Hydrolyzed Protein Food Help!

[Shawna87]

Hello friends! My sweet Beau had been on a long journey when he had a rash on both of his back legs. I had tried many things and lots of vet visits before we put him on Z/D. The rash went away on this food however he did not like the food. I tried getting him the canned Z/D and he still did not like it. His vet switched him to Royal Canine Hydrolyzed Protein dry food and although he still doesn’t love the food, he eats it better then the Z\D. Before he was switched to a HP diet he ate a mix of BFF, American Journey, and Weruva. He also was on a raw food diet for a couple weeks and that was his favorite! He’s basically a food critic and appreciates well crafted gravy based food. It absolutely hurts my heart he’s stuck eating this dry food especially when he sees his siblings getting the wet food he wants.

My question is does anyone know of any other food that’s HP that they can recommend? Is there anything I can add to his dry food to make it more appealing like broth or a food topper that wouldn’t cause a rash flare up? I’m sure this isn’t possible but can I make homemade food that’s HP?

Any recommendations to make his food more yummy would be so appreciated! Also is there any treats that are HP or do not contain protein in them? Even human food that could be used as treats?

Thank you for everyone’s help! Here’s some pictures of my sweet Beau!

 

[gitabooks]

What a beautiful cat! I'm sorry things have been rough for your kitty.

If the vet has concluded that the rash was due to food allergies, have you tried an elimination diet? You only feed one protein type at a time. No plant proteins, no other animal species.
I say this because Hydrolyzed Protein is usually a last resort for severe allergies or IBD. Looking at the nutrients it isn't actually that healthy a food otherwise, with low protein levels, etc.
Have you tried single protein canned foods? Make sure they are complete and balanced and not just toppers.

You can try the same thing with treats or gravies.
With more severe allergies you do have to worry about contamination, so be aware that many cat foods are processed on the same line together and can contain multiple protein sources in them just by contamination.

 

[Shawna87]

What a beautiful cat! I'm sorry things have been rough for your kitty.

If the vet has concluded that the rash was due to food allergies, have you tried an elimination diet? You only feed one protein type at a time. No plant proteins, no other animal species.
I say this because Hydrolyzed Protein is usually a last resort for severe allergies or IBD. Looking at the nutrients it isn't actually that healthy a food otherwise, with low protein levels, etc.
Have you tried single protein canned foods? Make sure they are complete and balanced and not just toppers.

You can try the same thing with treats or gravies.
With more severe allergies you do have to worry about contamination, so be aware that many cat foods are processed on the same line together and can contain multiple protein sources in them just by contamination.

Interesting, I have never tried that. Thank you so much for your input! Do you have a brand in mind that would be a single protein with no cross contamination? I’d be interested to see how he would do on that.

 

[gitabooks]

I don't know which ones are contamination free (but I bet there are people here that do). Brands like Koha, Freely, and Rawz have limited ingredient diets though and a lot of people with sensitive cats use these.

Some people have good success with Stella & Chewy or Vital Freeze-dried also.

 

[lisahe]

I agree with gitabooks 's thought of looking into a diet that avoids whatever it is that's giving Beau his symptoms. First off, has the vet concluded that the problem was definitely caused by allergies? I guess the fact that Beau's rash went away is good circumstantial evidence but I suppose I'm wondering about other testing or evidence!

The hard part with diet approach, of course, is all the trial and error you may need to go through to find a suitable food. If you can find a food with a novel protein (maybe, for example, Beau has never or only very occasionally eaten duck?) that has a very simple recipe, that would be an ideal place to start. I particularly like gitabooks 's idea of Rawz since it doesn't have thickeners that tend to cause sensitivities. Unfortunately, not all cats like Rawz! Another one that's very good that cats don't always like is Mouser. Both those brands have duck and rabbit.

Sometimes the most important thing you can do is keep a journal of what you're feeding (and what's in it that you suspect of causing issues) and when symptoms occur. That's what I do for digestive issues, which need to be tracked a little differently from a rash since we have a cat who tends to barf if she eats certain thickeners... but the principles of the record keeping are still about the same!

Good luck.

 

[Alldara]

Beau is so beautiful

Here's some links that might help you.

Food Allergies in Cats | VCA Animal Hospital | VCA Animal Hospitals

Implementing an Elimination-Challenge Diet Trial Cat | VCA Animal Hospitals

my understanding is you start with hydrolyzed until symptoms clear. and then try a novel protein to see if the cat reacts, if they do, it could be another ingredient in the food. Called Limited Ingredient Diets (LID).

IF that goes well, you continue to add single protein diets. For example your vet might have you start with a rabbit LID. If that goes well they'll try another more common one. We did rabbit, then chicken, then turkey then beef. Two weeks of the first two and then just a couple days of each of the other two. Magnus didn't like turkey and he reacted to beef. Then we also added back in salmon, tuna and pork as tests which also went fine.

 

[Catlady528]

Hi, I just found this site while looking at Hydrolyzed Protein diets. But, I did want to respond about wet food. Royal Canin makes a Selected Protein wet food. They have more than one, but I know that Selected Protein PR is Rabbit since that's what my cat eats. I don't like that they don't put the ingredients anywhere on the packaging, but I happened to hear them say it when calling to the back to see if they had any.

