Cat food for cat with allergies?? Updated

[saitou_amaya]

So a few months ago in the fall our cat very suddenly had these itchy spots all over his body and was chewing himself raw in places. We took him to the vet and she said allergies of some kind, most likely environmental seasonal allergies since it was fall and we live in the midwest. She gave him a steroid shot, which cleared the itching and spots up almost immediately and told us if it happens again, it is probably his food and not seasonal.

So here we are again with the itching and raw red spots. So I guess I’ll go out today and buy a different kind of food. But I have no idea where to start. Any advice on what to look for or possible ingredient culprits? Side note, I would prefer to not break the bank on cat food. He is currently eating Purina One Indoor formula. Possible culprits from looking at the ingredients could be turkey, corn meal, or soy. I’ve never had an animal with allergies so I don’t know where to start. He is the least picky cat in the world and will eat anything, so that’s not an issue. Thanks!

[findeight]

Just read the labels of similarly priced brands, avoid turkey, corn meal and soy. They are out there. Or just try a different protein in the P1 to start…like salmon maybe.

You could splurge on a bag or cans of grain free for a week to ten days and see if it clears…it might not be the food.

[China_Doll]

Soy is a very common allergen in animals. the use of pesticides in soy is above average. I would avoid soy to start with. you might be better off making a natural food for your cat.

[beowulf]

following… let me know what you find - we have a cat vet and i suspect is also allergic to food…

[ASB_Stars]

I believe that Science Diet offers some alternatives for kittehs with allergies- will check and report back.

[saitou_amaya]

We just got back from the store. I picked up a small bag of Purina Beyond Ocean Whitefish. It is a different protein (the old cat food had turkey) and is grain free. It doesn’t have any corn, soy, or wheat in it. It wasn’t terribly expensive either, $9 for a 3lb bag. I mixed a bit with his old food and he is chowing down.

Side question, I was looking at the feed directions on the bag and he eats way more than the recommended amount. The bag suggests 1/3-1/2 a cup per day. He eats at least 1 cup. He is also very active and not at all fat. But he is always hungry and eating. Is this normal? This is my first cat.

[sk_pacer]

1/2 cup may not be enough for an active cat and they will howl that you are starving them; does the bag give calories per serving?

Also, if the weather is cold, they want more - mine are now up to two large and two small cans a day, double the amount - so weather also affects them.

[Darkwave]

Our cat has severe allergies - she is fed Hills Z/D. (She’s also on a low dose of Prednisolone and daily Wellactin; in the past she was on allergy shots and Atopica; we’ve also tried the antihistamines chlorpheneramin and benadryl).

The Z/D is expensive, but it’s not a choice for us, since it’s what she does well on.

[french_fry]

Love Natural Balance limited ingredient food. A six ounce can is just a hair over a dollar if you buy in cases via Chewy.com or the like - so basically the same price as Fancy Feast.

My girl eats the venison one and there’s no dry version but most (duck and I think one more) also have a dry food.

[SpicyPRE]

I have a cat with allergies and have to avoid anything with chicken. It is very hard to find cat food without any chicken!

[french_fry]

[QUOTE=saitou_amaya;8487893]
So a few months ago in the fall our cat very suddenly had these itchy spots all over his body and was chewing himself raw in places. We took him to the vet and she said allergies of some kind, most likely environmental seasonal allergies since it was fall and we live in the midwest. She gave him a steroid shot, which cleared the itching and spots up almost immediately and told us if it happens again, it is probably his food and not seasonal.

So here we are again with the itching and raw red spots. So I guess I’ll go out today and buy a different kind of food. But I have no idea where to start. Any advice on what to look for or possible ingredient culprits? Side note, I would prefer to not break the bank on cat food. He is currently eating Purina One Indoor formula. Possible culprits from looking at the ingredients could be turkey, corn meal, or soy. I’ve never had an animal with allergies so I don’t know where to start. He is the least picky cat in the world and will eat anything, so that’s not an issue. Thanks![/QUOTE]

@DarcyW;8488345

I have a cat with allergies and have to avoid anything with chicken. It is very hard to find cat food without any chicken!

Mine is deathly allergic to chicken so we have to make sure our other cat and the dog all eat chicken free. It’s a nightmare.

Natural balance venison is our favorite (anything with wings like duck or turkey also seems to set our girl off) and we were feeding a little $$$$ Feline Caviar venison dry food that they don’t even like but we’re slowly switching to Taste of the Wild - pacific stream I think?

For a treat or when she needs to be enticed to eat we rotate between “BFF” (a weruva imprint I think?) tuna/pumpkin and tuna/shrimp and fancy feast tuna/shrimp. If you’re going to feed fancy feast be sure to read the label of every individual formula - while the whitefish and shrimp doesn’t have any chicken, the tuna and whitefish randomly does! We try to limit how much fish she gets so she only gets the aforementioned options maybe once a week.

