Wet foods for cats with a food allergy?

[BigBurgers]

My cat has been eating Ultamino since the beginning of the summer to combat her food allergy. Over the summer there was a brief period where I ran out, and I decided enough time had gone by so I bought some Hills Oral Care chicken, but a few weeks later her ear infections came right back. Since then she's been on the Ultamino exclusively and her ear infections have subsided, and recently her vet gave me the all-clear to reintroduce over the counter wet food back into her diet.

Chicken is definitely the main culprit, but there's always the risk she has multiple allergies. Any good OTC wet foods you can recommend?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Ultamino is a dry food, yes? The problem is that it is hard to make comparisons between dry and wet cat food .Ultamino contains: Corn Starch, Hydrolyzed Poultry By-Products Aggregate, Coconut Oil, Vegetable Oil, Powdered Cellulose, Dried Chicory Root, Natural Flavors, and Fish Oil as the primary ingredients before the minerals and vitamins are added in.

It looks to me as if you need hydrolyzed protein vs. the various chicken items in the Hill's. And I think hydrolyzed protein in an OTC canned cat food is a bit more difficult to come by. So, you could also try non-chicken (novel) protein foods instead - turkey, rabbit, lamb, and beef for example.

Here is an article that talks about hydrolyzed proteins, as well as hypoallergenic/limited ingredient foods. It also lists some of the canned foods that might work when dealing with some of the most common cat allergies. It is a pretty good read.
9 Best Hydrolyzed Protein Cat Food in 2023 (petsumer.com)

 

[Alldara]

Limited ingredient cat foods would definitely be the way to go to start adding food in. A lot of brands have them but my understanding is that you want to begin with a novel single protein like lamb, rabbit or venison.

Dr. Elsey has some wet foods like that. Ziwi, though I find ZiWi just as expensive as the vet prescribed LIDs.

 

[syzygycat]

My cat has been eating Ultamino since the beginning of the summer to combat her food allergy. Over the summer there was a brief period where I ran out, and I decided enough time had gone by so I bought some Hills Oral Care chicken, but a few weeks later her ear infections came right back. Since then she's been on the Ultamino exclusively and her ear infections have subsided, and recently her vet gave me the all-clear to reintroduce over the counter wet food back into her diet.

Chicken is definitely the main culprit, but there's always the risk she has multiple allergies. Any good OTC wet foods you can recommend?

I had one cat who developed a sensitivity to chicken (feeding a cat mostly a single animal protein source for a long time will do that). I thought another cat was developing a chicken sensitivity too. After years of buying expensive novel foods, It turned out to be carrageenan, one of the gum's found in most cat foods. All the various "gums", rice, wheat, soy, egg, meat-by-product, any type of sea-food or seafood oil can be an Allergan.
It's a PIA, but I recommend making a spread sheet of all the ingredients in your cat's food moving forward. It def. could be chicken and you should avoid it, but it may be one of the additives, it's good to have the list if the issue returns.

To answer your question, "limited ingredient" foods are the way to go. Avoid anything with animal biproduct as it can contain chicken. It's usually not an issue with chicken allergies/sensitives but egg product might also have the same reaction.
When I was going through it, I started with Koha Kangaroo Pate (lim. ingred.) expensive but safe. Then tried Merrick and Natural balance limited ingredient wet foods...
Once I was able to eliminate enough ingredients I was sure were safe I was able to move onto non-limited ingredient foods

My cat that was sensitive to chicken had no issues with Turkey, quail, duck, or egg product, made things easy.

Performatrin Beef stew and Turkey stew are favorites in my home (no longer sold in my area, but can order from PetSupermarket.com)
Weruva Truluxe
On the budget side, Petco's house brand WholeHearted has a Morsels Beef Recipe (only get the Morsels. The Beef flakes, Pate, and Minced contain chicken for some reason)
I personally avoid tuna, but if you don't care about that Tiki Cat, BFF, and Weruva have tons of otherwise healthy fish options.

 

[ladytimedramon]

Can you find Koha? They have a full line of limited ingredient foods I've used when allergy testing my girls.

 

[tyleete]

Instinct Limited Ingredient Rabbit or Essence Ranch & Meadow