a good foot last time). Shellfish is instant reaction for Fury. Luckily, I do have one garbage kitty who can (and will) eat anything so it doesn't all go to waste when I try new things. We've gotten Fury down to mostly just speed eating/over eating reactions (oh, brothers eating? I should eat more too... blech... where did that come from!?!?.... oh, sister is eating I think I am hungry too.... :doh: ). But it was trial and error over several months to get to this point. The hardest part is the waiting because barring an instant reaction you have to wait for all the old food to process out and any reaction to fade so it can take two weeks to know.
 
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