It seems all the over-the-counter canned food, regardless of the flavor, contains other protein sources in some form or another. I got desperate to find my cat some canned food after we got snowed in and my delivery was considerably delayed. I ended up bringing home Merrick Rabbit, and my cat's stomach tolerated it at least for the week or so I needed to feed it to him. But, it also had chicken broth in it.

I was reading on PedMD about Hydrolyzed Protein diets and it listed the most common allergens (it said in descending order but all had a 1. in front of them so I guess all are equal): beef, dairy products, fish, lamb, wheat, chicken, corn gluten/corn, egg. Might help you in choosing what protein to try.

 

[Shawna87]

I don't know which ones are contamination free (but I bet there are people here that do). Brands like Koha, Freely, and Rawz have limited ingredient diets though and a lot of people with sensitive cats use these.

Some people have good success with Stella & Chewy or Vital Freeze-dried also.

Thank you so much!!

 

[Shawna87]

I agree with gitabooks 's thought of looking into a diet that avoids whatever it is that's giving Beau his symptoms. First off, has the vet concluded that the problem was definitely caused by allergies? I guess the fact that Beau's rash went away is good circumstantial evidence but I suppose I'm wondering about other testing or evidence!

The hard part with diet approach, of course, is all the trial and error you may need to go through to find a suitable food. If you can find a food with a novel protein (maybe, for example, Beau has never or only very occasionally eaten duck?) that has a very simple recipe, that would be an ideal place to start. I particularly like gitabooks 's idea of Rawz since it doesn't have thickeners that tend to cause sensitivities. Unfortunately, not all cats like Rawz! Another one that's very good that cats don't always like is Mouser. Both those brands have duck and rabbit.

Sometimes the most important thing you can do is keep a journal of what you're feeding (and what's in it that you suspect of causing issues) and when symptoms occur. That's what I do for digestive issues, which need to be tracked a little differently from a rash since we have a cat who tends to barf if she eats certain thickeners... but the principles of the record keeping are still about the same!

Good luck.

Thank you so much!! I was looking into Mouser and all their flavors have mouse in them along with another protein. Would that be an issue since I’m trying to do one protein at a time?

 

[Shawna87]

Beau is so beautiful

Here's some links that might help you.

Food Allergies in Cats | VCA Animal Hospital | VCA Animal Hospitals

Implementing an Elimination-Challenge Diet Trial Cat | VCA Animal Hospitals

my understanding is you start with hydrolyzed until symptoms clear. and then try a novel protein to see if the cat reacts, if they do, it could be another ingredient in the food. Called Limited Ingredient Diets (LID).

IF that goes well, you continue to add single protein diets. For example your vet might have you start with a rabbit LID. If that goes well they'll try another more common one. We did rabbit, then chicken, then turkey then beef. Two weeks of the first two and then just a couple days of each of the other two. Magnus didn't like turkey and he reacted to beef. Then we also added back in salmon, tuna and pork as tests which also went fine.

Thank you so much!! This was so helpful! I slowly added in Rawz rabbit and it’s been a couple weeks now and NO reactions that I’ve seen!! I’m so excited about this!! I never thought he would be able to have wet cat food again and my mama heart is so happy for him right now! Thank you!!

 

[Shawna87]

Hi, I just found this site while looking at Hydrolyzed Protein diets. But, I did want to respond about wet food. Royal Canin makes a Selected Protein wet food. They have more than one, but I know that Selected Protein PR is Rabbit since that's what my cat eats. I don't like that they don't put the ingredients anywhere on the packaging, but I happened to hear them say it when calling to the back to see if they had any.

It seems all the over-the-counter canned food, regardless of the flavor, contains other protein sources in some form or another. I got desperate to find my cat some canned food after we got snowed in and my delivery was considerably delayed. I ended up bringing home Merrick Rabbit, and my cat's stomach tolerated it at least for the week or so I needed to feed it to him. But, it also had chicken broth in it.

I was reading on PedMD about Hydrolyzed Protein diets and it listed the most common allergens (it said in descending order but all had a 1. in front of them so I guess all are equal): beef, dairy products, fish, lamb, wheat, chicken, corn gluten/corn, egg. Might help you in choosing what protein to try.

I’m definitely going to look into this! Thank you!!

 

[Shawna87]

Hello friends, so I was trying the Rawz rabbit food and he slowly started to get a reaction to it. It was so slow it was hard to tell and it took a couple week to start showing up but his leg is breaking out again. Should I continue the rabbit Rawz to see if it gets any better? Should I switch him back to his HP food till it goes away and then try another protein? Or should I switch him to another protein and see if it stays or not?

Thank you for the help!

 

[Alldara]

Hello friends, so I was trying the Rawz rabbit food and he slowly started to get a reaction to it. It was so slow it was hard to tell and it took a couple week to start showing up but his leg is breaking out again. Should I continue the rabbit Rawz to see if it gets any better? Should I switch him back to his HP food till it goes away and then try another protein? Or should I switch him to another protein and see if it stays or not?

Thank you for the help!

Take a photo of the reaction and send to your vet.
For Magnus they had us switch to a new protein. But we had good luck with chicken, the first protein. So we were able to go from beef back to chicken to let it clear before trying rabbit.