Allergies?

[-KidCat]

Hello!

I took in a feral kitty from outside due to the fact that I noticed she had an injury on her neck.
At first, I thought she was injured from another animal from outside, but now I believe that isn't the case.

I've brought her to the vet and they applied Revolution on her in case she had any fur mites. It's been a little over a week since the application, but my kitty continues to itch herself.
They recommended that I change her diet, and I've already tried several dry food to no avail.
The very first food she was on was "Whiskas Meaty Selection"
Then, I swapped to "Whole Earth Farms Grain Free - Chicken"
Next I changed it to "Nutrience - Ocean Fish"
Now my cat is currently eating "Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet - Rabbit". She's been eating this food for about a week.

I'm a little skeptical about "Hill's Science Diet Food" because of some stuff I read online, as well as my vet scolding me about why I didn't try the food he recommended.

I think my cat has allergies and I'm having difficulties identifying the cause. She recently itched herself to the point where she's bald and continues to do so until it started to bleed a little. I put her on the cone, but I think she may still be reaching the spot behind her head with her hind legs.

My questions are:
Is this really a case of allergies?
How long do I need to wait for the allergies to go away after changing her diet?
Would nail caps help her in this case?
Are there any other food that may help her, such as a venison flavored rather than rabbit?

 

[neely]

Welcome to TCS! Are you transitioning her to the variety of different foods gradually? The reason I asked is because Ii's best to do this slowly otherwise it could possibly have a negative effect. Have you tried wet (canned) food? This might be a better fit and more nutritious for her. Here's a TCS Article about the subject of switching to a new food:
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food – TheCatSite Articles
Also some cats are known to have an allergy to chicken. There are many causes for allergies including stress and the environment or your cat may have a skin condition: Skin Conditions In Cats – TheCatSite Articles

Bottom line, talk with your vet and if you don't feel like they are helping you may want to consider getting a second opinion. BTW, thank you for rescuing a feral kitty. Best of luck, please keep us posted on her progress.

 

[-KidCat]

Welcome to TCS! Are you transitioning her to the variety of different foods gradually? The reason I asked is because Ii's best to do this slowly otherwise it could possibly have a negative effect. Have you tried wet (canned) food? This might be a better fit and more nutritious for her. Here's a TCS Article about the subject of switching to a new food:
Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food – TheCatSite Articles
Also some cats are known to have an allergy to chicken. There are many causes for allergies including stress and the environment or your cat may have a skin condition: Skin Conditions In Cats – TheCatSite Articles

Bottom line, talk with your vet and if you don't feel like they are helping you may want to consider getting a second opinion. BTW, thank you for rescuing a feral kitty. Best of luck, please keep us posted on her progress.

Thank you for the welcome! Yes, I'm set on changing vets soon once the nail caps are applied and when she receives her follow-up checkup.

I transitioned her slowly from her first food to the second food. For the next two types of food, I didn't transition it gradually because I wanted her to be off the food as fast as possible so she doesn't itch herself. I believe that it didn't really have a negative effect on her.

I have tried wet canned food before and she didn't itch herself as much. But during that time, she was also taking medicine for her allergies. After taking her off the wet food and changing her back to dry food, she itched herself again. So I fed her the allergy medicine again. However, this time, she continued to itch herself.

What is in wet food that wouldn't cause allergies compared to dry food?

 

[fionasmom]

Food Allergies

Food Allergies in Cats

These articles are similar, but may help with a little more insight.

 

[-KidCat]

Food Allergies

Food Allergies in Cats

These articles are similar, but may help with a little more insight.

Thank for the articles!
I've been feeding my cat a "novel" diet for the past week, which consists of rabbit, but it doesn't look like there's any signs of improvement.

 

[LTS3]

To rule out possible food allergies / sensitivities, you need to stick with one food for at least 13 weeks or so to see if that makes any difference or now. Any novel protein food should be helpful. There isn't any novel protein that is "better" than another. Canned food tends to have less fillers and stuff that could potentially cause food allergy symptoms like itching. Some cats have multiple sensitivities to a lot of things common in commercial cat food such as gums and starches and certain types of oils. One TCS member has a cat who has at least a dozen different sensitivies to common cat food ingredients but a raw or home cooked diet are not options.

It's fine to ignore the vet about the Hills junk. It's YOUR cat after all. If you don't want to feed junk, which is basically what Hills and many prescription foods are, then that's your decision. The vet can scold all he wants but he can't force you to feed X food.

 

[-KidCat]

To rule out possible food allergies / sensitivities, you need to stick with one food for at least 13 weeks or so to see if that makes any difference or now. Any novel protein food should be helpful. There isn't any novel protein that is "better" than another. Canned food tends to have less fillers and stuff that could potentially cause food allergy symptoms like itching. Some cats have multiple sensitivities to a lot of things common in commercial cat food such as gums and starches and certain types of oils. One TCS member has a cat who has at least a dozen different sensitivies to common cat food ingredients but a raw or home cooked diet are not options.

