Anyone know of a single protein cat food in the UK?

[Max99]

Hi everyone, so my cat is allergic to the new food she’s on (she’s scratching her ears and there’s a build up of wax in them) and I’ve just spoken to her vet who said to look for a single-protein food. I’ve had a quick search on the internet but to no avail.

Does anyone know of any crunchy food out there (in the UK)? I’ve tried giving her pouched/canned foods but she’s not really keen on them so I think crunchy is the way to go. Also, she didn’t tolerate tuna so I’m ruling out that, and possibly other fish as well. I think chicken is the best for her although I don’t know about other meats.

Thanks

 

[Diana&Tom]

This is a difficult one as we don't have much experience with crunchy (dry) foods on this forum, although other members may know of some that might fit your requirements. Ideally - as I'm sure you know - you want to find a wet food in jelly that your cat would both like and tolerate.

In the past I've fed Sainsburys Delicious which is a good quality food, high meat content, and comes in chicken or fish, and also Hi Life which is similar. (You may have ruled fish out which isn't a bad thing actually, as a) cats can get addicted to it and b) it's not good for them as part of a regular diet.) At the moment I'm feeding Natures Menu which comes in a variety of flavours - chicken on its own, chicken with turkey, chicken with duck etc.

Other popular choices are Applaws and Encore, but these are supplementary/complementary foods so shouldn't comprise the bulk of the diet. I buy Encore in little tins for my kitty as a treat or to add to her usual food when she gets bored with it - a little on top of the other stuff usually gets her chomping away!

Have you seen @Elizabeth and Bertie 's UK food list? I'm afraid I can't do links, but if someone else can do so or if you search for it on the site, you'll find a great deal of information. You could also look at the Zooplus website where a lot of us have bought food from - there should be some options there.

Good luck!

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hi @Max99 ,

Very few UK folks with diabetic cats feed their cats dry food, because most dry foods here are way too high in carbohydrates and that pushes the blood glucose up.
Ideally a diabetic cat should be eating foods that are less than 10% calories from carbohydrates. There are a couple of dry kibble type foods that are close to that. 'Thrive Premium Plus Chicken' is one, and that also seems to be a single protein food. (For more info do see the second link in my signature).
There are a number of wet foods that are single protein.

Another reason we don't usually feed dry food is because it's, um, 'dry'. Eating a dry diet can cause problems for kitties over time. Kitties eat meat in the wild, and get most of their water from the prey they eat. So, they often don't drink as much water as they truly need if they're on a dry diet.

That said, some cats get really addicted to dry food, and can be difficult to transition to wet/canned food. Most can be transitioned though, fortunately.
Putting crushed dry food on top of wet food can help with the transition. And sprinkling a little Fortiflora on wet food will tempt many cats. Crushed Thrive treats are also good for tempting cats to eat wet food.

However, if you are switching your kitty to a lower carb diet be sure to monitor the blood glucose very carefully. Switching to lower carb diet (even if it's a lower carb dry diet) can reduce blood glucose levels, and the insulin dose may need to be reduced in order to avoid hypoglycemia.

Eliz