? Food Allergy Experience?

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toomanycats

toomanycats

Member Since 2020
I was wondering if anyone here had cats with food allergies and if you could tell me how long it took for symptoms to show up & also what those symptoms might've looked like for you.

I've posted ad nauseam about my cat's ears bothering him/his hair loss on his ears, so, yeah - I'm just wondering.
 
So far my cat's food allergies have resulted in GI issues. :rolleyes: They developed over time. One cat ate chicken fine for months, and then she didn't. :rolleyes: Neko had the same issue with wheat in gravy. Fine the first half year, then not so much. Have you tried some novel proteins such as lamb, rabbit, duck, venison?
 
It can start itch in the skin on the body a little here and there from various protein allergies.
So that's when one have to raid the stores for novel protein (meats) and try them out one by one.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
So far my cat's food allergies have resulted in GI issues. :rolleyes: They developed over time. One cat ate chicken fine for months, and then she didn't. :rolleyes: Neko had the same issue with wheat in gravy. Fine the first half year, then not so much. Have you tried some novel proteins such as lamb, rabbit, duck, venison?
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Buzzy has done well on chicken & turkey all his life, so I'm more likely to go back to that if I have to. (The Fancy Feast/Friskies we're using now has "meat by-products," and I know that can be a mix. Also, I was giving him various flavors, which I've stopped - switched to ONLY chicken/turkey flavors, but I think Friskies might still contain some beef/fish anyways?)
We started insulin & switched him to Fancy Feast on Feb 7th. Hair loss became noticeable on ears Feb 22, so 2 weeks later.
The only real things that started before that point were the insulin, home testing, Neosporin on his ears (which I have now stopped doing & just started putting coconut oil on his ears today, which seems to be soothing), and food switch. He started these antibiotics the PM of the 21st, so seems unlikely it'd be related to that.

The other possibility, of course, is some sort of medical issue/fungal infection/whatever, which I know I've also talked about way too much lol. I only know it doesn't glow under a blacklight & I haven't caught it -- which, last time I had foster kittens w/ ringworm, I caught & showed signs before we even noticed it on them. I see no black build-up or waxy build-up in his ears, he's not losing hair anywhere else BUT his ears, there's no rash or crustiness.
It's obvious his ears are sensitive/bugging him though.
I'm unsure if my other cat is having issues -- she had a little bloody spot on her temple last night, but it appears to be healing, not getting worse, and she has no hair loss. It looked like she had just scratched too hard once.

I vaaaaguely remember Buzzy having a sensitivity to some food before, but I can't remember what happened or what food it was.
 
There are lots of low carb options besides Fancy Feast if you want to try something different. Which proteins are you using now? Are you using FF for your high carb food too? I had to switch to ones with potato starch/flour for carbs instead of wheat.
 
@Wendy&Neko yeah I pretty much have decided to go get some Blue Wilderness (I like big cans). It's just ...the money.
And, yeah, I was using FF for high-carb and even just bought some for MC. Ugh.
 
I mean he just ate - and for the first time, I'm actually seeing him scratching his ears & they've turned pink whereas they weren't before eating. So maybe it is the food....
 
When I went through the meat section in my store for Simba and Gustav, We live in Nordic Sweden, I found and bought frozen wild hare, deer, reindeer, and believe or not even frozen crocodile :cat:

I let them taste it first since it was their verdict. But, I simply couldn't let them try the crocodile because I felt so sorry for the crocodile.

The reindeer and the wild hare was their taste verdict.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
What are the ingredients in the food?
Click to expand...

He's had too many different foods in the past month for me to list them all.
I don't honestly know if this will help, but I did go get the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken -- no meat byproducts, no rice, one protein source. Like I said, he's done fine on chicken/turkey his whole life. I feel like the last time I had issues, it was when he was eating Fancy Feast in the past, actually. I remember that was when I really began learning about cat food at all & switched him to better food (except we fed dry a lot in there). We're keeping our other cat on the Friskies if we can, which I'm going to feel guilty about.

The problem is that this food is a ton more expensive. But I don't know what else to do. I really cannot afford this, but I don't know what else to do. My husband and I are so unbelievably stressed over the financial strain this has all put on us -- multiple vet visits, bunches of tests, 3 different antibiotics, insulin, syringes, copious testing supplies which -- sorry -- does add up, and the food. We have a kid in full-time daycare ($$$) and a baby on the way, and we will need formula & diapers...and I will be out of work for 3 months, and I am our primary breadwinner.

I cannot describe the stress. And the dark, dark thoughts.
 
Assuming this is even the answer.
It mightn't be this at all, in which case, we'll go back to Friskies after we figure out what it is. I'm hoping we'd see some sort of sign/improvement (even if it's just him stopping itching himself/shaking his head) in just this next week or something.
I don't know what to do. I can't afford a skin culture that ends up not telling us anything. I already paid for a stupid urine culture that didn't tell us anything.
 
I think the Neosporin is the most likely cause of him losing hair on his ear.
Especially since you test Buzzy mostly on that ear.
 
Deb & Wink said:
I think the Neosporin is the most likely cause of him losing hair on his ear.
Especially since you test Buzzy mostly on that ear.
Click to expand...

No, actually, the ear with less hair loss is the one I was testing most often at least this past week & is the one I was putting the Neosporin on. Although that ear now too is getting worse even in like the last day or so.
it is possible it's the Neosporin, but I haven't used it at all today & his ears are definitely bothering him more today.
I just can't tell if my OTHER cat is also itching, bc that would change everything.
I'm honestly just trying to get us through 1 more week of trying to solve this on my own if we can bc he has to go back in for the urine check anyways on the 9th, and I'd rather convert that to a full vet appointment than have to schedule a whole other appointment. Although I may lose my mind waiting, so...

I've questioned everything from "allergic to the antibiotics?" to ringworm, yeast, fleas...allergic to the lancets? IDK.

He's started fighting me on testing today too.
Sigh.
 
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