Can cat be allergic to novel protein?

[coloradokitty]

Okay, VERY long story short:

Our cat Smudge (the kitty in my avatar) had out-of-control chin acne. Chin became infected and lymph nodes swelled up.

After trying several things, we went to a veterinary dermatologist. In conjunction with a low-dose steroid and antibiotic, she wanted to do a food trial. We started him about 6 weeks ago with Royal Canin Hypoallergenic Rabbit and Pea.

The chin was just about cleared up when he broke out in an itchy rash all over his body about 2 weeks ago. The dermatologist did a culture, which grew nothing so not bacterial. She concluded that it was probably a drug reaction to the antibiotic (Simplicef) that he was on for his chin. So we stopped that a week ago Tuesday. She wanted to keep him on the steroid (prednisolone) for the itching but bump it up to twice a day instead of once.

However, instead of getting better, he appears to be getting worse. This leads me to wonder a couple of things:

1. Could he be having a reaction to the prednisolone?

2. Could he have developed an allergy to his food?

With our vet's permission, we took him off the prednisolone. The last one he had was Monday morning. That afternoon he had an itching spell so bad that his head was actually spasming. On Tuesday, he seemed much less itchy. We didn't even have to give him an antihistamine (which we've found helps tremendously with the itching). However, we noticed that his eyelids were swollen and red (picture below).

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• coloradokitty
• Sep 27, 2012

Then today he had another pretty intense attack. Gave him some antihistamine and then broke down crying because I can't stand to see him like this. We're supposed to take him back to the dermatologist tomorrow so she can check him out again and then we'll go from there. 

But my main question is the topic of this post. CAN a cat develop an allergy to the novel protein? I'm planning on asking the vet tomorrow but I thought I'd see what you all thought and whether I'm going to sound completely crazy when I ask.

Thanks!

 

[AbbysMom]

The poor thing. . Anything is possible so I wouldn't worry about sounding crazy. It could be the pea even. :dk: Abby has food and environmental allergies. She is on the Royal Canin limited ingredient diet as well, rabbit, venison or duck with green pea. During the summer we go through a period with her where she will start the scratching around her ears as well. I have to start her right away on antihistamine. If I don't, she will start to look like Smudge. Once when I didn't catch it we had to have the steroid shot and prednisone,

Good luck!

 

[ldg]

I haven't looked at the ingredients in the food you mention, but I wanted to provide some information to you.

Our cat, Chumley, was gnawing at himself - bare spots on his legs; "mowed" his abdomen clean. We put him on the Hill's z/d hypoallergenic food - hydrolyzed chicken protein (broken down, so if chicken is a trigger, it shouldn't trigger the allergic reaction). Now - I fed a combination of dry and wet. He did NOT improve on the food. I later realized the dry food had Brewer's Rice in it, and this is a trigger for some cats.

Another member tried just the canned z/d (which does not have Brewer's Rice). HER cat continued to insanely itch. Turned out the problem must have been the CORN STARCH.

So it's quite possible the issue is some other ingredient in the food - or it's the pea.

Seeing two different vets over a six month period of time, we were NOT able to resolve Chumley's problem. And he could not use prednisone, as he is FIV+, and pred is contra-indicated in FIV+ cats (their immune systems are already fighting an uphill battle, can't suppress them further).

We went to a holistic vet: a DVM trained in Chinese Medicine, herbs, acupuncture, nutrition, Western herbs, etc. She diagnosed him from a Chinese meds standpoint, prescribed herbs we were able to purchase online, and it was clear within two weeks they were working. It took some time for him to completely stop itching, and for all his hair to grow back in, but they WORKED. (He was diagnosed with a damp heat condition: an "extreme spleen Qi deficiency" and an "extreme Yin deficiency." :dk: Whatever. Her diagnosis was apparently correct).

