Omitting Egg Yolk from Ground Raw

[abby2932]

I'm having a problem with my cat Malibu and his food allergies. He has never had an allergy when he was on a canned diet before we started raw in June 2014. Nowadays, I feel like he is allergic to every single protein. You guys might remember me trying to find answers for this for a while now. It has been very stressful.

In the very beginning of our raw transition I found he was intolerant to red meat. So I only fed him poultry and rabbit. After a while, he started having poultry allergies and a very bad flare from quail and chicken.

I have recently been feeding him only rabbit and now he is having a bad allergic reaction to the rabbit as well. When I say "allergic reaction" I'm referring to intense itching, hair loss, hot spots and scabs (from scratching).

The only common denominator that I can tell is that I use Alnutrin for all of his ground raw which has egg yolk. I also give him an extra raw yolk a week. However, I have eliminated the extra yolk for a few weeks now so the only yolk he gets is from the Alnutrin.

I'm thinking about omitting the Alnutrin entirely and using the recipe from catinfo.org minus the egg yolks. It is basically a chub of ground meat/bone/organ mixed with vitamin E, vitamin B, krill oil and taurine.

She mentions in her instructions that it is fine to omit the yolks but I'm just wondering if there would be any negatives to that? I know they are extremely nutritious but if he is in fact allergic to them, I have to know.

I almost am to the point where I wonder if he should just go back on a canned food diet since he didn't have problems with that before but I feel like raw would be so much healthier long term.

Is it possible for a cat to be allergic to all raw proteins but not cooked proteins? I have only heard the opposite...that cats are allergic to things in their cooked form but OK in raw form.

Just looking for some advice!

Thanks in advance

 

[lisamarie12]

I'm sorry you've been having these problems, with Malibu, I empathize, I've had a similar problem with my little guy and wondering if it's the egg yolk in RadCat, he's allergic to chicken.

I think if I were you I would try Dr. Pierson's recipe supplement without the egg - she wouldn't offer up the suggestion if she felt that omitting the egg yolks would make the homemade diet deficient.

I also don't think that raw proteins would be any more hyper-allergenic than denatured, cooked proteins. There are some cats that can't eat any e.g., processed chicken - kibble, canned or homecooked, but they do fine on raw. There are other cats that can't tolerate any kind of chicken, even raw chicken.

There are some cats/ dogs that are allergic to both chicken and eggs (there is one theory about eggs in vaccines and some animals becoming sensitive to chicken/eggs).

I'm not sure how long it takes also for the offending protein to be eliminated from kitty's body, you might have to give it a bit of time.

Btw, do you remember, when you were feeding canned food to Malibu, if he ever ate canned with eggs, dried egg product, etc., and if so, did he have a reaction?

Good luck with this.

 

[abby2932]

Thanks for the response...

When he was on a canned diet, he ate Wellness Core and Merrick Grain Free formulas. He would eat many flavors including Chicken, Turkey, Beef, Venison, Lamb, Quail, etc. The Merrick does have dried egg product and he has never had a reaction like this as he is having to the raw diet.  He has never had a reaction at all on a canned diet. 

I don't know if it's just a coincidence? Maybe he would have started having allergies on his canned diet anyway? I can't even imagine why he would be having such a bad response to a raw diet, it just doesn't make sense to me. I picked up a week's worth of Nature's Variety Instinct LID Turkey canned cat food. I really just want him to heal up from these allergies completely and then I will make a new batch of raw without egg yolks.

I have a 3lb chub of Llama (meat/bone/organ) from Hare Today. He has never had llama before so it is completely novel. I'll just add the proper amount of supplements instructed by Dr. Lisa Pierson on her website (Vitamin B, Vitamin E, Taurine & Krill oil) and introduce it slowly and see what happens. 

 

[lisamarie12]

 
I don't know if it's just a coincidence? Maybe he would have started having allergies on his canned diet anyway? I can't even imagine why he would be having such a bad response to a raw diet, it just doesn't make sense to me. I picked up a week's worth of Nature's Variety Instinct LID Turkey canned cat food. I really just want him to heal up from these allergies completely and then I will make a new batch of raw without egg yolks.

I have a 3lb chub of Llama (meat/bone/organ) from Hare Today. He has never had llama before so it is completely novel. I'll just add the proper amount of supplements instructed by Dr. Lisa Pierson on her website (Vitamin B, Vitamin E, Taurine & Krill oil) and introduce it slowly and see what happens. 

It can be difficult to track down the cause sometimes. It does seem a bit odd though since it's usually the other way around - the allergies may begin with the processed foods and sometimes clear up with raw.

It'll be a process of elimination though and it sounds like you have a good plan. First kitty must heal. See how he does on the LID turkey and then revisit raw w/o the eggs once he's healed.

If the turkey doesn't work out, you may want to look into Mauri - they have some novel proteins, e.g., brushtail (rich in omega 3 and high protein), as well as goat and kangaroo.

Both my cats are loving the kangaroo.

Could it also maybe be a reaction to something environmental? Has anything changed in your home or maybe Malibu is now sensitive to something that didn't bother him before?

As a last resort, if in the next month or so things don't clear up, you could see about maybe getting him allergy tested.  I know it's expensive and not always accurate (I've heard about 80% accuracy and prices vary - our vet charges $400 for both a food and environmental allergy panel) but it may be helpful.

Well, one step at a time, see how it goes with the canned and keep us posted.
 

 

[abbyntim]

I would actually eliminate the krill oil for a while and see what happens. That seems to be the common ingredient that was not present with the canned foods.

Our male cat Tim has issues with chicken. So far, I think it's cooked chicken and raw chicken. But he's doing fine on raw mixed with egg YOLK. I make sure to eliminate as much of the white as possible. White is protein and I suspect that would cause more of an allergic reaction than yolk, which is fat and nutrients, and little to no protein.

Tim has issues with fish oil, too, so I used krill oil instead. Things got worse. I found that if I use the minimum amount of fish oil, he is okay. Another member's cat also had severe allergic reactions to krill oil.

Something to consider. Sorry you are dealing with this.

 

[abby2932]

Very good suggestion, thank you.