Frida's Food Trials (Allergy/Ear Infection from the Demonic Planes)

[Rylka]

Rawz is great, but prohibitively expensive for me to feed for the full trial :/. And I've been avoiding cranberries, etc in her foods. She did fine with the Dr Elsey's beef, so I know she's OK with agar agar at least. At some point I should probably get another freezer and then I could move her to 100% homemade, but that's a consideration for future me, haha.

 

[WMM201]

So far, Frida isn't liking the turkey nearly as much as the beef, but jury is still out on whether she's having a bad reaction to it. I made a batch of homemade, so maybe that mixed with the beef canned will entice her more than the beef homemade with canned turkey. And we still have the vet visit tomorrow to get through, along with her next vaccine booster shot.
In good news, we got in a very good play session today. Work being crazy caused me to slack a bit on these, so I'm happy to get to spend more time playing with her as it eases up! I read a lot about people playing with their cat for an hour at a time, but Frida seems to max out at about 20min sessions...I wonder if it's just age (she's 5) or temperament? Maybe it's me and she's just bored of seeing me drag the wand toy around the house I'm still on the lookout for different toys, and am thinking of buying one of those robotic toys that moves around, since she only plays with moving objects 99% of the time. Anyone have experience with those?

My beef-addicted cat has been told by the vet to switch to turkey for her GI issues, and I feel your pain. She also has bad allergies (her left ear was infected ALL summer and fall), so I feel that, too! Poor Frida! It's so hard to find turkey foods that don't have other proteins in it that my cat will eat. I've found the Stella and Chewy's turkey stew--comes in a little carton, NOT raw--to be something that she actually seems to enjoy. Of course, she'll probably change her mind after polishing off the first box. It's expensive, too, but if she'll eat it, I guess it's good for her. Good luck transitioning your Frida and getting that ear fixed up!

 

[Rylka]

W WMM201 Oh no! I hope her ear is better now. Allergy-caused infections are so damn stubborn. I'm not sure about the price on the S&C turkey stew, but Koha might be another option for you? They make a shredded limited ingredient turkey without peas and all that nonsense, and other limited ingredient options.
Vet visit was a mixed bag. Frida weighed in at 14.3 lb, but the vet said that as long as she stays around there it'll be fine. I'm still going to monitor her weight, calories, and try to get her more active because I think 13 would be better for her overall. But I'm not stressing over it as much.
No rabies shot needed! Since she's indoor only the vet doesn't recommend it. And her ears are "decent" lol. They wanted to do another cytology but I passed on this one. We've done at least half a dozen in the last few months and they've all been the same. I don't think anything would have changed in the couple of weeks since her last one.

 

[WMM201]

W WMM201 Oh no! I hope her ear is better now. Allergy-caused infections are so damn stubborn. I'm not sure about the price on the S&C turkey stew, but Koha might be another option for you? They make a shredded limited ingredient turkey without peas and all that nonsense, and other limited ingredient options.
Vet visit was a mixed bag. Frida weighed in at 14.3 lb, but the vet said that as long as she stays around there it'll be fine. I'm still going to monitor her weight, calories, and try to get her more active because I think 13 would be better for her overall. But I'm not stressing over it as much.
No rabies shot needed! Since she's indoor only the vet doesn't recommend it. And her ears are "decent" lol. They wanted to do another cytology but I passed on this one. We've done at least half a dozen in the last few months and they've all been the same. I don't think anything would have changed in the couple of weeks since her last one.

That's great that her ears are decent! It's true, her allergy eat went through several rounds of tresederm and BNT each before it finally was at a pretty good stage. I hoe Frida's ears stay healthy!

My cat is SO picky with her turkey food. She only wants pate style. She decided that the S&C stew is no longer delicious, so we have to try something else again. I tried a couple of Koha foods for her, but the pate was too fatty for her liking. She seems to like the Vital Essentials raw turkey Topper on her food (now anyway), and it can be fed as a complete meal, so maybe i will try to play with that. I wish she would eat the Wellness Core 95% turkey pate, but she probably thinks it's too boring! Frida sounds like she is doing better with her transition, and I hope it helps her allergies!

 

[Rylka]

W WMM201 It seems like a lot of the turkey pates are fatty! Maybe catfooddb.com could help you find some new choices? I ended up clicking through to the nutritional info on every canned turkey food chewy had to check ingredients/calories. Not efficient and I wouldn't recommend it!
We're still on turkey homemade with beef canned, though I just cracked the last can of Rawz beef today. After this we'll switch over to Dr. Elsey's turkey canned and see how it goes! Frida's ears are still the same from her vet visit, though the little scabs finally came off. I've been treating her for some chin acne and some irritation that she scratched into a big wound on her right whiskers. Thankfully it's been getting better, but it was a scary mess that first day or two.
I went to a cat show yesterday, and it was fantastic. I've become friendly with one of the breeders, and she mentioned that she had success using an apple cider vinegar solution on yeast-based ear infections in her cats after medication failed to eliminate the full thing. I'm going to try that with Frida, at the very least it will clean out some of the stubborn wax buildup.

 

[WMM201]

W WMM201 It seems like a lot of the turkey pates are fatty! Maybe catfooddb.com could help you find some new choices? I ended up clicking through to the nutritional info on every canned turkey food chewy had to check ingredients/calories. Not efficient and I wouldn't recommend it!
We're still on turkey homemade with beef canned, though I just cracked the last can of Rawz beef today. After this we'll switch over to Dr. Elsey's turkey canned and see how it goes! Frida's ears are still the same from her vet visit, though the little scabs finally came off. I've been treating her for some chin acne and some irritation that she scratched into a big wound on her right whiskers. Thankfully it's been getting better, but it was a scary mess that first day or two.
I went to a cat show yesterday, and it was fantastic. I've become friendly with one of the breeders, and she mentioned that she had success using an apple cider vinegar solution on yeast-based ear infections in her cats after medication failed to eliminate the full thing. I'm going to try that with Frida, at the very least it will clean out some of the stubborn wax buildup.

I didn't realize that so many turkey pates are fatty! I will for sure check out that website. My cat just does not want to eat any of the turkey foods I have bought for her so far, and turned up her nose at the S&C stew. I even made some low carb baked turkey treats for her (recipe is the catladyfitness YouTube channel), and show only ate two of them out of curiosity. Right now, she really likes having the Vital Essentials raw turkey topper, but only as a topper and not as the main meal. Fussy!

I hope Frida likes the Dr. Elsey turkey food. I may try to to see if any of my pet stores carry it so I can try several cans. That is so interesting about the apple cider vinegar treatment for the ear infections. That is something I will keep in mind for my cat, the next time her ears flare up. I hope Frida's ears get better with the ACV and that her whiskers heal up! That sounds painful and scary! Cat shows are so much fun! I always dream of entering my cat in the domestic cat category, lol.