Possible allergies and a very fussy eater. Help!!

[srpjuly]

So I just adopted my little angel Henrietta (7 years old) about 2 months ago. The foster sent her with a bag of dry food (which I can tell she has trouble eating, possibly some dental issues since she drools and drops it from her mouth), and Fancy Feast Petites. I stopped giving her the dry food and she absolutely loves her fancy feast. As far as I can tell from my research, it's not the worst cheap wet food out there since it's mostly just real meat. Still, it doesn't list what "vitamins" are added and the mystery meat by-product gives me pause. I want to try to switch her to a healthier food, and on top of that she's scratching her ears raw so I'm wondering if she's allergic to something (I'm thinking maybe chicken, because her dry food was chicken and all the fancy feast still has chicken). But when I try to give her even a pea size of the new food mixed into her fancy feast, she'll barely touch it!! If I present it separately, she won't touch it at all and just waits until I inevitably give her her FF because I want her to eat something. Does anyone have tips for making this switch, or should I even bother? And also, any tips for novel protein foods that have a more "junky" taste like the fancy feast?? I've tried Natural Balance, Oven Baked Tradition, Koha and RAWZ and after a week she was still barely eating any of them.

 

[verna davies]

Try sprinkling a little Fortiflora on top of a new food, some cats go nuts for it. If you cant find a better food, keep giving her fancy feast, its better than no food at all. I would also have her teeth checked out.

 

[Margot Lane]

Chicken can often be a culprit.

 

[ladytimedramon]

She may also not like that particular protein. Ms. Crankybutt (Delilah) won't touch lamb, no way no how. She also won't touch a pate with a 10 foot pole. Thankfully she can have chicken, but no fish. My other cat Fancy is on a rabbit only diet. Actually rabbit with a little pork (Merrick Back Country and Instinct in the cups).

Have you tried Koha for an LID? They have a "shred" which is more like a ground meat in gravy. I was able to get my girls to eat it when they were allergy testing.

 

[lisahe]

The problem could be chicken... but it could also be fish: lots of Fancy Feast pates have small amounts of fish.

Which Fancy Feast Petites is Henrietta eating, though? Some of the "Petites" (like this "grilled chicken") have other ingredients that can cause problems: wheat gluten, corn starch, and soy.

Fancy Feast turkey and giblet pate is probably the "purest" (at least for our cats!) in terms of ingredients because it doesn't have fish or any grains. It does, however, have guar gum, which our cats can eat but some cats don't do well with.

All that said, lots of ingredients -- potato, gums, peas, and other thickeners -- can cause symptoms because of allergies and sensitivities. Sorting out what's causing a problem can be a bit time-consuming but it's worth the effort.

As for introducing new foods, our cats generally hate having something new mixed in with the old! I sometimes put new and old on the same plate (not touching, thank you!) and that can work. One other thing: have you been feeding the same new food (or even brand) for many meals in a row? Some cats (ours, for example) demand a rotation of food so their meals vary. It's possible that Henrietta doesn't want to eat the same thing for two meals in a row.

Good luck!

 

[Sarthur2]

If your cat is scratching her ears raw, she likely has ear mites that need treating by a vet. This is concerning, but is easily treated by a vet. Or, she could have fleas. Or both. Both would need treating and neither is a difficult fix by a vet. Once treated, the cats are more comfortable and the behavior stops.

Beyond that, feed her what she likes and will eat. It’s as simple as that. She’s older, she knows what she likes — give it to her. It may not be the best food, but give her what she will eat for now. If she likes Fancy Feast pate, let her have it. You want her eating.

You can also try boiling a chicken with salt only (no onions or other spices) and give her chicken shreds and broth with plain white rice mixed in. She may love this and it’s healthy.

Also, being older, she may have teeth that need pulling that may lead her to eschewing dry food because it is too painful to eat. Get a vet opinion. This is not uncommon and can be rectified.

Once you figure out what’s going on, things should get better! Keep us posted! Thank you for taking her in!

 

[Alldara]

S srpjuly 'meat byproducts' means also the internal organs, ground bones, things cats do actually need to eat.

There's a LOT of information out there on cat foods and not a lot of science to back up what people say.

