Hypoallergenic (wet?) food for allergy testing

[gtw1980]

Hi all,
Hopefully this is in the right place:

Our cat, who moved in with us after previously living with our neighbours has a fairly long-running over-grooming problem that we've been trying to get to the bottom off.

Before we took over full care of him, it had become excessive. He was obsessively licking himself down his two flanks, nibbling his tail and scratching around his collar. Flea and worm treatments were up to date, he didn't appear stressed after moving into our child-free, pet-free space, but it kept getting worse, so the vet gave a 6/8-week steroid injection, after which he almost completely stopped grooming and his fur grew back beautifully.

The injection is now starting to wear off, and he's beginning longer periods of grooming again, so the vet recommended we follow a 'hypoallergenic diet' to eliminate food allergies as a reason for his dermatitis. Initially, we gave him Royal Canin Sensitivity Control wet and dry foods, which he loved, but we were then told by the vet this isn't hypoallergenic food, and is designed for cats with stomach problems. The vet has now recommended Royal Canin Anallergenic food, which is purely dry. We bought a big bag, and… he won't touch it – other than occasionally when fed like treats by hand.

He's also supposed to be given antihistamines, but if we can't get him to eat the dry food, we can't get him to eat take the tablets.

Does anyone have any advice of, preferably wet, hypoallergenic foods we might try?

 

[lisahe]

He's also supposed to be given antihistamines, but if we can't get him to eat the dry food, we can't get him to eat take the tablets.

You might ask your vet about a transdermal antihistamine cream, which you can rub into your cat's ears.

I'm not familiar with specific hypoallergenic foods so don't have any suggestions there!

 

[Alldara]

Many brands make Limited Ingredient Diets now (LIDs).

Merrick
Blue Buffalo
Instinct
Dr. Elsey

Those are what I can think off the top of my head. Each has different protein LIDs. You must stick to one single protein for at least 4 weeks to know for sure if it is working (my vets instructions?).

You get will have prescription offers as well.

 

[ladytimedramon]

When my kitty was having tummy problems due to allergies, the doctor recommended she go on a limited ingredient diet of either rabbit or kangaroo. I went with rabbit, using Instinct LID rabbit (make sure it's the limited ingredient - they have other rabbit foods). No more room clearing flatulence or poos that could kill an elephant. Now she eats a non LID rabbit because she refuses to touch pate. I can't give her chicken or turkey.

If your kitty won't eat pate, Koha makes LID "shreds" (it's more ground than shreds) but my other cat would eat them. Only problem is no rabbit, but you could try lamb or duck.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Here are a couple of lists of hypoallergenic cat foods, some of which were mentioned above.
Best Hypoallergenic Cat Food: 2022 Buyer’s Guide & Reviews (felineliving.net)
The 7 Best Hypoallergenic Cat Foods For 2022 - All About Cats

 

[gtw1980]

Thanks for the advice everyone. He refused to eat the dried hypoallergenic food the vet recommended for three days and wouldn't eat his regular food initially after that either. We've managed to slowly coax him back onto his regular food now, but he's still clearly itching.

The list of foods some of you recommended look interesting. Forgot to mention we're in the UK. Does anyone know of any good hypoallergenic wet foods available here?

 

[LTS3]

V verna davies would know of suitable UK brands. Take a look at the ZooPlus web site in the meantime. Any food that has a novel protein and few fillers is suitable for most cats with food allergies.

 

[verna davies]

Zooplus have several hypoallergenic wet foods such as Royal Canin, Kattovit, Concept for Life and others. It might be worth you looking at Katkin, it has had good reviews and you can buy a trial pack.

 

[gtw1980]

Thanks again for the advice. We bought some Kattovit Sensitive hypoallergenic chicken wet food and he definitely likes it a whole lot more than the dried Royal Canin hypoallergenic food we got for him before. It's been a week so far and sadly no change in the itching. Early days though.
Perhaps if there's no change after a month we'll try a different single protein wet food, maybe duck or fish?
It's so hard to know what to do for him though, really just shooting in the dark. Wish we could find a way to make the itching stop.

 

[Alldara]

G gtw1980 it will take at least 2-3 weeks to know for certain. Maybe more. I think it's a one to two month trial period before you know unfortunately


Fingers crossed that you find what works! It's highly likely that chicken is the culprit. Many cats and dogs are allergic.