The first thing she had us do was stop feeding dry food. She had us switch to an all canned diet of grain-free, high protein, low-carb foods. Basically this was EVO canned and Nature's Variety Instinct cans, with SOME Before Grain cans. If you want novel proteins, Nature's Variety has duck or rabbit - with NO pea protein. It does have peas and carrots, but they're whole, and not many, so you can just pick them out.

In January of this year, we switched to a raw diet. And he stopped eating his pills. (He'd been taking them for about a year. We were scared to stop giving them to him. :lol3: ). ....and he doesn't need them any longer. I don't know how you feel about a raw diet, but there are a LOT of commercial raw foods available now - it's basically as easy as feeding canned, just you have to dethaw it first. And MOST cats that have severe allergies to something that's canned, do NOT experience the same allergy when it is fed raw. We have NO idea why. Is the protein altered in cooking? Not to western nutritional knowledge. :dk: Is it some other ingredient in the foods? Maybe. But cats are obligate carnivores - they are "designed" to derive their nutrition from raw meat. They have no dietary requirement for carbohydrates, and derive little benefit from vegetables. In fact, they lack the digestive enzymes necessary to benefit from many veggies. A raw food diet is anti-inflammatory; and most of the commercial canned/kibble products we feed them create inflammation (OK, a VERY general, big, kind of overstatement). But if you're pulling your hair out trying to figure out how to help your kitty.... IN MY EXPERIENCE, and from what I've seen in my 10 years actively participating on this board, Western Medicine does not have very good answers for how to address immune-related problems (IBD, allergies) caused by inflammation reactions. YET these are often - very often - resolved by switching to a raw diet. So just something to think about. :nod:

Think of it like this.... how much healthier is it for us, as people, to stop eating highly processed, sugary foods, and start eating whole grains and lots of fruits and veggies? That's the difference between commercially prepared canned and kibble and raw food for a cat. :nod:

And if you want to explore the holistic vet option, you can search here to see if there are any you can get to where you live: http://www.ahvma.org

Many vibes for you and your kitty!

 

[cstanley]

Thanks so much for the information, I appreciate it...I will have to do some research...my vet does not think a raw diet is the way to go....and thinks it is most likely a pollen....something she is inhaling as opposed to ingesting.  Its not the peas, I can tell you that much...I never fed them anything with peas in it before the limited ingredient diet to rule out food as one of the issues.....she was licking her hair off many months before I ever gave her that food.  Anyway, thanks again for the info and the good vibes...thanks from Sugar too!  Glad your kitty is doing so much better!

Christy

 

[ldg]

Yep :nod: Both of my traditional vets explained that 95% of the time, allergies are environmental, not food-related, and most people are chasing a blind alley with food elimination.

Yet here we are.... chinese medicine resolved his problem, and on raw food he needs no medical support and isn't itching.... yet we haven't moved, and my allergies are raging. :lol3:

 

[andrya]

l'm confused (not difficult to achieve).

Are the OP and the poster above LDG ^ referring to the same cat?

Either way, l have a similar experience with one of my cats which is probably more of a reaction than a true allergy.

He eats other lamb flavoured foods, but almost immediately violently hurls Natures Variety lamb flavour. He's fine with their chicken flavour, with the same ingredients other than main meat.

l really don't think he's allergic to lamb, but he has reacted the same way to this one type all 3 times it was offered.

 

[ldg]

No, I'm talking about my experience with our Chumley. Our experience might help the OP figure out to help her kitty.

 

[andrya]

The poster above you responded about the peas not being the culprit, but she is not the OP.

I wasn't sure if they are co-owners of the same pet, or are crossing wires with similar experiences.

Excellent reply though, it teaches me tons to read everything l can on here 

 

[carolina]

Awwwww your poor baby boy

Yeah, many vets don't believe raw is the way to go.... I do believe it however, and have 3 reasons to do so - as in three little kitties Keep in mind, the ones that think this way are the ones who don't know about the diet.... People tend to be scared of what they don't know.....
My Bugsy this year started with the same issue...... Scratching himself raw - he was also on pred short term, but pred was not good fro him. So I started giving him the same chinese supplement LDG gave to Chumley, only I give it in drops, instead of pills..... along with Evening primerose oil.
While he still itches some, he is MUCH, MUCH better - not nearly as obscessive, doesn't have any scabs, not hurting himself anymore, is able to relax, sleep, etc..... He is doing REALLY well!

