Kitten And Allergies- Need Advice

Athenaglaukopis

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so, short story: adopted a kitten on February, not even 3 days later we went to the vet due to some lumps in her leg, they told me it was nothing. Month or so went by, lumps grew bigger, went to another vet, got tests, biopsies and she has aesinophilic granuloma - linear. Since she is so young it is genetic, and it means that her immune system reacts attacking some skins cells when exposed to a certain allergen ( this is painful, bumpy and itchy). Vet told me to do a hypoallergenic diet, testing is not accurate to identify the allergen. So I though it would be good to make a list of what she was eating before I adopted her, isolate the most predominant ingredients, and compare with the diet she was getting at home until a few days ago.
The picture only show the dry diet most prominent ingredients. Also the vet told me it’s rare a cat is allergic to grain.
So here is the pic, I would love some feedback, suggestions, etc.
I also wanted to note that she eats wet food, fancy feast pate, lost of different flavors, but I noticed her having diarrhea when I gave her some fish treats, or wet food fish flavour.
So my main suspicions are fish, chicken and maybe corn (even Though corn is rare). I’m a bit iffy when it comes to chicken because she has been eating it on her dry food consistently, but I haven’t noticed soft stool when she eat it. It’s weird.
 

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LTS3

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I bet cheeser cheeser could help you out a bit. Her cat has numerous allergies to things in food and she keeps a list of everything her cat is allergic to and all that. It's the basis of the spreadsheet we put together: Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

Keeping a list of everything helps. Have you tried a limited ingredient diet in a novel protein?
 

FeebysOwner

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If you have compiled list of 'suspect' foods, could you talk to the vet about performing an allergy serum testing for those ingredients and see if she has a reaction to any/all?
 

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Cats can develop an allergy to specific proteins or other ingredients if they've been eating them for a while, even if they seem to have been tolerating them well. Buddy seemed to be doing quite nicely on chicken, until suddenly he wasn't. :wink:

Of course, every cat is different. But in our case, fish based flavors were definitely a no-go for a number of reasons. Then we were told to eliminate all forms of chicken from Buddy's diet. That was definitely a step in the right direction, but it didn't completely alleviate all of Buddy's symptoms. (For what it's worth, Buddy's immune system tends to overreact to all kinds of stuff and go haywire, so he's also on meds and supplements to help modulate his immune system and keep it all nice and calm.)

So per our vet's recommendation, we eliminated all forms of poultry/fowl just to be on the safe side, and tried proteins that we had never fed him before, such as pork, lamb, rabbit, kangaroo, and venison. That's where we really started to see some progress. Since then, it's been a bit of trial and error (mostly error!) to figure out what else triggers his allergies and makes his body attack itself. That's why I created the original version of this spreadsheet that LTS3 LTS3 and I put together, so I could be a little more organized. :)

If you're not already doing so, I would highly recommend that you start keeping a journal of everything you feed your kitty, and how she reacts to it. That might help make it easier for you and your vet figure out what your fur baby is allergic to.

Oh, I almost forgot. Don't underestimate other factors that could be triggering allergy symptoms. Our kitty has done so much better since our vet started him on Revolution. It turned out that Buddy also had a flea allergy, and once we got that issue squared away, it made it a little easier to work on getting the food allergies sorted out.

And if that was about as clear as mud, please let me know. It's been one of those days, and my brain cells have abandoned me for the moment. :wink:
 
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Athenaglaukopis

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If you have compiled list of 'suspect' foods, could you talk to the vet about performing an allergy serum testing for those ingredients and see if she has a reaction to any/all?
Is an allergy serum the same as a blood test for allergies? If so he told me they were quite inaccurate. :/, if it’s a different kind of testing I’m going to ask him about it. :), thank you!
 
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Athenaglaukopis

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Cats can develop an allergy to specific proteins or other ingredients if they've been eating them for a while, even if they seem to have been tolerating them well. Buddy seemed to be doing quite nicely on chicken, until suddenly he wasn't. :wink:

Of course, every cat is different. But in our case, fish based flavors were definitely a no-go for a number of reasons. Then we were told to eliminate all forms of chicken from Buddy's diet. That was definitely a step in the right direction, but it didn't completely alleviate all of Buddy's symptoms. (For what it's worth, Buddy's immune system tends to overreact to all kinds of stuff and go haywire, so he's also on meds and supplements to help modulate his immune system and keep it all nice and calm.)

