Food allergies/intolerances in cats

[Becky]

Tell me about them... I think that our female cat may be dealing with one.

To make a long story short, she's our little anti-social darling. Easily stressed out, likes human contact only on her terms, and often tortured by her brother. When she started overgrooming, we (and our vet) drew the conclusion that it was psychogenic alopecia. But nothing we have done has helped to relieve her anxiety or the alopecia.

A few weeks ago, a thread here on TE got me thinking about a grain-free diet for her. I recently bought a few cans each of some different foods (not all grain-free). We're 2 days into one of the new diets, and I haven't seen her obsessively groom.

Am I onto something here? What are common food allergens in cats? The new diet, although not grain-free, does not contain wheat or corn. I'm wondering if she's allergic to wheat...

Thanks in advance for your experiences and ideas.

[Biciclista]

if you could switch her to raw meat i am sure her coat would turn nicer... if it isn't psychogenic. wheat is a very common food allergy in cats

[indysteel]

Out of curiosity, what food are you now using?

I'll be honest that up until a couple of months ago, I knew little about the ideal cat diet. I still know less than I arguably need to know. Out of some degree of selfishness and ignorance, I fed my cats premium dry food. Even when Sophie started to go downhill (and she also had her own over grooming issues for years), I didn't understand the role her dry diet may have played in her undoing. When Henry started to have some chronic dehydration issues, I decided to switch him to canned food. That's when I realized that my cats had long eaten a bad diet. I've been trying to choose canned food for him that has a more ideal mix of protein, fat and carbs. Unfortunately, he cares for some more than others, and doesn't like some of the brands/flavors that are grain free. I have yet to try a raw diet, although I haven't rule it out. He's such a frustrating eater anyway. He eats, if I'm lucky, a teaspoon of food at a time. Getting enough canned food into him has turned into a full-time job.

[Becky]

Indy: You and I are in the same boat. It wasn't until I started thinking more about where my own food comes from that I realized the need to give their diets the same consideration. My foray into pet diets actually started with our dog's food. Since switching him to an "ultra-premium" dry food (Blue Buffalo Fish and Sweet Potato), we've seen a marked improvement in his coat, weight, and mobility.

Flaser (the girl cat) is currently eating Innova canned food. I'm shocked by the difference that 2 days' worth have appeared to make. It's still anecdotal at this point, but I'm convinced enough to keep going. I also bought some Wellness grain-free to try.

Right now, Auric (the bratty little brother) is eating Hills Prescription Diet C/D for chronic UT issues. It's not ideal IMO by any stretch, but it keeps the incidents to a minimum. Once I finish experimenting with cat #1's diet, I'll move on to his.

Raw or homemade food for the cats is not out of the question, but I feel like I need to test this out in increments. Fortunately, neither cat has been a picky eater and switching diet isn't generally an issue. I'm sorry that I can't offer any suggestions there...

[Biciclista]

with raw diet, it's easier with younger cats. Older cats are a l ot like people, they get set in their ways. All of my cats think dry cat food is the best thing since sliced bread. they get a tiny bit of it every day. like 10 kibbles each. the raw chicken that i painstakingly grind and mix; they let it sit in their dishes..but in the morning it is always gone.
none of them have weight problems now, and their fur is all glossy really beautiful. it's a pain in the butt but as long as i can feed them this way, i will continue.

[Becky]

Mimi: What "recipe" do you use?

[Blueberry]

Apparently one of the most common allergens is fish. Hard to find foods without that!

[indysteel]

I've purchased some Innova dry food that has a healthier balance. Interestingly, Henry seems to like it, but Izzy (the one year old) doesn't. Yet. It took her a while to like canned food, too, so I'm hoping she'll come to like it.

My biggest issue at this point is to best to deal with being out of town with cat(s) that consume mostly canned food, especially since Henry only eats a little at a time. It's easier to go out of town, obviously, when they eat dry.

[Biciclista]

the recipe I use...
this is the closest to it:

2 kg [4.4 pounds] raw muscle meat with bones (chicken thighs and drumsticks or, better, a whole carcass of rabbit or chicken amounting to 2 kg; if you don't use a whole carcass, opt for dark meat like thighs and drumsticks from chicken or turkey and remove/don't use 20 to 25 percent of the bone; if using whole rabbit, which has a higher bone-to-meat ratio than chicken, dilute the extra bone by adding another 20 to 25 percent of plain muscle meat and skin and fat from rabbit, chicken, or turkey)

400 grams [14 oz] raw heart (best not to use use beef heart; if no heart is available, substitute with 4000 mg Taurine)

200 grams [7 oz] raw liver (don't use beef liver; if you can't find appropriate liver, you can substitute 40,000 IU of Vitamin A and 1600 IU of Vitamin D--but try to use real liver rather than substitutes)
**I use more liver - they love it**

NOTE: If you cannot find the heart or liver and decide to substitute with the Taurine/Vitamin A and D, then remember to REPLACE the missing amount of organ meat with the equivalent amount of muscle meat. In other words, if you cannot find heart, you add another 400 grams of the meat/bones. If you can't find the liver, add another 200 grams of meat/bone.