 

[gtw1980]

Really appreciate everyone's advice and support. I'm finding the whole thing increasingly difficult. Seeing and hearing him licking and biting himself because he's so itchy is like someone pressing a raw nerve, it's so upsetting not being able to help him, and I can't switch off from the noise of him overgrooming.

He's lost a little weight as he doesn't seem to like any of the hypoallergenic foods we've tried him on as much as he liked regular food.

We have antihistamines from the vet to give him, but he's incredibly wise to us slipping them into his food either whole, broken up or in powder. Seems he can smell them a mile off. The vet showed us how to prise open his mouth and slip a tablet in, but that seems to distress him and tonight he point blank refused to open his mouth. If he's not getting food he likes and begins to associate us with harassment and stress because we try to force a pill down his throat, I worry he'll move on to another house on the street, or run away altogether.

At the moment it's hard to see a successful route out of this - the food trial is going pretty miserably, we can't get him to take antihistamines and we can't keep giving him steroid injections every 8 weeks, as that won't get to the route of the problem. I'm just so upset and stressed and sad for him.

 

[lisahe]

We have antihistamines from the vet to give him, but he's incredibly wise to us slipping them into his food either whole, broken up or in powder. Seems he can smell them a mile off. The vet showed us how to prise open his mouth and slip a tablet in, but that seems to distress him and tonight he point blank refused to open his mouth. If he's not getting food he likes and begins to associate us with harassment and stress because we try to force a pill down his throat, I worry he'll move on to another house on the street, or run away altogether.

I'd highly recommend (again) asking your vet for a transdermal cream that you can rub in his ears. We've used it for one of our cats for about a year and a half. She doesn't mind it at all, in fact she loves the attention!

We get something very similar to this: Chlorpheniramine Twist-a-Dose Transdermal Gel
It's a lot more expensive than pills but the convenience -- and knowing Ireland's getting her full dose -- makes it completely worthwhile. (We do use this drug, chlorpheniramine, which the vet initially prescribed because Ireland had licked her hip bare. She still takes it because she has asthma and allergies.)

 

[gtw1980]

I'd highly recommend (again) asking your vet for a transdermal cream that you can rub in his ears. We've used it for one of our cats for about a year and a half. She doesn't mind it at all, in fact she loves the attention!

We get something very similar to this: Chlorpheniramine Twist-a-Dose Transdermal Gel
It's a lot more expensive than pills but the convenience -- and knowing Ireland's getting her full dose -- makes it completely worthwhile. (We do use this drug, chlorpheniramine, which the vet initially prescribed because Ireland had licked her hip bare. She still takes it because she has asthma and allergies.)

Thank you for taking the time to replay Lisahe. I'm assuming you're in the US? I'm in the UK and asked my vet about this on our last visit, following your recommendation and she said she'd never heard of anything like this being available in the UK. Anyone heard differently?

 

[gtw1980]

I've also just found this, which does appear to be available in the UK and could help if it's dust mite/house dust allergy rather than food. Anyone used anything similar?

Allergone allergen neutralising spray

 

[lisahe]

Thank you for taking the time to replay Lisahe. I'm assuming you're in the US? I'm in the UK and asked my vet about this on our last visit, following your recommendation and she said she'd never heard of anything like this being available in the UK. Anyone heard differently?

Yes, I'm in the US. These dispenser pens are relatively expensive because they have to be made at a compounding pharmacy. Maybe if you were to send this link to your vet she could find something similar? (Ireland's is a cream not a gel but I'm sure either method is fine!)

 

[cejhome]

Could it be an environmental allergy? Do you have access to a Dermatology Specialist Veterinarian? We are dealing with both food and environmental allergies with our cat, Buddy. The food allergy manifested as ear scratching. We thought we had that solved with the elimination of chicken. His fur had grown back on his ears so I recently tried to add in a canned venison food (which he absolutely loves of course) to give him some variety.. He started scratching his ears again. Now we are back on the food he was eating that he is so so about (but will eat it) - Rabbit LID. His environmental is a work in progress - we went to a Dermatology Vet. He said that ear (backs and inside) scratching is a trademark of food allergies (not to say they don't scratch or overgroom elsewhere with food allergies), and that scratching and overgrooming the chest, chin, legs, feed and base of ears is environmental (pollen, fleas, dander, dust mites, etc.). We would have the same issue with hypoallergenic prescription or hp (hydrolyzed protein). Buddy won't eat dry food at all and he is picky about his canned.