Commercial cat foods have helped us to make cats the only pet whose lifespan is extended rather than shortened. Because of that, we have learned that some cats develop conditions over time from certain foods and we can respond to those conditions by changing the diet. Very much like people!

Cats are individuals and there's no "right" or "wrong" diet, except what keeps your cat healthy and feeling good. No one can really tell you if there's "good" or "bad" food as there are NO longitudinal studies that state ANYTHING for cats without medical conditions. (except a single 9 year study by Purina showing that their Purina Pro Plan Prime Plus is better than their old formulas that no longer exist as they moved most formulas closer to that diet)

My advice: don't stress about it and feed her what she will like. If she has an allergy, just check for the proteins that she will like and if it is allergies, what's she wont react to.

Keep in mind that it could be the chicken, or it could be an additive if it comes down to allergies (for Magnus, beef fat is in a lot of chicken food so that was the issue).

 

[srpjuly]

She may also not like that particular protein. Ms. Crankybutt (Delilah) won't touch lamb, no way no how. She also won't touch a pate with a 10 foot pole. Thankfully she can have chicken, but no fish. My other cat Fancy is on a rabbit only diet. Actually rabbit with a little pork (Merrick Back Country and Instinct in the cups).

Have you tried Koha for an LID? They have a "shred" which is more like a ground meat in gravy. I was able to get my girls to eat it when they were allergy testing.

That's great info, thank you! Yeah the KOHA I tried to give her was the limited ingredient Turkey (she'll only eat pates as far as I can tell), but I also tried the Oven baked tradition Duck (single protein) and natural balance LID salmon. She LOVES both the turkey and salmon fancy feast so I can't figure out what she didn't like about those. Do you think I should just keep trying other brands and/or protein sources? It sucks since those LID wet foods are so pricey when she doesn't budge

 

[srpjuly]

The problem could be chicken... but it could also be fish: lots of Fancy Feast pates have small amounts of fish.

Which Fancy Feast Petites is Henrietta eating, though? Some of the "Petites" (like this "grilled chicken") have other ingredients that can cause problems: wheat gluten, corn starch, and soy.

Fancy Feast turkey and giblet pate is probably the "purest" (at least for our cats!) in terms of ingredients because it doesn't have fish or any grains. It does, however, have guar gum, which our cats can eat but some cats don't do well with.

All that said, lots of ingredients -- potato, gums, peas, and other thickeners -- can cause symptoms because of allergies and sensitivities. Sorting out what's causing a problem can be a bit time-consuming but it's worth the effort.

As for introducing new foods, our cats generally hate having something new mixed in with the old! I sometimes put new and old on the same plate (not touching, thank you!) and that can work. One other thing: have you been feeding the same new food (or even brand) for many meals in a row? Some cats (ours, for example) demand a rotation of food so their meals vary. It's possible that Henrietta doesn't want to eat the same thing for two meals in a row.

Good luck!

Thanks for your reply! She eats these ones:

[node:title] | Purina® Canada

www.purina.ca

She eats the turkey one, the salmon one and the chicken one since I was going through the variety pack she came with. They do both fish and (I assume) chicken in the form of the "Liver"/"Meat by-products listed", but it appears to be grain free with limited ingredients and mostly real meat. But that's a good point about the fish, maybe I'll try to get away from that too. It's funny because she doesn't seem to care which flavour I give her of this FF pate at all! But even a tiny bit of another brand that is 96% the first meat in the ingredients of the FF, and she turns her nose up. The FF all have guar gum so maybe that's something to look at too, and awesome tip about not mixing, I assumed that would make the transition easier.

And yes, I was giving her the same ones many meals in a row since I was trying to find a pure food/protein she'd tolerate and stick to that LID diet for a few weeks as an allergy test to see if anything cleared up, but maybe if I can find a couple she'll eat she'll get used to those and then I can limit further from there.

 

[srpjuly]

If your cat is scratching her ears raw, she likely has ear mites that need treating by a vet. This is concerning, but is easily treated by a vet. Or, she could have fleas. Or both. Both would need treating and neither is a difficult fix by a vet. Once treated, the cats are more comfortable and the behavior stops.

Beyond that, feed her what she likes and will eat. It’s as simple as that. She’s older, she knows what she likes — give it to her. It may not be the best food, but give her what she will eat for now. If she likes Fancy Feast pate, let her have it. You want her eating.