16 oz [2 cups] water

4 raw egg yolks (use eggs from free-range, antibiotic-free chickens if you can)

4 capsules raw glandular supplement, such as, for example, multigland supplement by Immoplex.
***I don't use this***

4000 mg salmon oil (see note at bottom of recipe*)
***i use one squirt per pound of chicken***

then i grind it all up and weigh it and put it in equal portions and freeze it
in the little containers that cream cheese and mascarpone come in.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I switched to Blue Buffalo canned and dry cat food a year ago and am very very happy with it. Glossy coats, the cats love it, no 'meat by-products', wheat or corn or glutens. Yeah it's a bit pricey, but I am so impressed by the ingredients list and how it smells too. The kitties are thriving on it- they love both the dry and the canned.
It has lots of wholesome meats and fish, some veggies & fruits, a little brown rice or barley.
Best of all now.....NO MORE THROWING UP !!!

God, I was so tired of all my cats barfing all over the house for years on end. You know, we always had lots of cats when I was a little girl (50 years ago!)- and they almost never barfed. Makes me think- have cats really changed so much? Then I think... it has to be something about ingredients of commercial cat food. Lots of wheat and corn and 'glutens' added maybe to up the protein percentage... When i was little, nobody cared about the protein % of cat food. You just opened a can of Puss N' Boots and it looked and smelled pretty much like a plain old can of sardines.
In fact, once when i was 4 I pretended to be a cat and I ate the Puss N' Boots fish cat food right along with our cats, from the dish on the floor....hey it was just like eating sardines- bones and all! It was GOOD! lol!

[Kathi]

For 3 years I've been trying to figure out what causes my cat Meggie allergy problems. Fortunately, she responds to cortisone shots but I have to give them to her about every 6 weeks.

I started eliminating certain foods. First I eliminated food with eggs, soy and wheat. No good. Then I eliminated tuna and corn. Now I've eliminated fish, turkey and chicken. The vet recommends 1 protein (preferably one the cat is not familiar with,) and 2 carbs. The unfamiliar protein is usually rabbit, duck or venison.

Currently I'm feeding her Natural Balance's Duck and Green Pea Limited Ingredient Formula canned cat food. It's seems to be helping, she doesn't seem to be viciously attacking herself. I've read it can take up to 3 mos. before the offending ingredient is out of their system.

I found it is very difficult to find cat foods without chicken and thought I would have to get a prescription limited ingredient food or do raw but as long as she's eating this food I don't plan to make changes.

I board my cat when out of town a special diet feeding is not an issue.

[indysteel]

I can't remember if Henry's tried Blue Buffalo. Of the premiums, he'll eat some varieties of Merrick and he's so-so about Wellness brand. I tried a can of Innova EVO canned food and he hated it. For better or worse, he prefers the cheaper stuff. I found a good website that provides a breakdown of the nutritional content of most available canned foods, according to both brand and flavor. I mostly go by the protein to carb ratio when choosing. I was amazed at how bad some of the brands I always thought were good for cats are, at least in terms of carb content. Some may disagree, but I'd rather Henry ate a variety of Friskies with an ideal protein/fat/carb mix than a seemingly premium food with too many carbs. But mostly, I just want to eat something that isn't dry food. He's so picky.

[Thorn]

Owner of a gluten intolerent cat here. For 10 years I apparently tortured the poor thing with quality dry cat food. She was an overgroomer -- had basically no hair on her belly and thin everywhere else. Vet said the same thing "psychogenic alopecia".

Reading some posts here had us switch over to canned. The barfing slowed down, but it was when we figured out the gluten correlation that we really got things under control. We started with Wellness, but as more and more cat foods are coming out with fewer unpronouncable ingredients and no gluten, we've branched out.

Turns out we've now removed Wellness from the list as we were having small incidents every now and then. Wellness has some foods with gluten so we questioned line contamination. It is looking like Wholistic Select might also be removed from our list (they have one flavor that has barley). The correlation isn't quite as strong, tho, and the cats like it so, for now, it stays.

But, since consciously trying to keep the gluten out of the diet, the barfing has dropped. It can make for long trips at the cat food store as we read the fine print ingredient on every can.

BTW, if your cat won't eat canned food, there are some gluten-free dry foods now. We've started adding some of the dry back in for days when we're gone all day without any problems.

[Thorn]

I tried a can of Innova EVO canned food and he hated it.

Interesting...they'll eat the duck, but won't touch the beef or venison. My boy will eat anything (and has the girth to prove it), but when I put down the venison he looked at me as if the plate were empty. Wouldn't even try it.

[Becky]

This is all really good information- thank you all!

I thought that I'd pinpointed wheat as a possible problem....and then I got home and realized that I'd looked up the wrong ingedients list online So now I'm not so sure.... (Speaking of ingredients lists: Holy fine print, Batman! How's a responsible owner supposed to do their homework?)

Thorn, your story resonated with me, and is enough anecdotal evidence for me to keep pursuing this. I'm disappointed that the vet never mentioned food issues as a potential cause for the alopecia to me....but I'm glad that my TE friends have!