Food allergies

cataholic07

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Messages
1,502
Purraise
1,691
20220516_140641.jpg
Screenshot (107).png
Screenshot (106).png

My girl has been seeing the vet for potential food allergies. She was on the Z/D for about 5 months but was getting worse. We switched her to the rayne kangaroo and added atopica/pred. We did the idexx food allergen test which isnt that sensitive and it showed that fillers seem to be more of an issue for her than proteins. Fish mix is only tuna, cod, halibut and whitefish not salmon that she was eating quite a bit of. My vet doesnt think that fillers can be an issue but to me, it seems like it's highly possible? Sunflower seeds/oil was in almost all her other food, she was scratching quite a bit then (was worse after a few months on the z/d). Coconut oil was in quite a few too. Could sunflower seeds/oil and coconut oil be the actual allergen? We caught her scratching pretty early. I used to feed different proteins all the time to prevent food allergies but I didn't realize that fillers could also be an issue.
 

FeebysOwner

TCS Member
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jun 13, 2018
Messages
22,442
Purraise
33,215
Location
Central FL (Born in OH)
Hi. I most certainly believe fillers could be an issue with some cats. The problem is: how to eliminate them? Corn, wheat gluten, eggs, soy products, dairy, artificial coloring, preservatives, and so on.

I guess whatever you can find that is the most prevalent ingredients in her food, try food without them. It is tough, I know. But I stay away from most of the oils like the ones you mentioned above in foods for Feeby, not because she is allergic but because she can tell they are 'in there'.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

cataholic07

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Messages
1,502
Purraise
1,691
Yep it's really hard finding foods with no fillers like that. Everything seems to have some kind of oil. I could take her to see the specialist but it's been pretty expensive with inflation around here and I'm low income. Its $170 just to talk to them and her scratching hasnt been too severe really so I was hoping to hold off if possible.
 

FeebysOwner

TCS Member
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jun 13, 2018
Messages
22,442
Purraise
33,215
Location
Central FL (Born in OH)
Did you ask the vet about giving her something like Benadryl to see if it would help any?

EDIT: maybe try some foods that don't have oils, other than the standard fish oil. Could be the plant-based oils are a bigger problem.
 
Last edited:

LTS3

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
19,209
Purraise
19,695
Location
USA
There is one TCS member who has a cat that is literally allergic / sensitive to most things in cat food, cheeser cheeser That member has not posted on TCS in over a year. There are a few cat foods the cat can eat without having issues.

Leroy can't eat food that contains goat milk. It gives him bald spots.
 

Astragal14

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 19, 2021
Messages
239
Purraise
300
Fillers can definitely be an issue! They sure are for one of my cats! My cat with IBD is fine with all proteins but we have a long list of fillers that he can't eat (white and sweet potatoes, gums, etc). I kept a log of ingredients and his reactions to them until I finally came up with list of foods to avoid. And it wasn't easy! It took a while to figure out he's okay with English peas but is bothered by field peas - and you have to contact the company for this kind of information, because ingredient labels only say "peas".


Could be the plant-based oils are a bigger problem.
Too many plant-based ingredients are a problem for my cats. Their digestion is fine, but I started feeding them Open Farm (which has more plants than they had previously been eating) and their cholesterol went straight up! And straight back down after I removed it from their diets.

she was scratching quite a bit then (was worse after a few months on the z/d)
Has your vet mentioned a possible allergy to storage mites? It may not be an issue, but it can be a food-related cause of itching. This would only happen with dry food, since storage mites take up to 3 months to settle into food. One of my cats has a severe storage mite allergy that results in a lot of itching, so we only keep a small amount of dry food out at one time, usually one month's worth with the rest stored in the freezer.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

cataholic07

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Messages
1,502
Purraise
1,691
Fillers can definitely be an issue! They sure are for one of my cats! My cat with IBD is fine with all proteins but we have a long list of fillers that he can't eat (white and sweet potatoes, gums, etc). I kept a log of ingredients and his reactions to them until I finally came up with list of foods to avoid. And it wasn't easy! It took a while to figure out he's okay with English peas but is bothered by field peas - and you have to contact the company for this kind of information, because ingredient labels only say "peas".



Too many plant-based ingredients are a problem for my cats. Their digestion is fine, but I started feeding them Open Farm (which has more plants than they had previously been eating) and their cholesterol went straight up! And straight back down after I removed it from their diets.


Has your vet mentioned a possible allergy to storage mites? It may not be an issue, but it can be a food-related cause of itching. This would only happen with dry food, since storage mites take up to 3 months to settle into food. One of my cats has a severe storage mite allergy that results in a lot of itching, so we only keep a small amount of dry food out at one time, usually one month's worth with the rest stored in the freezer.
My other cat Fynn has a very sensitive stomach and either has chronic pancreatitis or mild ibd with pancreatitis. He's on the rayne turkey gi stew. He has issues with diarrhea or vomiting so sensitive stomach I get. He requires an extremely slow transition to any new food and I'm working on figuring out what is affecting his tummy the most.

Ceriah was eating the Merrick, Primal and rawz rabbit for quite over a month and a half, still scratching. But Rawz their fish oil has salmon oil that has protein in it. Merrik rabbit backcountry cuts have fish oil in them as well. Primal has coconut oil. I'm thinking coconut oil and salmon are an issue for her. Coconut oil was in all her primal and in the hills z/d dry.
 
Top