You can also try boiling a chicken with salt only (no onions or other spices) and give her chicken shreds and broth with plain white rice mixed in. She may love this and it’s healthy.

Also, being older, she may have teeth that need pulling that may lead her to eschewing dry food because it is too painful to eat. Get a vet opinion. This is not uncommon and can be rectified.

Once you figure out what’s going on, things should get better! Keep us posted! Thank you for taking her in!

Good points, thank you! It's not ear mites or fleas as she was looked at by the vet right before she came to me (for the same issue) and she's inside only, hence the vet's suggestion it COULD be allergies, but she didn't give the foster organization any specific recommendation for a course of action at that time.

Thanks for saying that about feeding her what she likes - that's what I wondered too. It's wonderful that she keeps up her appetite, even when she was very anxious first arriving. I don't want to cause unnecessary stress changing her food all the time either, but I want to make sure she has a good quality diet so she's healthy going into her senior years. She is extremely skittish and just coming around to fully trust me, so I've been dreading having to take her back to the vet. I'm trying to train her to like the carrier and be more comfortable with the experience, but I know she's been handled very roughly in the past hence her trust issues

Thanks for all your tips!

 

[srpjuly]

S srpjuly 'meat byproducts' means also the internal organs, ground bones, things cats do actually need to eat.

There's a LOT of information out there on cat foods and not a lot of science to back up what people say.

Commercial cat foods have helped us to make cats the only pet whose lifespan is extended rather than shortened. Because of that, we have learned that some cats develop conditions over time from certain foods and we can respond to those conditions by changing the diet. Very much like people!

Cats are individuals and there's no "right" or "wrong" diet, except what keeps your cat healthy and feeling good. No one can really tell you if there's "good" or "bad" food as there are NO longitudinal studies that state ANYTHING for cats without medical conditions. (except a single 9 year study by Purina showing that their Purina Pro Plan Prime Plus is better than their old formulas that no longer exist as they moved most formulas closer to that diet)

My advice: don't stress about it and feed her what she will like. If she has an allergy, just check for the proteins that she will like and if it is allergies, what's she wont react to.

Keep in mind that it could be the chicken, or it could be an additive if it comes down to allergies (for Magnus, beef fat is in a lot of chicken food so that was the issue).

Thank you so much! I'll keep that in mind. Don't want to switch things up on her while she's still adjusting if I don't have to. I'll keep trying different options in the future if the scratching doesn't get better.

 

[Sarthur2]

She may be scratching from stress. It’s possible this will calm down as she begins to trust you more. If not, she may need prednisone (it stops itching) or an anti-inflammatory such as Onsior to give relief. I hope she improves. Please keep us posted!

 

[lisahe]

Thanks for your reply! She eats these ones:

[node:title] | Purina® Canada

www.purina.ca

She eats the turkey one, the salmon one and the chicken one since I was going through the variety pack she came with. They do both fish and (I assume) chicken in the form of the "Liver"/"Meat by-products listed", but it appears to be grain free with limited ingredients and mostly real meat. But that's a good point about the fish, maybe I'll try to get away from that too. It's funny because she doesn't seem to care which flavour I give her of this FF pate at all! But even a tiny bit of another brand that is 96% the first meat in the ingredients of the FF, and she turns her nose up. The FF all have guar gum so maybe that's something to look at too, and awesome tip about not mixing, I assumed that would make the transition easier.

And yes, I was giving her the same ones many meals in a row since I was trying to find a pure food/protein she'd tolerate and stick to that LID diet for a few weeks as an allergy test to see if anything cleared up, but maybe if I can find a couple she'll eat she'll get used to those and then I can limit further from there.

Fancy Feast pates really are pretty decent food. The amount of fish in some of them (like the one you linked to) is probably small but even so, if a cat has a problem with fish, it could be a problem. (I used to feed a few occasional meals with small amounts of fish but stopped when one of our cats was diagnosed with asthma -- fish has histamines.) If Canadian Fancy Feast options include turkey and giblets, you might want to check it: the U.S. version doesn't have fish.

As for mixing when introducing new foods, it apparently works really well for lots of cats... but not ours!

