Hydro diet didn’t solve the itching. Now what?

[Senewma2]

Hi everyone, I’d love some thoughts or guidance. Winston is around 10 (adopted, no idea actual age). Had him since 2012, healthy other than a couple food based ear infections.
Covid has been horrible for him. He has been sick since April, the most recent being 1) he is a DMH tuxedo, huge sections of his black fur have grown out gray/white; and 2) over grooming, mowing, and ripping fur out.
In July we went to a new vet and she said let’s put him on Hills z/d as he could have developed an allergy to either protein I’ve fed him (rabbit and venison). I think Hills is garbage, but I really wanted to know which protein I can feed going forward. At the time I was annoyed bc vet didn’t do skin scraping or flea treatment or anything. But I’m not a vet, maybe it wasn’t warranted. Shrugs.

He’s over 8 weeks into the Hills, and no improvement. His fur has thinned out and broken off so much, he almost looks like a short haired to me. He focuses the grooming on a couple sections.

he also consumes: Vetriscience probiotic, maybe 1 tsp pumpkin, Bach’s rescue remedy and homeo skin and itch drops (both put in his food).

could the corn in the Hills be a problem? Could the specific probiotic cause issues? Allergy to pumpkin? He went on the last 2 after his GI issues this spring. He started getting itchy maybe a couple weeks after beginning both, but I assumed it was the new food he was eating.

anyone have thoughts? Help me please, I feel like I’m failing him bc I cant make him feel any better. I am a bad cat mom.

 

[Senewma2]

Oh also, indoor only, we live in an urban high rise. Windows never open. never used flea treatment as I didn’t think it was needed? I never see flea dirt and I’ve looked a lot. Skin under the itching shows no disruption or color change.

 

[cataholic07]

I would switch to something like koha wet food lid. Instinct, hounds and gatos (has pork one) and rawz have novel ones to. Wet food though, but id stay away from dry. You can try freeze dried raw with water to. Hills is just crapp

 

[Senewma2]

I thought about trying koha kangaroo or rabbit, issue being I was confused about rabbit as that was a protein he ate when the itching began, and the reason for the Hills. At this point though I have no idea if he had an allergy to his old food to begin with!!

 

[stephanietx]

Have you considered going raw? That might help.

 

[LTS3]

It takes about 13 weeks of diet to see if it is helping or not. Yes, the Hill is junky so if you want you could just go ahead and switch to a better quality limited ingredient food. Lots of things in food can cause reactions: grains, gums, certain veggies, protein, fish oil, etc. Here are some brands to try:

BLUE Basics® Limited Ingredient Cat Food | Blue Buffalo
Limited Ingredient Diet - Grain Free Cat | Merrick Pet Care
Cat Food - Limited Ingredient Diet - Kohapet
Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet | Instinct Pet Food
RAWZ | 100% Rendered Free Cat Food
Grain Free Wet Recipes - NutriSource Pet Foods (not exactly an LID food but some of the canned are novel protein)

The blander the food the better. Rawz is ideal but it's pricey and only sold at independent pet stores and a few authorized online sites (Amazon is not one even though you can find lots of Rawz products listed there by third party sellers).

A raw or home cooked diet are options. There's a forum here on TCS with more info on those diets.

 

[maggie101]

I agree with everything cataholic07 said! My cat with a very sensitive tummy no longer throws up mixing in freeze dried raw as a topper. Also eats instinct and rawz. My old cat had constipation with z/d so she was on koha

 

[maggie101]

My cats are indoor and I have never given them flea preventative. First floor apt facing a yard.exterminatot sprays every week a d lizards live near my porch to eat the bugs!

 

[Senewma2]

Have you considered going raw? That might help.

I’ve thought about it often, actually. But he needs to have a tooth exacted and cleaning that I was planning to do once his itching sorted out, and didn’t know if the raw would be hard on that. I only feed him wet and dilute a lot with water and warm so it is more soupy. Would it be hard for him to...tear(?) raw food With a bad tooth?

 

[Senewma2]

It takes about 13 weeks of diet to see if it is helping or not. Yes, the Hill is junky so if you want you could just go ahead and switch to a better quality limited ingredient food. Lots of things in food can cause reactions: grains, gums, certain veggies, protein, fish oil, etc. Here are some brands to try:

BLUE Basics® Limited Ingredient Cat Food | Blue Buffalo
Limited Ingredient Diet - Grain Free Cat | Merrick Pet Care
Cat Food - Limited Ingredient Diet - Kohapet
Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet | Instinct Pet Food
RAWZ | 100% Rendered Free Cat Food
Grain Free Wet Recipes - NutriSource Pet Foods (not exactly an LID food but some of the canned are novel protein)

The blander the food the better. Rawz is ideal but it's pricey and only sold at independent pet stores and a few authorized online sites (Amazon is not one even though you can find lots of Rawz products listed there by third party sellers).

A raw or home cooked diet are options. There's a forum here on TCS with more info on those diets.

Oh man, 13 weeks? I’ve read so many differing durations on this. Winston LOVES rawz rabbit, but it is so difficult for me to find! I have about 20 cans stockpiled but I didn’t want to transition him to it until I found a regular supply. I’ll peruse online to see if I can find retailers. The boutique pet store by me carries it, but they get shipment non regularly as Rawz tells them rabbit supply is hard to maintain. Not cool!
Thanks much for the reply and links, I’ll look through them all.

 

[Senewma2]

I agree with everything cataholic07 said! My cat with a very sensitive tummy no longer throws up mixing in freeze dried raw as a topper. Also eats instinct and rawz. My old cat had constipation with z/d so she was on koha

When I first ordered the Hills z/d, I got both wet and dry. Winston was obsessed with the dry food, loved it to bits. Unfortunately his poop would never form (and it was HUGE) even when I would feed maybe 1/4 cup of it daily. I figured intolerance to the grain or additives and stopped it. He’s been on the wet for the 8 weeks, and that food is so annoying, I have to use a hand blender to make it a better consistency. Not a fan at all.

 

[LTS3]

Oh man, 13 weeks? I’ve read so many differing durations on this. Winston LOVES rawz rabbit, but it is so difficult for me to find! I have about 20 cans stockpiled but I didn’t want to transition him to it until I found a regular supply. I’ll peruse online to see if I can find retailers. The boutique pet store by me carries it, but they get shipment non regularly as Rawz tells them rabbit supply is hard to maintain. Not cool!
Thanks much for the reply and links, I’ll look through them all.

The Rawz web site has a list of authorized online sites: Where to Buy | RAWZ