It's fine to ignore the vet about the Hills junk. It's YOUR cat after all. If you don't want to feed junk, which is basically what Hills and many prescription foods are, then that's your decision. The vet can scold all he wants but he can't force you to feed X food.

I see, thank you so much for your input! I'm hoping that my cat will be less itchy soon because she's crazy with itching herself
I'm assuming that you don't recommend the Hill's Science food? Is there evidence as to why Hill's is junk?

 

[LTS3]

Many TCS members don't think highly of Hills. Hills puts poor quality ingredients in their food: grains, gluten, pecan shells (??), "flavor", fillers, etc. The canned foods often have veggies which are useless in a cat's diet. Hills markets their food as healthy and wholesome, etc but that's just to appeal to what people think a healthy (people) diet is. Most average pet owners have no clue what a healthy cat diet is supposed to consist of. Many vets are of no help when it comes to food. There are much better quality foods out there that cost about the same as Hills. You can ask more about Hills and general cat nutrition in the Cat Nutrition forum.

 

[TCs mom]

Thank you for the welcome! Yes, I'm set on changing vets soon once the nail caps are applied and when she receives her follow-up checkup.

I transitioned her slowly from her first food to the second food. For the next two types of food, I didn't transition it gradually because I wanted her to be off the food as fast as possible so she doesn't itch herself. I believe that it didn't really have a negative effect on her.

I have tried wet canned food before and she didn't itch herself as much. But during that time, she was also taking medicine for her allergies. After taking her off the wet food and changing her back to dry food, she itched herself again. So I fed her the allergy medicine again. However, this time, she continued to itch herself.

What is in wet food that wouldn't cause allergies compared to dry food?

Most cat food allergies are from a protein . A blood test can tell you if they have a protein allergy but you will have to discover which protein on your own. However , cats can also be allergic to Soy, wheat gluten, and especially any type of gum . Most wet foods have some sort of gum in them and the pate and Sheba always do..and guar gum almost killed my cat. Lost lots of weight to to diarrhea. Also beware of agar agar which is some sort of seaweed. This caused him to throw up so much bile that it damaged his larnyx and his meow sounds like a frog. I feed him fancy feast grilled or gravy lovers plus either 4-Health or Crave dry and he is back to a good weight and running around like a kitten at 10 years old, seriously check the labels on all those expensive wet foods and Hills prescription as well. They contain some sort of gum and a lot of grains. Some people scoff at Fancy Feast but my one cat lived until she was 18 and now my two 10 year old cats are thriving. Please please please if your cat suffers from vomiting and or diarrhea then beware of guar gum and agar agar...they can really mess up your kitty babies digestive system and lead to IBS and even death.

 

[sivyaleah]

Be aware too, cats like humans can have seasonal allergies. Our younger one had to be allergy tested and we found out she's allergic to many trees, grasses, molds, etc. Even if a completely indoor cat, air from outside will get in the house and we can drag pollen in on our clothing and shoes.

I would suggest seeing an actual feline dermatologist who specializes in allergies. Even our fantastic regular vet didn't have enough expertise to set up a plan for Luna. She's now on sublingual allergy drops daily and has been for about 3 months. We just started to notice an improvement in her overall itching and hopefully as more time goes by this will continue to improve. She still has some ear issues from the allergies but the dosing builds up over time and she's still only on the first of 3 different formulations.

As already mentioned to rule out food allergies you need to keep the cat on one food for about 3 months to see if there's any improvement. There is no testing for food allergies so you have to go through the process. Using a novel protein the cat has never had before will be the best way to do this; alligator or kangaroo for instance, is a popular one though only available online from what I'm aware. Most commercial cat foods labeled as 1 protein sometimes hide others in the food, so buying a can of "rabbit" may have such things as chicken hidden in the list of ingredients.

We had a cat some years ago that we had to do the novel diet for. Luckily we discovered very quickly that it was the chicken he was having trouble with. Once we figured that out, he stopped vomiting multiple times a day. We were able to incorporate other proteins eventually such as pork to round out his diet.

 

[GoldyCat]

K -KidCat TCs mom sivyaleah allergy tests absolutely do separate the types of protein. When I had Shareena tested several years ago--after months of trying different foods--this is what they tested for in foods.

It turned out she had only minimal food allergies, but was highly allergic to grasses, trees, dust mites, T-mites, and a number of other environmental allergens.