There are a number of more expensive options but this keeps is under $2/day per cat.

[SarahKing]

[QUOTE=saitou_amaya;8488102]
We just got back from the store. I picked up a small bag of Purina Beyond Ocean Whitefish. It is a different protein (the old cat food had turkey) and is grain free. It doesn’t have any corn, soy, or wheat in it. It wasn’t terribly expensive either, $9 for a 3lb bag. I mixed a bit with his old food and he is chowing down.

Side question, I was looking at the feed directions on the bag and he eats way more than the recommended amount. The bag suggests 1/3-1/2 a cup per day. He eats at least 1 cup. He is also very active and not at all fat. But he is always hungry and eating. Is this normal? This is my first cat.[/QUOTE]

Grain free foods are often much more calorie-dense. Can you check the calories per cup and do some math?

[saitou_amaya]

[QUOTE=SarahKing;8488579]
Grain free foods are often much more calorie-dense. Can you check the calories per cup and do some math?[/QUOTE]

I looked at both bags. The old cat food has 398 calories per cup while the new cat food has 467 calories per cup. Both suggest 1/3-1/2 a cup per day. If we only give him that much he’d be whining all day. I will say he is a very very active kitty and hasn’t gained a single pound since we adopted him in August. So maybe I don’t need to be worried about how much he eats and just feed him when he is hungry? The vet warned us since he is a male neutered cat that lives only inside he will put on weight easily, but that hasn’t been the case yet.

I’ll be interested to see if this new food has any results. We eliminated a lot of ingredients at once: corn, soy, wheat, poultry. I’m worried though that now he is so itchy and red that he will continue scratching and chewing since it is irritated and we might need to take him to the vet and get another steroid shot to get things going.

[french_fry]

[QUOTE=saitou_amaya;8488590]
I looked at both bags. The old cat food has 398 calories per cup while the new cat food has 467 calories per cup. Both suggest 1/3-1/2 a cup per day. If we only give him that much he’d be whining all day. I will say he is a very very active kitty and hasn’t gained a single pound since we adopted him in August. So maybe I don’t need to be worried about how much he eats and just feed him when he is hungry? The vet warned us since he is a male neutered cat that lives only inside he will put on weight easily, but that hasn’t been the case yet.

I’ll be interested to see if this new food has any results. We eliminated a lot of ingredients at once: corn, soy, wheat, poultry. I’m worried though that now he is so itchy and red that he will continue scratching and chewing since it is irritated and we might need to take him to the vet and get another steroid shot to get things going.[/QUOTE]

Ask your vet (of course!) but some benadryl could help.

[Darkwave]

[QUOTE=french fry;8488603]
Ask your vet (of course!) but some benadryl could help.[/QUOTE]

Benadryl has helped my kitty at times, but the administration can be tricky. Oral benadryl is extremely bitter to cats, and results in a pilling battle and lots of drool everywhere - most vets won’t prescribe it to cats for that reason. Injectable benadryl obviously avoids that issue, and you can inject it sub-Q (as opposed to humans, where it needs to be IM or IV)

I understand from my sister (a vet) that most cats respond better to chlorpheneramine, especially when combined with Wellactin or another fish oil supplement. Again, for either of these, you need to talk to your vet first.

[Beckham03]

The dermatologists at work tend to like the Natural Balance Limited ingredient foods.

[french_fry]

[QUOTE=Darkwave;8488711]
Benadryl has helped my kitty at times, but the administration can be tricky. Oral benadryl is extremely bitter to cats, and results in a pilling battle and lots of drool everywhere - most vets won’t prescribe it to cats for that reason. Injectable benadryl obviously avoids that issue, and you can inject it sub-Q (as opposed to humans, where it needs to be IM or IV)

I understand from my sister (a vet) that most cats respond better to chlorpheneramine, especially when combined with Wellactin or another fish oil supplement. Again, for either of these, you need to talk to your vet first.[/QUOTE]

I crush it, mix it with some nutrical gel and put it on their paw. They generally ingest enough that I feel it was worth the effort…

[Ruth0552]

How old is the kitty? If he’s young, he’s still growing and burning calories. Once he hits middle-aged, like the rest of us he’ll start to beef out.

[danacat]

My sister has a cat with allergies and other issues. She recently started feeding her cat ‘grain free’ food.

The brand she chose was Stella and Chewy’s grain free, freeze dried RAW food/meat and fish. All of her cat’s issues cleared up very quickly.

Probably expensive, but it worked wonders.

[saitou_amaya]

[QUOTE=Ruth0552;8488794]
How old is the kitty? If he’s young, he’s still growing and burning calories. Once he hits middle-aged, like the rest of us he’ll start to beef out.[/QUOTE]

The vet thinks he is between 1 and 2 years old, closer to 2 if he had to guess. So we decided his birthday is April 1st 2014. Not sue if that is still young and growing or not. But he is very active still. Likes to run around the apartment and hide under the bed to scare us.