Throwing In The Towel

[coffeecat2420]

Ten days into the rabbit food trial (Nature's Variety Instinct LID, Stella and Chewy, Hare Today dehydrated ground rabbit treats) and I think I just need to order some Hare Today and see how it goes. I was trying to humor the allergist/dermatologist and mainly use a canned food (other than the Royal Canin she wants me to use) for the food trial, but there is no improvement. Octavia has been on 5 mg prednisolone for awhile now, and it doesn't really do anything - or maybe it does, and she'd be worse off without it, but I mean to say she still goes after her hot spots and is ripping open areas. She was put on Simplicef after two injections of Convenia (because the doctor said the itching continued because of infection) - still no real improvement. She is to remain on the antibiotic until her follow-up appointment with the dermatologist on the 18th. She has been getting environmental injections since March 28 - again, everything is early stage, so it may be too early to expect improvement. I just feel helpless.
I hope she isn't actually allergic to rabbit - I want to get a minimum order of ground rabbit without bone and some Alnutrin to try (despite expense) even though the doctor is not on board with raw/homemade. I am reading posts from more experienced cat owners who say they are concerned with meat-bone ratio in Stella & Chewy, so I figured I'd just jump to Hare Today ... Octavia so far doesn't like the Primal Pronto.
Any advice? Thoughts? I got her off of the Royal Canin dry food she was on when she arrived and on to wet food in December, but this morning I just feel more clueless despite my research and efforts.

 

[orange&white]

Well, going to Hare Today rabbit would be more of a "pure" food trial. Hopefully she's not allergic to rabbit, but if she does well on rabbit-only, then you could suspect peas (as in the Instint LID), or some other ingredient/supplement in the canned food.

I've never had an allergy cat, so I'm not knowledgeable on how many days a minimum food trial should last, but I would consider feeding her rabbit-only for those "x" number of days, even without the Alnutrin to rule out any supplement additives. (I would add taurine though. It's not optional.)

 

[coffeecat2420]

Yes, that was my thinking regarding the extra ingredients in the other commercial foods. Food trial is a minimum 12 weeks. Thank you for the reply. :-)

 

[huxleysmom]

I feel your pain! Huxley has multiple allergies (according to his blood test he can only have rabbit and pork). ng on for months and I am feeling helpless too. I have tried many wet foods and so far, his symptoms are not any better. He wheezes, chews at his paws, has yucky ear build up, scratches his ears/ neck regularly and I have now notice a bold patch of skin on his hind legs. He takes Zyrtec every day and I a trying to bring him down to 5mg pred every other day, but his wheezing instantly gets worse when I do. I may try to do 2.5mg of Pred everyday instead of skipping. I am hoping it contains his symptoms while still lowering the dose.
The problem is that I cannot find wet food that he will eat, and that does not contain something he is allergic too as he also has soy/legume and possible flaxseed allergies. Anything with peas and he will throw up within minutes.
I am currently trying Precise Holistic Pork (even if it has some turkey in it in the hopes that he will tolerate it). If this doesn't work, I will embark on the raw journey.

 

[valentine319]

My experience is my cat seemed to get allergies out of the blue. She's always had a sensitive stomach. Then spring hit and she started scratching and ripping out fur. She was on orijen 6 fish. She started pulling fur out. It was recommended to change her to chicken that still had 40 some ingredients in it. Nothing changed.

So then after she scratched till she bled we went to the vet. The vet thought it was food allergy. I then got her transitioned to natures instinct limited Turkey. That was about 3 months later. Turkey took months to show a change but I also added zrytec. I switched her to rabbit only in the last couple months. I really believe any food change will take months to see allergy wise unless it's something that really causes an allergic reaction. This crap is expensive. I know it's listed as a better ingredient food but i still kinda question how good it really is. At $32-35 a case and she's still pulling out fur, I'm going to transition her to raw. We are unsure if there is any cross contamination with these pet foods.