This might be a dumb question but what, exactly, are you feeding Henrietta now? Is she only getting the Fancy Feast chicken? And if so, how long has that been her only food? I ask because it can take time for a new diet to work. And also because I'm wondering what the simplest possible food might be for you to try... I know I'm repeating myself but even though fish and chicken are often blamed -- and vets seem to suggest novel proteins, it's always the proteins that get the focus! -- our experience (and that of many others on the site) has been that it's the thickeners and fillers that cause our cats' problems. It did seem like our previous cat may have had problems with fish but wheat gluten (she loved the Fancy Feast foods with wheat gluten!) was almost certainly worse. And it can feel like it takes forever (even keeping a food diary) to figure out what's bothering our current two cats because so many foods have so many ingredients. In some cases (like cursed xanthan gum) I just get rid of an ingredient because of a suspicion that it's causing problems.

And having written all that about food and ingredients, Sarthur2 has a very good point about stress. Henriettta's still relatively new to your household and we've definitely found that changing diets can cause big-time stress with our cats. One licked her hip bare two years ago and we don't know if it was because of itching or stress. Composure treats (from Vetriscience) really calm her and she loves them; I think they're available in Canada.

Anyway, good luck! I hope you're able to figure out what's ailing Henrietta.

 

[Alldara]

Thank you so much! I'll keep that in mind. Don't want to switch things up on her while she's still adjusting if I don't have to. I'll keep trying different options in the future if the scratching doesn't get better.

It can take over a full month for the new diet to work regarding allergies. Usually you should try a food for at least 6-8 weeks to see if symptoms stop.

More like contact dermatitis timeline than hives timeline when comparing to how long it would take to clear up on a human.

 

[srpjuly]

Fancy Feast pates really are pretty decent food. The amount of fish in some of them (like the one you linked to) is probably small but even so, if a cat has a problem with fish, it could be a problem. (I used to feed a few occasional meals with small amounts of fish but stopped when one of our cats was diagnosed with asthma -- fish has histamines.) If Canadian Fancy Feast options include turkey and giblets, you might want to check it: the U.S. version doesn't have fish.

As for mixing when introducing new foods, it apparently works really well for lots of cats... but not ours!

This might be a dumb question but what, exactly, are you feeding Henrietta now? Is she only getting the Fancy Feast chicken? And if so, how long has that been her only food? I ask because it can take time for a new diet to work. And also because I'm wondering what the simplest possible food might be for you to try... I know I'm repeating myself but even though fish and chicken are often blamed -- and vets seem to suggest novel proteins, it's always the proteins that get the focus! -- our experience (and that of many others on the site) has been that it's the thickeners and fillers that cause our cats' problems. It did seem like our previous cat may have had problems with fish but wheat gluten (she loved the Fancy Feast foods with wheat gluten!) was almost certainly worse. And it can feel like it takes forever (even keeping a food diary) to figure out what's bothering our current two cats because so many foods have so many ingredients. In some cases (like cursed xanthan gum) I just get rid of an ingredient because of a suspicion that it's causing problems.

And having written all that about food and ingredients, Sarthur2 has a very good point about stress. Henriettta's still relatively new to your household and we've definitely found that changing diets can cause big-time stress with our cats. One licked her hip bare two years ago and we don't know if it was because of itching or stress. Composure treats (from Vetriscience) really calm her and she loves them; I think they're available in Canada.

Anyway, good luck! I hope you're able to figure out what's ailing Henrietta.

As of now, she gets a rotation of the chicken, salmon, and turkey pates. That's all she gets for meals (hence my concern about the quality--all these expensive foods have so many great added vitamins and not knowing what those are in the fancy feast worried me about if it's "complete" enough to be her only food). Before, she was getting the salmon one once every so often as a treat, but was eating a chicken flavoured dry food for at least a year before she came to me. Before that, I'm not really sure. So, it's only been about a month that I've had her off that and only eating the fancy feast. I will say, she has improved since I got her, at first she had a few sores from the scratching and now it's only on one ear that there's less hair, so maybe that is a sign of improvement either with the diet or stress.

It does make me happy that there are only about 10 ingredients in the food she's eating, but again, it doesn't elaborate on what the "natural and artificial flavours" are if that could be what's causing the problem.

