10yr Old Seems To Have Developed Food Allergy :(

[Sam122]

Hello all!! I have a 10 yr old calico that seems to have developed a food allergy. My two younger cats eat a raw food diet but I am struggling getting my oldest to move over to raw. She has been eating canned Merrick (which I hate since I know it was bought out by Purina) and she gets a little bit of Orijen Cat and Kitten dry food at every meal. To give her variety I tried intermittently giving her the Orijen Red dry and the Orijen Six fish dry along with the canned.. not to long after I gave the different proteins of Orijen she started to get itchy around her eyes. I took her to the vet and he gave her a steroid shot at the time because we were thinking it was the pollen in the air from the windows being open (my cats are indoors only) it subsided but came back after about 5 weeks. I keep a daily food log of what my cats eat and thought it was one of the proteins whether it be the Orijen Red or Six fish and switched her back to the Orijen Cat and Kitten. Her eyes got better but then she started to snub the Merrick canned food and wouldn't touch it. After many trips to the natural pet food store she seems to only like BFF but every flavor has fish and now her eyes are really irritated again. I know fish needs to be a minimal but she is so picky this seems to be the only wet food that I can get her to touch. I know the importance of moisture in a cats diet but some days she won't touch wet food so that is why I have the Orijen dry around. Can anyone give me direction or a suggestion of what to try? I really am starting to think it's a fish allergy. My cats only get freeze dried raw treats and I want to only feed them the best that is available. Someone suggested Science Diet Z/D but I've done my research on Science Diet and I think it's not a sound long term choice. She was on C/D several years back when she developed cystitis when my other cat that she was close to passed away and she became depressed. After a couple of months it did nothing but give her diarrhea so I took her off of it. The vet has checked her out and she has had blood work. He said she is perfectly healthy. She is just soo picky!!! Anyway sorry for the long story but I welcome any suggestions!!! Thank you!!

 

[LTS3]

Try a limited ingredient brand of food. Here are some brands:

Blue Buffalo Basics
Merrick Limited Ingredients
Koha Limited Ingredient
Nature's Variety Instinct
Natural Balance Limited Ingredient

Novel proteins can help cats with food allergies. You can get rabbit, duck, even kangaroo and alligator.
Your favorite brands of "novel protein" canned cat food

Try Weruva and Soulistic for non-seafood canned foods. Both are made by the same company as BFF.

Here's some info on food allergies and treatment options: Article on Feline Cutaneous Adverse Food Reactions (aka food allergies) and treatment

 

[missmimz]

What about making your own raw with alnutrin or EZcomplete?

 

[Sam122]

Try a limited ingredient brand of food. Here are some brands:

Blue Buffalo Basics
Merrick Limited Ingredients
Koha Limited Ingredient
Nature's Variety Instinct
Natural Balance Limited Ingredient

Novel proteins can help cats with food allergies. You can get rabbit, duck, even kangaroo and alligator.
Your favorite brands of "novel protein" canned cat food

Try Weruva and Soulistic for non-seafood canned foods. Both are made by the same company as BFF.

Here's some info on food allergies and treatment options: Article on Feline Cutaneous Adverse Food Reactions (aka food allergies) and treatment

Thank you for these suggestions! I have tried the few Weruva flavors that are fish free but she will not touch them, I will look into Soulistic. She won't look at Nature's Variety and completely snubs Merrick of all kinds.. I found a brand today at my local natural pet food store called Precise Hollistic and bought a few cans with fingers crossed because I didn't see fish in the ingredients, she ate it but I have not researched the brand yet. I'm not giving up on switching her to raw and that is my ultimate mission!!! Again thank you for the suggestions, fingers crossed I get to the bottom of her allergy!

 

[Sam122]

What about making your own raw with alnutrin or EZcomplete?

I have definitely thought about making my own raw but I will be honest that I am scared that I could not get her all of the nutrients she needs. My two younger cats eat Primal Raw but it is more of a paté texture which she doesn't like. She shows interest in RadCat that is more of the shredded meat consistency that she likes, I am bound and determined to get her on raw food!!!

 

[bathedinshadow]

My cat also recently started itchy like crazy. It was right after she had been to the vet numerous times following a dental procedure, so I thought it was ear mites or something. Took her to the vet, and the vet things it's a food allergy. I find it so odd though, because it was like literally just one day she started scratching. She thinks she just developed an allergy over time. Oddly enough, about a week after she started scratching, I had just switched her to a new food. Unfortunately, her old food was wellness turkey (which seem to have a lot of chicken in it) and almost every food that is high in protein but doesn't contain fish... is chicken!! It's really limited the options. All the other options I've found that don't have chicken in them, are below 50% protein.

I wish I knew for sure that it was a food allergy. It's possible she's developed and allergy to something else I suppose? She is 100% indoors, but I guess we bring stuff in from outside? I don't know. I think the food allergy seems the most likely, but it's also very frustrating. I've found that vets are very helpful because they just immediately want to stick you on one of the big name brands that they carry that say "hypo-allergenic." I told her I didn't want to feed her that food as I've done quite a bit of reading, and I don't believe it is appropriate. Nor do I approve of the animal testing those brands perform. She seemed to understand, but then still suggested it. It's just frustrating how hard it is to simply do the best thing for your cat!

 

[Sam122]

Sorry to hear that your girl is going through this! I hear you, it's so frustrating trying to figure out what it is! I won't give up, I'm still offering her raw in hopes I can get her moved over to that. I have eliminated fish from her diet but her eyes are still itchy and irritated. Some days they look good but this afternoon they were red and her one eye was puffy again and she was scratching a lot.. UGH!! I guess it will just be a process of elimination, it's just hard when you have a finicky eater to begin with!