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Owners of cats with food allergies, how long after switching to an appropriate diet did it take to see improvements in skin conditions?
- Thread starter vsvpflex
- Start Date
Ca you give us more details here? Many people here have done food trials, but they may be hesitant to reply here possibly because "appropriate diet" is really pretty vague. With food allergies, finding the appropriate food is the problem, and they say to allow at least 13 weeks between each food as you try different ones. With some of the foods you may not notice any changes at all, and with others it may take quite a long time. And sometimes it's not even food that causing the skin issues.
That's why more information is so important here. Things like what you have tried, what is happening with each try, how long with each food, are you "cheating" at all with any other food, etc.
That's why more information is so important here. Things like what you have tried, what is happening with each try, how long with each food, are you "cheating" at all with any other food, etc.
I have never dealt with it but it depends on how bad it is,how old your cat is,if your cat has any other medical conditions,is physically fit. Has your cat had any testing to confirm it?
Cat Allergies: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments, Diagnosis
We adopted our cat Buddy in July of this year (2022). Started him on high quality wet food since we found he wouldn't eat what the rescue fed him anymore. I used chicken & chicken w/pumpkin varieties. Took about 3 weeks for him to start scratching the back of his ears. I also noticed after a few weeks he started to seem to not feel well. (He came to us with health issues - bad constipation, and ear infection and yeast in his ears).
I immediately ran out and tried to find non-chicken canned food I could try for him. We don't have any fancy pet supply stores here, just one Petco and one Petsmart (and the Petsmart barely counts). In the meantime, I also ordered things to try from Chewy/Amazon/Petco, etc. Chicken is a top allergen (and fish) in cats, and we have had a couple cats in the past with chicken allergies. He felt better almost immediately and the scratching started subsiding gradually after a week, then after a couple weeks no scratching at all.
I think probably because I stopped with the chicken almost immediately after seeing his scratching and right after I noticed he didn't seem to feel well, that he recovered quickly.
The only place he was scratching was the back of the ears and didn't get to the point where he had any sores (his ears were were definitely irritated though - brighter pink than normal).
He now eats a rotation of lamb, venison and rabbit.
If you are sure its food related IMHO, I would eliminate chicken and fish to start with for a few weeks and see if there is any improvement. If no improvement or if your kitty's allergic reaction is bad - like open sores, etc. I would take him/her to the vet, might be time for a hypoallergenic/hp diet for a bit to see if that clears up the allergies, then introduce simple foods one at a time slowly to see how they are tolerated. If you want or are able to do more in-depth testing, then you could consult with a Dermatologist vet if you have one in your area. We learned a lot about allergy reactions. Where kitties scratch when it food vs. flea vs. other environmental. There are no allergy treatments for food related allergies, just food trial/avoidance. Flea or dust mites, there is no treatment other than "mechanical" means - vacuuming, keeping up on flea treatments, washing bedding frequently, etc... (There are now cleaning and laundry detergents for dust mites so you don't have to wash stuff in hot water anymore.)
While chicken and fish are the top/most common allergens for kitties, they can have some weird ones. Some kitties are allergic/intolerant to grain, thickeners in canned food, peas, etc.
Lets see...
Our 1st kitty Pepper - no allergies
2nd kitty, Nana - she was allergic to peas
3rd kitty, Tumper - extremely allergic to grain. He died from cancer from all the scar tissue in his small or large intestine (I can't remember, been many years) from getting sick from grain. We was adopted from a rescue already in this condition - the constant vomiting and scratching.
4th kitty, Puddin - very allergic to chicken and fish. She had stomatitis (ill when we adopted her). She was what our vet at the time said "exquisitely sensitive" to food allergies. We ended up having to raw feed her. This was well before any novel protein foods were available. I couldn't even use powdered egg shell for my calcium substitute in her food. She also had fall pollen allergies.
5th kitty, Nilla - allergic to fish and chicken. Moderately so.
6th and current kitty, Buddy - allergic to chicken and also has environmental allergies. He is on allergy serum drops to try to desensitize him to the environmental allergies. I am thrilled to know its most likely pollen. We back up to a 400+ acre nature conservancy area. Until we finally had a very hard freeze last week (when folks up North had that horrible blizzard), we had tons of blooming grasses in the wild area (there are trails back there that we walk on so we get to see it all), and other things still blooming. I still had gardenias blooming in my yard by the house until that freeze! Buddy is doing 100% better with the environmental allergies! He's only 2.5 ish yrs old, so we are doing the allergy treatments (Dermatologist Vet) to hopefully help him to not have to take steroids there rest of his life. I am also hoping its seasonal. However, I am thrilled to know its not dust mites. I haven't been vacuuming as much as I should lately - Holidays and work are just to busy. He had no issues.
