Transitioning Your Cat From Hypoallergic Vet Diet To Retail Novel Proteins

[Bel]

Hi everyone!

I am the proud cat mama of two boys Pounce and Ninja. Back in June my cats were diagnosed with food-sensitivities/allergies. I strongly suspected an allergy though. I know that full blown allergies to a protein are more rare then sensitivities but since my cats have had issues with chicken since they were kittens I sort of just knew that chicken was an issue even if it wasn't an allergy. Long story short they were on a vet diet for closer to 12-weeks to address their issues.
Once, I was okay'ed by the vet I gave my cats Performatrin Ultra beef formula, this was combined with a hydrolyzed+ urinary so dry formula suggested by the vet's receptionist. I was really excited to try this vet food because it seemed like a good alternative then what I was paying for with the vet hypoallergic wet food which was costing me $75 every 5 days. I noticed within 3 days of introducing the beef that my cats seemed lethargic and then one of them puked quite a bit. So I stopped the beef and kept them on the hypoallergic wet food + the hydrolyzed + urinary dry (still transitioning it slowly).

A few days later I reproached with Natural Balance L.I.D. Salmon. This time my cats weren't
lethargic for the week they were on it but then in the wee hours Saturday (I suspect Ninja) puked a large amount of food with blood. The thing is my cats have vomited blood with allergies before so I was definitely concerned but we've dealt with this issue quite a few times for me to know what steps to try. So I thought 'okay he's reacting poorly' so let's try and see if he can eat the dry food at least. So I soaked it till it was wet and thought it we could 'reset' like we had on the wet hypoallergic food. And since they'd been on the dry food for a week and half it seemed like it would be safe.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The hydrolyzed protein made both cats sick. Ninja was puking up blood the two other times I gave it to him that day. And finally I just decided to go with trying the Natural Balance L.I.D. Duck formula. I knew it would be a bit of a stretch because a) they had both been sick by Sunday with that dry food, and b) even though it was the same brand it was a change in protein.

Since, then I've been giving them small amounts of the duck formula. I'm reluctant to give them the hydrolyzed protein since it caused problems in my other cat who wasn't getting sick and I'm not sure if Ninja was reacting so violently to salmon or to the dry food (it could have been both). Since doing this he's been sick about twice but only about a tsp and only hours after eating it.

On the side I've been supplementing with a high calorie paste which they've been able to ingest. (but the obvious can't be a permanent solution)

I know that trying the duck so quickly was a bit of a shock to their system though. And if I have transitioned them too quickly onto it will they adjust? Or will Ninja's reaction to it get worse? If I keep him on it longer. Allergies are tricky so I'm trying to find out if his reaction to this food is because he's not tolerating the formula because it's so new or if he just won't adjust.
I'm very reluctant to put him back on the hydrolyzed dry food or salmon since one of them (maybe even both) is making him so violently ill. And Part of me also wonders if anyone knows if a cat can have a reaction to hydrolyzed protein diets?

I'll probably be contacting my vet as well to get a gage for what he thinks of the situation.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

That's the thing about food allergies/sensitivities. You are not supposed to feed anything but the ONE food to figure out what works or doesn't. Since you have switched up their foods kind of frequently (from what I think I'm reading), it's hard to figure out what is causing the issues . I think you're just going to have to go by trial and error as to what works. You can start again from scratch I guess.

If the hydrolyzed protein diet does work, you might be able to get it much less expensive via the internet. It may require a prescription from your Vet, but that should be easy enough to obtain. As to whether or not a cat can have a reaction to it, I honestly don't know.

 

[Bel]

Hi everyone!

I am the proud cat mama of two boys Pounce and Ninja. Back in June my cats were diagnosed with food-sensitivities/allergies. I strongly suspected an allergy though. I know that full blown allergies to a protein are more rare then sensitivities but since my cats have had issues with chicken since they were kittens I sort of just knew that chicken was an issue even if it wasn't an allergy. Long story short they were on a vet diet for closer to 12-weeks to address their issues.
Once, I was okay'ed by the vet I gave my cats Performatrin Ultra beef formula, this was combined with a hydrolyzed+ urinary so dry formula suggested by the vet's receptionist. I was really excited to try this vet food because it seemed like a good alternative then what I was paying for with the vet hypoallergic wet food which was costing me $75 every 5 days. I noticed within 3 days of introducing the beef that my cats seemed lethargic and then one of them puked quite a bit. So I stopped the beef and kept them on the hypoallergic wet food + the hydrolyzed + urinary dry (still transitioning it slowly).