 

[gtw1980]

Yes the vet said it could potentially be environmental, but wants to rule out food first, because the allergy testing involves knocking Percy out, sending bloods and skin scrapes to the lab and will cost £1,100.

Another difficult day today. He hasn't eaten any of his hypoallergenic wet or dried food and hasn't had an antihistamine. We can't force him to eat but the itching is still bad and we can't go on too long with him not eating.

I'm torn between trying to carry on with the hypoallergenic chicken food, ordering a separate hypoallergenic food minus chicken, signing up to Catkin, which is single protein but not technically hypoallergenic, yet very highly rated by cat owners, or giving up and just feeding him his old wet food that we know he likes. It's a nightmare. Feel so bad for him,.and not getting much sleep because the sound of his overgrooming kills me. Hope we find a way out of this soon

 

[Cat.mama]

Yes the vet said it could potentially be environmental, but wants to rule out food first, because the allergy testing involves knocking Percy out, sending bloods and skin scrapes to the lab and will cost £1,100.

Another difficult day today. He hasn't eaten any of his hypoallergenic wet or dried food and hasn't had an antihistamine. We can't force him to eat but the itching is still bad and we can't go on too long with him not eating.

I'm torn between trying to carry on with the hypoallergenic chicken food, ordering a separate hypoallergenic food minus chicken, signing up to Catkin, which is single protein but not technically hypoallergenic, yet very highly rated by cat owners, or giving up and just feeding him his old wet food that we know he likes. It's a nightmare. Feel so bad for him,.and not getting much sleep because the sound of his overgrooming kills me. Hope we find a way out of this soon

Hi I’m sorry you’re going thru this. If his grooming is keeping you up all night imagine what kitty must be feeling!! I would suggest getting the allergy testing and getting the allergy shots. I had a dog that had severe skin issues. We went way too long with things like cytopoint apaquil atopica etc before finally getting him tested and seeing exactly what food and environmental things he was allergic to. We were then able to alter his diet with Royal Canin PR. We also did allergy shot for awhile but stopped. Atopica is avail for cats you could ask your vet about that.
On another note I am starting a new journey with my cats regarding IBD/food intolerances. Like you the less evasive route is food protein elimination.My vet suggested hydrolyzed food. Hills has a wet food it’s the ZD. Unfortunately my cats are extremely picky and would not eat it. It is a jello consistency. I have ordered some RCPR for the next round. While it’s not the same concept, it’s the next best thing to eliminating.
The reason I suggest doing the testing.. my dog was like your cat. Extremely aggressive grooming, kept me up allllll night with his licking. With the testing we found out he was extremely allergic to things like peas. Peas are in almost every dog food! While it’s likely a cat won’t be allergic to peas, you get what I’m trying to say. And for us a round of the allergy shots came with the test. Couldn’t hurt to try and see if it helps right?

 

[Cat.mama]

Yes the vet said it could potentially be environmental, but wants to rule out food first, because the allergy testing involves knocking Percy out, sending bloods and skin scrapes to the lab and will cost £1,100.

Another difficult day today. He hasn't eaten any of his hypoallergenic wet or dried food and hasn't had an antihistamine. We can't force him to eat but the itching is still bad and we can't go on too long with him not eating.

I'm torn between trying to carry on with the hypoallergenic chicken food, ordering a separate hypoallergenic food minus chicken, signing up to Catkin, which is single protein but not technically hypoallergenic, yet very highly rated by cat owners, or giving up and just feeding him his old wet food that we know he likes. It's a nightmare. Feel so bad for him,.and not getting much sleep because the sound of his overgrooming kills me. Hope we find a way out of this soon

Also feed your cat something else. Don’t let him not eat.

 

[gtw1980]

After a couple of days of trying in vain to get him to eat the hypoallergenic wet and dry foods, we've given in and returned to the Royal Canin Sensitivity Control wet food (which the vet advised us isn't hypoallergenic). Pleased to say he's happily wolfing that down, although the itching and fervent overgrooming continues.
In the meantime I've been talking to Katkin here in the UK and they've recommended some of their single-protein varieties that don't contain chicken. So we're going to try him on those to see if he reacts well to another non-chicken single-protein food and the itching stops.
Katkin's reviews are extremely good so fingers crossed if chicken is the problem, this could be the route out.
I'll keep you all posted. thanks for the continued support