I think the important thing is to not ignore it or let it go to long. (I'm not saying you are, I'm saying a lot of people out there do though.) Its easy to do if its just scratching or occasional vomiting, etc. Your cat's allergic reaction will only get worse and possibly have permanent damage done if its causing vomiting/diarrhea. Skin/itching reaction can turn into sores that can become infected. Cat's don't just vomit or have sick stomachs because that what cats do (I have heard this so many times. "Ha ha that's what cats do!".)
I immediately ran out and tried to find non-chicken canned food I could try for him. We don't have any fancy pet supply stores here, just one Petco and one Petsmart (and the Petsmart barely counts). In the meantime, I also ordered things to try from Chewy/Amazon/Petco, etc. Chicken is a top allergen (and fish) in cats, and we have had a couple cats in the past with chicken allergies. He felt better almost immediately and the scratching started subsiding gradually after a week, then after a couple weeks no scratching at all.
I think probably because I stopped with the chicken almost immediately after seeing his scratching and right after I noticed he didn't seem to feel well, that he recovered quickly.
The only place he was scratching was the back of the ears and didn't get to the point where he had any sores (his ears were were definitely irritated though - brighter pink than normal).
He now eats a rotation of lamb, venison and rabbit.
If you are sure its food related IMHO, I would eliminate chicken and fish to start with for a few weeks and see if there is any improvement. If no improvement or if your kitty's allergic reaction is bad - like open sores, etc. I would take him/her to the vet, might be time for a hypoallergenic/hp diet for a bit to see if that clears up the allergies, then introduce simple foods one at a time slowly to see how they are tolerated. If you want or are able to do more in-depth testing, then you could consult with a Dermatologist vet if you have one in your area. We learned a lot about allergy reactions. Where kitties scratch when it food vs. flea vs. other environmental. There are no allergy treatments for food related allergies, just food trial/avoidance. Flea or dust mites, there is no treatment other than "mechanical" means - vacuuming, keeping up on flea treatments, washing bedding frequently, etc... (There are now cleaning and laundry detergents for dust mites so you don't have to wash stuff in hot water anymore.)
While chicken and fish are the top/most common allergens for kitties, they can have some weird ones. Some kitties are allergic/intolerant to grain, thickeners in canned food, peas, etc.
Lets see...
Our 1st kitty Pepper - no allergies
2nd kitty, Nana - she was allergic to peas
3rd kitty, Tumper - extremely allergic to grain. He died from cancer from all the scar tissue in his small or large intestine (I can't remember, been many years) from getting sick from grain. We was adopted from a rescue already in this condition - the constant vomiting and scratching.
4th kitty, Puddin - very allergic to chicken and fish. She had stomatitis (ill when we adopted her). She was what our vet at the time said "exquisitely sensitive" to food allergies. We ended up having to raw feed her. This was well before any novel protein foods were available. I couldn't even use powdered egg shell for my calcium substitute in her food. She also had fall pollen allergies.
5th kitty, Nilla - allergic to fish and chicken. Moderately so.
6th and current kitty, Buddy - allergic to chicken and also has environmental allergies. He is on allergy serum drops to try to desensitize him to the environmental allergies. I am thrilled to know its most likely pollen. We back up to a 400+ acre nature conservancy area. Until we finally had a very hard freeze last week (when folks up North had that horrible blizzard), we had tons of blooming grasses in the wild area (there are trails back there that we walk on so we get to see it all), and other things still blooming. I still had gardenias blooming in my yard by the house until that freeze! Buddy is doing 100% better with the environmental allergies! He's only 2.5 ish yrs old, so we are doing the allergy treatments (Dermatologist Vet) to hopefully help him to not have to take steroids there rest of his life. I am also hoping its seasonal. However, I am thrilled to know its not dust mites. I haven't been vacuuming as much as I should lately - Holidays and work are just to busy. He had no issues.
I think the important thing is to not ignore it or let it go to long. (I'm not saying you are, I'm saying a lot of people out there do though.) Its easy to do if its just scratching or occasional vomiting, etc. Your cat's allergic reaction will only get worse and possibly have permanent damage done if its causing vomiting/diarrhea. Skin/itching reaction can turn into sores that can become infected. Cat's don't just vomit or have sick stomachs because that what cats do (I have heard this so many times. "Ha ha that's what cats do!".)
Only 1 of mine has allergy problems with itching of the skin and she takes this oral fish thing. It took her only 2 weeks to start showing a full reaction to it. I do have 2 with severe food allergies that caused IBD. One took 2-3 weeks to stop his puddle poop. While the other was immediate. As in, 24hrs later she was suddenly hanging solid stool. This after puddles the 8yrs I'd had her. She was a neighborhood kitty.
I hear most of the time it takes 8-12weeks though.
I hear most of the time it takes 8-12weeks though.