She's a gorgeous cat who hands me fur and scratches. She needs tummyworks probiotics so she doesn't get the runs and continually fart. She can clear out a room otherwise. I want the best health for her so we're going raw. After that I'll deal with any environmental allergies. I understand the stress you're going through. When my cat started scratching and pulling hair I had a friend telling me it was my cat needing Prozac. Nothing like being pressured by a non vet that you need to just put your cat on anxiety meds. You may get individuals trying to "help" with other opinions. I'll go with the simplest idea that a fresh appropriate diet should be what we should go with. I really don't think any commercial cat food is the answer. Zrytec helps the symptoms but it's not an answer for food allergies. Once completely switched we need to wait 12 weeks minimum. I'm thinking 1 year so they can have the right food to repair their bodies.

Sorry for the rant. Just wanted to share experiences.

 

[coffeecat2420]

My experience is my cat seemed to get allergies out of the blue. She's always had a sensitive stomach. Then spring hit and she started scratching and ripping out fur. She was on orijen 6 fish. She started pulling fur out. It was recommended to change her to chicken that still had 40 some ingredients in it. Nothing changed.

So then after she scratched till she bled we went to the vet. The vet thought it was food allergy. I then got her transitioned to natures instinct limited Turkey. That was about 3 months later. Turkey took months to show a change but I also added zrytec. I switched her to rabbit only in the last couple months. I really believe any food change will take months to see allergy wise unless it's something that really causes an allergic reaction. This crap is expensive. I know it's listed as a better ingredient food but i still kinda question how good it really is. At $32-35 a case and she's still pulling out fur, I'm going to transition her to raw. We are unsure if there is any cross contamination with these pet foods.

She's a gorgeous cat who hands me fur and scratches. She needs tummyworks probiotics so she doesn't get the runs and continually fart. She can clear out a room otherwise. I want the best health for her so we're going raw. After that I'll deal with any environmental allergies. I understand the stress you're going through. When my cat started scratching and pulling hair I had a friend telling me it was my cat needing Prozac. Nothing like being pressured by a non vet that you need to just put your cat on anxiety meds. You may get individuals trying to "help" with other opinions. I'll go with the simplest idea that a fresh appropriate diet should be what we should go with. I really don't think any commercial cat food is the answer. Zrytec helps the symptoms but it's not an answer for food allergies. Once completely switched we need to wait 12 weeks minimum. I'm thinking 1 year so they can have the right food to repair their bodies.

Sorry for the rant. Just wanted to share experiences.

No apology necessary, really. If you can try changing one thing at a time, that certainly is preferable. Two weeks ago I thought I had a lightbulb moment and switched her to spring water only. No real improvement, but I am going to continue with that for awhile.

Also, the food trial is now blown because I couldn't get her to take her pills, so I've resorted to whatever is necessary. Have not yet purchased a "pilling" tool as we didn't have the best experience when syringing liquid antibiotic after her big dental procedure in February. She is still getting rabbit for her main meals. I am going to use up the canned I have before ordering Hare Today (just trying to cap the expenses as much as possible), but I have my scale and I am doing my research on supplements.

 

[valentine319]

Please don't try to do a full switch all at once. You need to really go with a gradual switch with the raw or any really different food. If you don't there a high probably of kitty probably will end up with kitty butt blow out. My nice term for that horrible sound when their tummy is upset and they get in the litter box. You then realize it's so much worse than you thought and you're washing kitty and cleaning up the litter box and surrounding area.

I've had a very angry cat that hated well anything not on his terms. The only way i could pill that 25 lb angry child was to burrito him and put in mouth. A pill syringe took too long and he'd bite you in the face by then.

 

[coffeecat2420]

Please don't try to do a full switch all at once. You need to really go with a gradual switch with the raw or any really different food. If you don't there a high probably of kitty probably will end up with kitty butt blow out. My nice term for that horrible sound when their tummy is upset and they get in the litter box. You then realize it's so much worse than you thought and you're washing kitty and cleaning up the litter box and surrounding area.

I've had a very angry cat that hated well anything not on his terms. The only way i could pill that 25 lb angry child was to burrito him and put in mouth. A pill syringe took too long and he'd bite you in the face by then.

She's been on a combination of canned and commercial raw for awhile now.

 

[valentine319]

She's been on a combination of canned and commercial raw for awhile now.

I missed that. You'll be fine then.