TCs mom I agree that it's important to check the ingredients in anything you're feeding, and I'm glad you've found something that works for you. However, I think it's unlikely that your kitty's digestive issues were caused primarily by a single ingredient or even 2 ingredients. If you look at the Fancy Feast ingredient lists you'll see that many of their flavors contain guar gum. Others have wheat gluten, soy, cornstarch, or a combination of 2 or 3 of these ingredients. Dry foods tend to have more preservatives and sometimes fruits and vegetables that may or may not be necessary in a cat's diet.

That said, I do feed all my cats both wet and dry food that has a named meat as the first 2 or 3 ingredients, without paying much attention to the ingredients at the end of the list. One of them gets Fancy Feast almost exclusively because that's what she'll eat.

 

[mrw5641]

The problem with commercial "novel" protein or LID diets is they are made on the same line as other foods so there is most definitely cross contamination, hence the recommendation of RX food, my cat was on Royal Canin HP/PR/PV (RX) for a while. The reason RX diets are expensive is they make them on a different manufacturing line so there is no cross contamination.

We took him off since we wanted to really see if he did have a food allergy, it is likely a combination of both according to the vet derm.

As far as the food blood test, they say that is highly inaccurate (Is there a gold-standard test for adverse food reactions?) The only way to really do the food allergy is by the elimination diet.

For environmental allergies they do have blood test which they take blood and send it to Heska for testing.

I know you are getting a lot of information, I hope this is helpful.

 

[TCs mom]

K -KidCat TCs mom sivyaleah allergy tests absolutely do separate the types of protein. When I had Shareena tested several years ago--after months of trying different foods--this is what they tested for in foods.
View attachment 390992
It turned out she had only minimal food allergies, but was highly allergic to grasses, trees, dust mites, T-mites, and a number of other environmental allergens.

TCs mom I agree that it's important to check the ingredients in anything you're feeding, and I'm glad you've found something that works for you. However, I think it's unlikely that your kitty's digestive issues were caused primarily by a single ingredient or even 2 ingredients. If you look at the Fancy Feast ingredient lists you'll see that many of their flavors contain guar gum. Others have wheat gluten, soy, cornstarch, or a combination of 2 or 3 of these ingredients. Dry foods tend to have more preservatives and sometimes fruits and vegetables that may or may not be necessary in a cat's diet.

That said, I do feed all my cats both wet and dry food that has a named meat as the first 2 or 3 ingredients, without paying much attention to the ingredients at the end of the list. One of them gets Fancy Feast almost exclusively because that's what she'll eat.

Thank you so much for this information! I was only going by what one of my vets told me when my TC got his blood test. Looks like I need to check with another vet LOL

 

[mrw5641]

Great! May want to go to a vet dermatologist if you have on in the area.

 

[-KidCat]

Many TCS members don't think highly of Hills. Hills puts poor quality ingredients in their food: grains, gluten, pecan shells (??), "flavor", fillers, etc. The canned foods often have veggies which are useless in a cat's diet. Hills markets their food as healthy and wholesome, etc but that's just to appeal to what people think a healthy (people) diet is. Most average pet owners have no clue what a healthy cat diet is supposed to consist of. Many vets are of no help when it comes to food. There are much better quality foods out there that cost about the same as Hills. You can ask more about Hills and general cat nutrition in the Cat Nutrition forum.

Yeah, that makes sense, which was why I was skeptical about Hill's food. Thanks for the explanation!

Most cat food allergies are from a protein . A blood test can tell you if they have a protein allergy but you will have to discover which protein on your own. However , cats can also be allergic to Soy, wheat gluten, and especially any type of gum . Most wet foods have some sort of gum in them and the pate and Sheba always do..and guar gum almost killed my cat. Lost lots of weight to to diarrhea. Also beware of agar agar which is some sort of seaweed. This caused him to throw up so much bile that it damaged his larnyx and his meow sounds like a frog. I feed him fancy feast grilled or gravy lovers plus either 4-Health or Crave dry and he is back to a good weight and running around like a kitten at 10 years old, seriously check the labels on all those expensive wet foods and Hills prescription as well. They contain some sort of gum and a lot of grains. Some people scoff at Fancy Feast but my one cat lived until she was 18 and now my two 10 year old cats are thriving. Please please please if your cat suffers from vomiting and or diarrhea then beware of guar gum and agar agar...they can really mess up your kitty babies digestive system and lead to IBS and even death.

Yes, I think that my cat may be allergic to chicken but I'm still going through the trial phase to find out. Thank you for the heads up though!I hope your Sheba is doing fine now checking with another vet is always a good choice if your wallet can afford it haha. This will be my second time switching vets.

Be aware too, cats like humans can have seasonal allergies. Our younger one had to be allergy tested and we found out she's allergic to many trees, grasses, molds, etc. Even if a completely indoor cat, air from outside will get in the house and we can drag pollen in on our clothing and shoes.

