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Warning in advance - this is a bit of a novel, and I have done some dumb things!
I adopted my wonderful 4 y/o Siamese tortie mix Frida in Feb of this year. I originally had her on grain-free salmon dry food (ignorance, your name is me), but did supplement with a variety of wet foods and eventually transitioned to wet only. In April, she got an ear infection (cytology confirmed yeast) that just would not go away. After repeated treatments of Mometamax and a round of steroid pills, the infection was barely budging. She also developed a pretty bad case of chin acne. And through it all, she was in so much discomfort/pain because whenever she itches she scratches herself raw
The vet thought it was most likely food allergies (her blood work and poop tests were normal), and on her recommendation I put Frida on Hills z/d in June, but didn't see any real improvement, even with two rounds of steroid injections (no side effects from those, thank goodness). After all that, I found out she had been sneaking in and eating my roommate's cat's dry food! We now have complete food separation in place. By the start of Nov, her infection had basically gone, so I decided it was time to start moving her back to "real" food. She hated the z/d; basically ate it because she won't *completely* starve herself, and that food is expensive for how awful it is ($75 every 12 days).
I first started Frida on Instinct Rabbit, since she was a big fan of their rabbit toppers prior to the z/d and I thought it was likely she had a chicken allergy. She was such a happy camper...for 4 days. Then her ear infection came back with a vengeance! So I made the switch over to Instinct beef (novel protein) while treating her ear with Zymox to control the yeast and itchiness. She's been on 100% Instinct beef since Nov 18, and I have not had to give her the Zymox since Nov 25.
So here's what I know so far:
She is most likely allergic to chicken and/or peas (roommate's food had chicken and peas, Instinct has peas)
She might also have an allergy to rabbit or pork (the regular Instinct rabbit is a mix...yes, I am not smart for not realizing that to begin with)
Her ears currently have some dark wax/gunk, but the inflammation is not bad and she isn't shaking her head/scratching nearly as much. Acne isn't terrible but not great either.
Here are my next steps:
I'm not super happy with the ingredient list on the Instinct (why are peas in everything??), so I ordered Dr. Elsey's beef Cleanprotein, along with Meat Mates beef freeze dried to use as a topper when she starts to get fussy about her meals.
I will keep her on beef only for another 6 weeks assuming no worsening of symptoms, then begin a trial of turkey (another novel protein)
I've ordered a package of U-stew to start making her food myself, since I can both make foods with a better protein to fat ratio and it will hopefully make trying out new foods easier in the future.
Her next appointment at the vet is Dec 11. We'll be doing another set of blood work to prep for a teeth cleaning. She's got gingivitis that needs to get taken care of, and while I do want to start brushing her teeth it's likely to be a couple of months before she lets me get in her mouth on a regular basis.
I've read everything I can find about allergies, ear infections, making my own food, food transitions...basically all I could get my hands on here and elsewhere since this saga began. Thank you everyone for your help, and hopefully my floundering helps someone else who might be going through a similar issue!
I adopted my wonderful 4 y/o Siamese tortie mix Frida in Feb of this year. I originally had her on grain-free salmon dry food (ignorance, your name is me), but did supplement with a variety of wet foods and eventually transitioned to wet only. In April, she got an ear infection (cytology confirmed yeast) that just would not go away. After repeated treatments of Mometamax and a round of steroid pills, the infection was barely budging. She also developed a pretty bad case of chin acne. And through it all, she was in so much discomfort/pain because whenever she itches she scratches herself raw
The vet thought it was most likely food allergies (her blood work and poop tests were normal), and on her recommendation I put Frida on Hills z/d in June, but didn't see any real improvement, even with two rounds of steroid injections (no side effects from those, thank goodness). After all that, I found out she had been sneaking in and eating my roommate's cat's dry food! We now have complete food separation in place. By the start of Nov, her infection had basically gone, so I decided it was time to start moving her back to "real" food. She hated the z/d; basically ate it because she won't *completely* starve herself, and that food is expensive for how awful it is ($75 every 12 days).
I first started Frida on Instinct Rabbit, since she was a big fan of their rabbit toppers prior to the z/d and I thought it was likely she had a chicken allergy. She was such a happy camper...for 4 days. Then her ear infection came back with a vengeance! So I made the switch over to Instinct beef (novel protein) while treating her ear with Zymox to control the yeast and itchiness. She's been on 100% Instinct beef since Nov 18, and I have not had to give her the Zymox since Nov 25.
So here's what I know so far:
She is most likely allergic to chicken and/or peas (roommate's food had chicken and peas, Instinct has peas)
She might also have an allergy to rabbit or pork (the regular Instinct rabbit is a mix...yes, I am not smart for not realizing that to begin with)
Her ears currently have some dark wax/gunk, but the inflammation is not bad and she isn't shaking her head/scratching nearly as much. Acne isn't terrible but not great either.
Here are my next steps:
I'm not super happy with the ingredient list on the Instinct (why are peas in everything??), so I ordered Dr. Elsey's beef Cleanprotein, along with Meat Mates beef freeze dried to use as a topper when she starts to get fussy about her meals.
I will keep her on beef only for another 6 weeks assuming no worsening of symptoms, then begin a trial of turkey (another novel protein)
I've ordered a package of U-stew to start making her food myself, since I can both make foods with a better protein to fat ratio and it will hopefully make trying out new foods easier in the future.
Her next appointment at the vet is Dec 11. We'll be doing another set of blood work to prep for a teeth cleaning. She's got gingivitis that needs to get taken care of, and while I do want to start brushing her teeth it's likely to be a couple of months before she lets me get in her mouth on a regular basis.
I've read everything I can find about allergies, ear infections, making my own food, food transitions...basically all I could get my hands on here and elsewhere since this saga began. Thank you everyone for your help, and hopefully my floundering helps someone else who might be going through a similar issue!