A few days later I reproached with Natural Balance L.I.D. Salmon. This time my cats weren't
lethargic for the week they were on it but then in the wee hours Saturday (I suspect Ninja) puked a large amount of food with blood. The thing is my cats have vomited blood with allergies before so I was definitely concerned but we've dealt with this issue quite a few times for me to know what steps to try. So I thought 'okay he's reacting poorly' so let's try and see if he can eat the dry food at least. So I soaked it till it was wet and thought it we could 'reset' like we had on the wet hypoallergic food. And since they'd been on the dry food for a week and half it seemed like it would be safe.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The hydrolyzed protein made both cats sick. Ninja was puking up blood the two other times I gave it to him that day. And finally I just decided to go with trying the Natural Balance L.I.D. Duck formula. I knew it would be a bit of a stretch because a) they had both been sick by Sunday with that dry food, and b) even though it was the same brand it was a change in protein.

Since, then I've been giving them small amounts of the duck formula. I'm reluctant to give them the hydrolyzed protein since it caused problems in my other cat who wasn't getting sick and I'm not sure if Ninja was reacting so violently to salmon or to the dry food (it could have been both). Since doing this he's been sick about twice but only about a tsp and only hours after eating it.

On the side I've been supplementing with a high calorie paste which they've been able to ingest. (but the obvious can't be a permanent solution)

I know that trying the duck so quickly was a bit of a shock to their system though. And if I have transitioned them too quickly onto it will they adjust? Or will Ninja's reaction to it get worse? If I keep him on it longer. Allergies are tricky so I'm trying to find out if his reaction to this food is because he's not tolerating the formula because it's so new or if he just won't adjust.
I'm very reluctant to put him back on the hydrolyzed dry food or salmon since one of them (maybe even both) is making him so violently ill. And Part of me also wonders if anyone knows if a cat can have a reaction to hydrolyzed protein diets?

I'll probably be contacting my vet as well to get a gage for what he thinks of the situation.

So since posting this I have contacted my vet. He has yet to contact me back about the hydrolyzed diet question but I ordered the hypoallergic food. I think the best option for all of this will be to 'reset' my cats for a week or two before slowly introducing the duck in a different flavour to try and deal with this issue.

 

[_spadekitty]

Some cats do have a reaction to the hydrolyzed protein diets and have to be on an even more hydrolyzed diet. I know Royal Canin has a "super" hydrolyzed diet. You'd have to ask your vet specficially what it is...but you'd still be spending a bunch on food.

My cat also has a poultry sensitivity, I don't feed any limited ingredient diets however. He eats Lotus pork pate, Wellness Beef and Salmon pate, and Canidae's Mackeral and Trout pate with no issues. His stool always looks good and he doesn't vomit. You may have simply switched their food too quickly and thats what they reacted to.

 

[jcat]

Mowgli has IBD as well as food allergies and can't eat chicken or any grains. The shelter had him on the hydrolyzed RC diet, but to no avail, so I took him off it when we adopted him. It was only after switching him to a LID with novel proteins and no grains (a German brand only available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands) that the awful diarrhea and inflammation ceased.

I now work at a shelter and see a fair number of dogs and cats with food intolerance, chicken (sometimes all poultry) being the main culprit, followed by beef. Although the hydrolyzed diet works for most of the allergic pets, I've seen a few where it doesn't at all.

Sometimes you have no choice but to abruptly introduce a new food, and it can take a few weeks to see whether the new diet is going to work. It can take months or a year to gradually test new proteins.

 

[hoodoo]

Just curious....what were the main symptoms for your cats with food sensitivities/allergies? I have a cat with runny eyes (for years), itchy ears and skin, plus frequent vomiting (no new soaps, etc have been introduced). About a year ago she began having seizures. I'm in touch with my vet who suspects she has the beginnings of IBD (a scan did show slight issues) and I have begun to switch to a duck wet food (slowly until she gets used to it). I'm curious to see if her symptoms match other cats symptoms.

 

[jcat]

H hoodoo With cats we usually see severe diarrhea, vomiting, and inappetence; itchiness is less common. Dogs exhibit the same symptoms, but generally there's extreme itching and very often ear inflammation.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Given that Rose was just diagnosed with allergies:

The main symptom she had was just incessant itching and scratching and licking/chewing---to the point of bald spots, hair loss in clumps and blood. She also had very dirty, heavily discharging ears with no sign of mites or infection. I did see some stinky and soft poops as well and sometimes she would vomit, but this was very infrequent.

As per hydrolized proteins---vet gave me that option as well but I turned it down. It doesn't make sense. We don't find a way to make people with food allergies eat the things they're allergic to and hope whatever we do to the proteins will work....we just don't feed them that food anymore. Plus...not interested in that price tag in the least.

 

[hoodoo]

Interesting. Makes me wonder if my cat has an environment allergy plus food (because she has excessive itching plus vomiting/early IBD symptoms......that's not even getting into her seizure activity). I might look to switch litter but that might be a stretch since I have two cats and they are almost 12. Not sure they will go in a box with a different type of litter. Worth a try though.