It has been only a couple of days since he has been on a full dosage, so I am sure he will only get better from here :bigthumb:

Raw has CURED him from IBD, when nothing else could, and I mean, nothing. So, while I go to Western vets, in fact I am going today - I also have a holistic vet for him, and they work together :nod:
IMHO diet is paramount for health :nod:

In Bugsy's case, the vet got to the conclusion that the problem in his diet was not even the proteins - it was all the additives and the chemicals that were in it - so there was no way to make it better, unless feeding a raw diet. At the momment we went raw, the boy got 100% better.

An easy way to see if this is environmental is to determine when this allergy started - was it when spring/summer started? If so, chances are, it is.
The good news is, if it is in fact environmental, allergy season is about to end soon, so he should get better as winter comes :cross:

 

[ldg]

The poster above you responded about the peas not being the culprit, but she is not the OP.
I wasn't sure if they are co-owners of the same pet, or are crossing wires with similar experiences.
Excellent reply though, it teaches me tons to read everything l can on here 

OH! :doh3: I see what you're talking about now, and thus your question! I missed it wasn't the OP posting! :lol3:

 

[Anne]

To the OP - we have a raw feeding forum on the site, available here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-feeding-for-cats

If you have more questions or comments on raw, you're more than welcome to post them there.

Otherwise, please not turn this into another raw food thread, where as stated, allergies are not even necessarily food-related. Thank you.

 

[coloradokitty]

Hi again! Thanks SO much to everyone for their input! The other day, I actually googled to see if we had a veterinary acupuncturist nearby so I'll check out the holistic vet link, for sure. And great info about the possibility of being allergic to something else in the food.

They did a skin biopsy today and took blood. She also took him off the prednisolone, just to be on the safe side. She's still leaning toward a drug reaction but the biopsy/bloodwork should tell us more. If it looks like a food allergy, I'll definitely check out the raw food forum. No matter what, we'll probably steer toward more high-quality canned food. (Both my cats are just learning that canned food is actually edible. Ha!)

The good news is that he looks better today and this afternoon he sat in my lap for the first time in over a week. 

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• coloradokitty
• Sep 28, 2012

 

[carolina]

To the op: one thing to consider.... After reading your post, I realized something... If this was environmental allergies, your cat should be getting better, and not worst, on prednisone.... I am inclined to think this is either a drug related issue, or a food issue aggravated by a drug reaction. Food related because he did get better of the acne issue once he started the novel protein diet, but then the drug reaction brought on the rashes.... Not sure how to revert that now, I suppose time :dk:
I do think it is both though..... Glad you are looking for a holistic vet!

 

[coloradokitty]

@Carolina - Thanks for the additional ideas. He is SO much better today. It's pretty amazing. I'm definitely inclined to think it was the steroid that caused the rash because it seems like we're seeing rapid improvement since we took him off it last week. 

We have about 4 more weeks of the food trial and then we'll start adding foods back in to see if he has a flare-up. And then I guess we'll go from there.

Thanks again!

 

[carolina]

@Carolina - Thanks for the additional ideas. He is SO much better today. It's pretty amazing. I'm definitely inclined to think it was the steroid that caused the rash because it seems like we're seeing rapid improvement since we took him off it last week. 

We have about 4 more weeks of the food trial and then we'll start adding foods back in to see if he has a flare-up. And then I guess we'll go from there.

Thanks again!

Coloradokitty, when you start adding food back, either add cooked/raw food, or novel protein canned foods - whatever you do, add single protein foods, of course - one at a time, and keep close records of it. Specially with skin, the effects might not be immediate so you might have to feed it for at least a week or so.
Awesome to hear he is doing much better today!!!