Food allergies! Luck with hydrolyzed protein?

Peachiekitty

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Mar 7, 2021
Messages
52
Purraise
16
Hi everyone,

my sweet girl is still dealing with allergies. It’s been 5 months now, soon to be six. We have switched to z/d hydrolyzed after fighting it for so long. She also is tapering down on another dose of steroids. Her allergies had gotten so so bad!

I was wondering how long it took for those of you who’ve dealt with food allergies to see progress? Did you give an elimination diet a proper go? Have you tried hydrolyzed protein diets?

We have tried raw, LID, and a novel protein. We didn’t stick with anything longer that two month because she continued to get worse.She is really making progress right now, though I’m sure it’s the steroids. I’m making arrangements to get to a derm, it’s just the nearest is THREE HOURS away 😭. We work closely with her regular vet and I talk to them weekly if not more.

I hope someone out there has some success stories about food allergies!
 

stephanietx

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
14,772
Purraise
3,491
Location
Texas
Have you figured out what she's allergic to? Are you open to a raw diet for her?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

Peachiekitty

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Mar 7, 2021
Messages
52
Purraise
16
Have you figured out what she's allergic to? Are you open to a raw diet for her?
We have tried a commercial raw diet. I think she may have chicken and beef allergies. We haven’t done any testing yet, as a dermatologist vet is three hours away in the next state over. There is a dermatologist 3 hours north that may begin accepting new patients in June.
 

MissClouseau

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
1,733
Purraise
2,126
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
Food allergy tests are questionable in cats. Some vets don't even recommend them as they don't find them reliable and firstly recommend an elimination diet.

Don't just think of meat as the possible (main) allergen. My cat is intolerant to several different grains for example. And of course there could also be an environmental allergy.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

Peachiekitty

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Mar 7, 2021
Messages
52
Purraise
16
Food allergy tests are questionable in cats. Some vets don't even recommend them as they don't find them reliable and firstly recommend an elimination diet.

Don't just think of meat as the possible (main) allergen. My cat is intolerant to several different grains for example. And of course there could also be an environmental allergy.
Thank you! I’ve also been wondering about some of the additives and grains so I chose a food that had very few ingredients that were in any of the other diets we had tried. We did try a grain free and she seemed to be much worse on that one actually, but if could have been the protein or some other ingredient. Ive read that environmental allergies are much more common than food allergies. I do not think it is fleas as I’ve been regularly treating her since this all began. I’ve been taking steps to limit storage mite or dust mite exposure.
 

LTS3

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
19,209
Purraise
19,695
Location
USA
You may want to re-try raw but this time making it from scratch so you can control the ingredients. If chicken and beef are possible causes of the allergies / sensitivities, try rabbit or venison or other novel protein. One easy way to make a raw diet is to use raw meat of your choice with a pre-mix such as EZComplete. The pre-mix contains all the essential vitamins and minerals and turns the meat into a complete diet. You can get more info on pre-mixes and sourcing novel proteins over in the Raw and Home Cooked forum here on TCS.

It may take 4 months or longer for a food trial to work (or not). The issues may get worse before it gets better.

One TCS member has a cat who has multiple sensitivities to a lot of common ingredients in commercial canned / dry food. Raw and home cooked are not options for this cat because of a health issue (FIV, I think?). There are very few canned foods the cat can eat and the cat is often super picky about what he wants to eat. I'm not sure if cheeser cheeser is around these days. I found an old thread of cheeser about her cat's various food ingredient sensitivities: Need A Quick Refresher Re: Possible Food Allergy Triggers :-)

This other thread may be helpful, too: Recs For Links That Explain Cat Food Ingredients In Easy-to-understand Terms? :-)
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

Peachiekitty

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Mar 7, 2021
Messages
52
Purraise
16
Thank you so much I will check this out! And I was wondering if thing might get better before they get worse. I do hope at some point we can transition to a mostly raw food diet once we figure this out. We have several local raw cat food companies in my town actually.
 
Top