I would suggest seeing an actual feline dermatologist who specializes in allergies. Even our fantastic regular vet didn't have enough expertise to set up a plan for Luna. She's now on sublingual allergy drops daily and has been for about 3 months. We just started to notice an improvement in her overall itching and hopefully as more time goes by this will continue to improve. She still has some ear issues from the allergies but the dosing builds up over time and she's still only on the first of 3 different formulations.

As already mentioned to rule out food allergies you need to keep the cat on one food for about 3 months to see if there's any improvement. There is no testing for food allergies so you have to go through the process. Using a novel protein the cat has never had before will be the best way to do this; alligator or kangaroo for instance, is a popular one though only available online from what I'm aware. Most commercial cat foods labeled as 1 protein sometimes hide others in the food, so buying a can of "rabbit" may have such things as chicken hidden in the list of ingredients.

We had a cat some years ago that we had to do the novel diet for. Luckily we discovered very quickly that it was the chicken he was having trouble with. Once we figured that out, he stopped vomiting multiple times a day. We were able to incorporate other proteins eventually such as pork to round out his diet.

Okay, gotcha! I don't believe that there's any feline dermatologist near me, so I'll continue my cat's food trial for now. I didn't realize that I had to keep my cat on one food for such a long time. I believe I read somewhere that a food trial is 8-13 weeks because that's the growth cycle of a cat's new skin. I'm hoping that the nail caps will stop my cat from injuring herself until I diagnose the allergen.

The problem with commercial "novel" protein or LID diets is they are made on the same line as other foods so there is most definitely cross contamination, hence the recommendation of RX food, my cat was on Royal Canin HP/PR/PV (RX) for a while. The reason RX diets are expensive is they make them on a different manufacturing line so there is no cross contamination.

We took him off since we wanted to really see if he did have a food allergy, it is likely a combination of both according to the vet derm.

As far as the food blood test, they say that is highly inaccurate (Is there a gold-standard test for adverse food reactions?) The only way to really do the food allergy is by the elimination diet.

For environmental allergies they do have blood test which they take blood and send it to Heska for testing.

I know you are getting a lot of information, I hope this is helpful.

Oh I had no idea that cross contamination existed for those type of diets.
Yes, I read that doing an allergy test for food is very inaccurate as there isn't enough research done yet.

Thank you so much for your input!

 

[sivyaleah]

K -KidCat TCs mom sivyaleah allergy tests absolutely do separate the types of protein. When I had Shareena tested several years ago--after months of trying different foods--this is what they tested for in foods.
View attachment 390992
It turned out she had only minimal food allergies, but was highly allergic to grasses, trees, dust mites, T-mites, and a number of other environmental allergens.

TCs mom I agree that it's important to check the ingredients in anything you're feeding, and I'm glad you've found something that works for you. However, I think it's unlikely that your kitty's digestive issues were caused primarily by a single ingredient or even 2 ingredients. If you look at the Fancy Feast ingredient lists you'll see that many of their flavors contain guar gum. Others have wheat gluten, soy, cornstarch, or a combination of 2 or 3 of these ingredients. Dry foods tend to have more preservatives and sometimes fruits and vegetables that may or may not be necessary in a cat's diet.

That said, I do feed all my cats both wet and dry food that has a named meat as the first 2 or 3 ingredients, without paying much attention to the ingredients at the end of the list. One of them gets Fancy Feast almost exclusively because that's what she'll eat.

Thanks for the reminder I neglected to mention there are 2 types of testing for feline allergies.

Blood and the typical "patch" (skin) testing.

Patch can test for all types of items including food. The blood testing is not accurate for food allergies, however, hence why a novel protein diet is the gold standard to rule it out.

We opted for blood testing as we were pretty positive Luna's allergy weren't food related because of the types of symptoms she had and them being worse in warmer weather. I thought about the patch test but during a pandemic it was not going to be an easy thing to accomplish. In the end the blood testing was good enough for our needs but would have done the patch if it was required.

 

[sivyaleah]

The problem with commercial "novel" protein or LID diets is they are made on the same line as other foods so there is most definitely cross contamination, hence the recommendation of RX food, my cat was on Royal Canin HP/PR/PV (RX) for a while. The reason RX diets are expensive is they make them on a different manufacturing line so there is no cross contamination.

We took him off since we wanted to really see if he did have a food allergy, it is likely a combination of both according to the vet derm.

As far as the food blood test, they say that is highly inaccurate (Is there a gold-standard test for adverse food reactions?) The only way to really do the food allergy is by the elimination diet.

For environmental allergies they do have blood test which they take blood and send it to Heska for testing.

I know you are getting a lot of information, I hope this is helpful.

Heska also makes the formulation for either injection of sublingual drops. We are using the drops and find it easy enough to administer to our cat.