Amazing tip with the calming treats, I will definitely try those! A friend suggested CBD on her paws but I saw so much conflicting info on that I was hesitant to try.

 

[srpjuly]

It can take over a full month for the new diet to work regarding allergies. Usually you should try a food for at least 6-8 weeks to see if symptoms stop.

More like contact dermatitis timeline than hives timeline when comparing to how long it would take to clear up on a human.

Yeah I remember reading that, and I wanted to get her off the fancy feast for that amount of time to see if it might have been something in that that was causing a reaction but I couldn't even get her past the transition phase with any of the new foods without her starving!

 

[lisahe]

As of now, she gets a rotation of the chicken, salmon, and turkey pates. That's all she gets for meals (hence my concern about the quality--all these expensive foods have so many great added vitamins and not knowing what those are in the fancy feast worried me about if it's "complete" enough to be her only food). Before, she was getting the salmon one once every so often as a treat, but was eating a chicken flavoured dry food for at least a year before she came to me. Before that, I'm not really sure. So, it's only been about a month that I've had her off that and only eating the fancy feast. I will say, she has improved since I got her, at first she had a few sores from the scratching and now it's only on one ear that there's less hair, so maybe that is a sign of improvement either with the diet or stress.

It does make me happy that there are only about 10 ingredients in the food she's eating, but again, it doesn't elaborate on what the "natural and artificial flavours" are if that could be what's causing the problem.

Amazing tip with the calming treats, I will definitely try those! A friend suggested CBD on her paws but I saw so much conflicting info on that I was hesitant to try.

Hm! A month isn't very long in these sorts of situations and that does sound like some decent improvement. I'd be tempted to take the salmon (simply because it's fish, though, as you already know, I'm kind of anti-fish! ) out of Henrietta's diet to see what happens... Sometimes they can take some of an offending ingredient but not too much. (It's like that with my allergies, too: For example, dust bothers me all year round but I have worse reactions during, say, ragweed season.) In any case, the FF should be fine in terms of completeness. And the ingredients in the pates are relatively basic, though the "flavors" always give me pause, too. With our cats, at least thus far, better that than agar-agar or xanthan gum, though!

Those treats are wonderful! Beyond the calming effect, Ireland will eat just about anything if I crumble Composure on it. She seems to have been overgrooming her front legs a little lately so I've been making sure to give her the treats. She's a high-strung cat and she and her sister have been tussling a lot lately for some reason we humans can't understand, so I'm suspecting that's stressing her out.

 

[Alldara]

Yeah I remember reading that, and I wanted to get her off the fancy feast for that amount of time to see if it might have been something in that that was causing a reaction but I couldn't even get her past the transition phase with any of the new foods without her starving!

I would recommend the Purina Pro plan chicken and rice if she likes cuts or the Purina Pro plan prime plus if she likes pate.

These aren't the most limited, but it excluded beef and cheese which can also be big culprits. Lots of Fancy Feast has dairy in it, so I'm not sure about what you're feeding.

We were able to move our very picky Magnus to that. I believe they also have turkey and rice and salmon and rice if you want to try not chicken.

Another recommendation is Iams Perfect Portions. Also more limited than some foods but not the most limited. They have both cuts and pate.

 

[lisahe]

Another recommendation is Iams Perfect Portions. Also more limited than some foods but not the most limited. They have both cuts and pate.

I was also thinking about suggesting "Perfect Portions" foods from Iams, Sheba, and Nutro! They're pretty similar and our cats love them. The three brands seem to be just different enough to give the illusion of variety; we feed two flavors/kinds from each brand. The pates do include guar gum and tapioca, though the tapioca can't be very high since the carbs are allegedly pretty low. At least some of the "cuts" have xanthan gum so we don't feed those.

 

[ladytimedramon]

I was also thinking about suggesting "Perfect Portions" foods from Iams, Sheba, and Nutro! They're pretty similar and our cats love them. The three brands seem to be just different enough to give the illusion of variety; we feed two flavors/kinds from each brand. The pates do include guar gum and tapioca, though the tapioca can't be very high since the carbs are allegedly pretty low. At least some of the "cuts" have xanthan gum so we don't feed those.

Both Fancy Feast and Blue Buffalo also have portion container foods. I can't use blue buffalo or sheba because the one who eats that is allergic to fish/fish oil.