Food Intolerance from Rotational Feeding?

[paziqi]

When I brought the first of my kittens home almost 2 years ago, I decided to try rotational feeding with them. I hoped by doing so I could avoid some of the illnesses that seemed to crop up in my older cats as the aged. I settled on Hound and Gatos and Nature's Logic brands as my two main brands, as they both have a variety of single protein canned foods, with a couple brands mixed in as well, and I switch foods about every day and a half.

I'd had no issues, everyone has been eating well, and they have all been healthy. But a little while ago my cat Suri started throwing up within half an hour of eating, but only when fed Hound and Gato's Beef variety. I called the vet, and they felt she didn't need to be seen unless she started throwing up when fed the other foods, which she has not. I've stopped feeding her this variety, and she has been fine since.

I still have questions though. Why would she suddenly start having trouble with this one food? And is it safe to feed her other beef varieties? She has shown no sign of having difficulty with the Nature's Logic beef, but I'm wondering if it could still be irritating her and causing unseen damage?

 

[thefiresidecat]

allergies and sensitivies can develop in any food fed regularly. it could be a protein it coudl be something in the manufacturing process. there might actually BE something wrong with it. pet food oversight is basically non existent. back in 2008 a cat of mine nearly died from the melamine scandal. the vet said the only reason he probably lived is because we did rotate food and that wasn't his only food source. as it was it did shorten his life and make the quality of what was left to him worse. but in that instance the clue that something was wrong was incontinent bleeding from urinary tract.

if she's just throwing up directly after eating it that sounds more like intolerance allergy to something in there. just stop feeding that brand. you can try other beef proteins but I dont' think beef is very good for cats anyway tbh.


my first priority for food in this day and age is cats like it and it's made in america or canada lol we do feed tiki cat adn some others like it from thailand. the quality seems very hit or miss with those. they'll eat them and then they all back away and are like.. that's poison human.

 

[FeebysOwner]

It is possible that the ingredients were changed in that particular food that causes issues with just this one cat while not impacting the others. It could be a new filler was added, or some other ingredient that just doesn't agree with her system. If she can eat beef in other brands/varieties, then it doesn't sound like beef is the issue.

 

[Alldara]

paziqi I would call the company that makes the food and report the issue. There may be something wrong with the batch. Or like Feebysowner mentioned above, they may have changed the formula.

Usually, food rotations helps to prevent allergies and intolerances in cats. Doesn't mean it can't still happen, however.

 

[lisahe]

paziqi , have you compared ingredients on various food labels? As FeebysOwner says, if you're feeding other beef foods, beef probably isn't the problem. The Hound & Gatos beef does have agar-agar in it, which makes both our cats vomit, so it's worth checking other labels to see if that's in other foods.

Sometimes it takes time for an ingredient to bother a cat's digestive system enough to make them vomit. It took a gradual increase, over several months, of agar-agar in our cats' diet before they started vomiting. They were fine as soon as we took that ingredient out of their diet.

 

[maggie101]

I try to feed my cats a variety of different brands with different ingredients rather than the exact same ingredients every day. I am hoping it will help with not being intolerant to gums,fish oil,green tipped mussles, ets

 

[Ivy204]

I used to try and mix it up, but Merrick dry food always seemed to have a really good coupon at Amazon for 25 percent off for a long time and I kind of got stuck. I do switch between grain free and healthy grain. I don’t want to feed my cat wheat or corn, but can’t see why sweet potatoes and peas are better than barley and rice. They’ve raised their price now and I just can’t find anything with as high of protein or as low carb for an equivalent price that doesn’t have corn or wheat. Still looking!

I rotate Sheba and Nutro wet food for the same reason, Amazon coupons. My cat also hates fish and leftovers so finding ones that aren’t fish heavy and come in small packages limits me there.

I wouldn’t assume it’s a beef allergy if she isn’t throwing up other varieties of beef. I’d assume it’s a change in ingredients and there’s something that isn’t agreeing with her. Another great reason to rotate foods. Any company could do this at any time and if our cats are picky they can get ill before accepting a different food.