So per our vet's recommendation, we eliminated all forms of poultry/fowl just to be on the safe side, and tried proteins that we had never fed him before, such as pork, lamb, rabbit, kangaroo, and venison. That's where we really started to see some progress. Since then, it's been a bit of trial and error (mostly error!) to figure out what else triggers his allergies and makes his body attack itself. That's why I created the original version of this spreadsheet that LTS3 LTS3 and I put together, so I could be a little more organized. :)

If you're not already doing so, I would highly recommend that you start keeping a journal of everything you feed your kitty, and how she reacts to it. That might help make it easier for you and your vet figure out what your fur baby is allergic to.

Oh, I almost forgot. Don't underestimate other factors that could be triggering allergy symptoms. Our kitty has done so much better since our vet started him on Revolution. It turned out that Buddy also had a flea allergy, and once we got that issue squared away, it made it a little easier to work on getting the food allergies sorted out.

And if that was about as clear as mud, please let me know. It's been one of those days, and my brain cells have abandoned me for the moment. :wink:
Omg, thank you so much for your response!
Her immune system is a MESS, so I have already taken away all old foods, treats and so and now we are trying her on wysom anergen, I listed the ingredients in the photo, but is mostly lamb meal (she never had it before).
At the moment she is also having conjunctivitis (started 1 week ago, before we changed her food), but because her immune system is compromised, it has taken antibiotic drops and soothing washes to get her eyes from sticking together.
So far I’ve seen her stool become more firm (we changed the food about 3 days ago), so it feels we are going on the right direction.


Do you have any suggestions of food brands, names, etc that I could check out in case that lamb doesn’t work?

Am I correct to assume that a strong negative reaction will be mostly present in her stool? (Consistency, smell, etc)

My vet told me that it would take about 6-8 weeks to see if the new food works, has this been the same for you?

Thank you so much for the form! I’m going to start working on it and a food diary! So far we intend to keep her on her dry and water, to be able to monitor really well if it works or not.
 

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s an allergy serum the same as a blood test for allergies? If so he told me they were quite inaccurate. :/, if it’s a different kind of testing I’m going to ask him about it. :), thank you!
That might be the same test, actually. I think I was mistakenly thinking of a intradermal skin testing - which is more common for non-food related allergies, I believe. See the article links below about both types of tests, as well as the elimination diet testing.

Allergy Testing in Cats - PetPlace

Cat Allergies: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments, Diagnosis
 

LTS3

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It might take longer, about 13 weeks or so for a food trial to have any effect.
 

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Do you have any suggestions of food brands, names, etc that I could check out in case that lamb doesn’t work?

Am I correct to assume that a strong negative reaction will be mostly present in her stool? (Consistency, smell, etc)

My vet told me that it would take about 6-8 weeks to see if the new food works, has this been the same for you?
Oh, gosh. Food allergies can be a little tricky, because foods that may be helpful for one cat may not be for another. And we only feed our cat wet foods because of his history of urinary tract problems.

But for what it's worth, we started out with the KOHA limited ingredient flavors, only because Buddy was in really bad shape at the time and losing ground pretty quickly, and that was the only brand that could tempt his appetite. Once he got the hang of pate style foods (he had become addicted to shredded textures), we moved onto other brands, such as Hound & Gatos, Rawz, Redbarn, etc.

Over the past few years, we've learned that for Buddy, different ingredients can cause different symptoms. For example, chicken makes him develop really wicked yeast infections around his nails, paw pads, and ears. Turkey makes him puke. Treats that contain shellfish make his face itchy, but he can tolerate stuff like green-lipped mussel as an ingredient in his food without any trouble. Some ingredients can make his chin itch so badly that he scratches himself raw. And so on. So in some cats, a food allergy and/or intolerance can be a bit complicated. :wink:

That's why I find it so helpful to keep a journal. I keep track of stuff like what I feed Buddy for each meal, what his pee and poop look like, what medications and supplements I gave him, what kind of symptoms does he have and what time did I notice them, what seems to make his symptoms worse, what seems to make them better...that sort of thing. That certainly makes it a lot easier to discuss our progress (or lack thereof) with the vet when everything is written down!

Our vet told us it would take about three months to tell how a food trial was working out. We've just been fortunate we've seen results a lot sooner.

Good luck to you and your kitty, and hope y'all get everything all sorted out soon and that she's feeling better soon. :heartshape:
 
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