Fish oil weirdness

[Ruefrex]

I'm hoping someone else has had this issue. I posted about this initially a few weeks ago, but I'm curious about something. My cat Travis went into a scratching fit a few weeks ago. He's also licking excessively. Did flea stuff, took him to the vet, no mites. He thought it could be a food allergy, so I'm trying just one FF variety for now. Since he's diabetic, steroids were ill advised but the vet gave me a topical steroid/antibiotic cream to use. It SEEMS to be working, although I'm still scared to use it. He's still licking his paws and legs a lot more, although he isn't scratching his hair out anymore and it looks like the two other spots are healing.

Anyway, he's had some tiny issues in the past where he's licked all the fur off of his stomach. I would give him the skin & fur treats and those helped. I can't use them anymore because they're basically candy. So the vet said I could try fish oil. I bought the Nordic Naturals. Gave him the recommended dose for his weight with breakfast yesterday. No problem. Yum! But this morning, he threw all of it up right after eating. Has anyone else had this happen? Could it just be a fluke? He doesn't throw up a lot, unless it's a hairball. This was most emphatically NOT a hairball. Could it have to do with the fact that the oil has to be refrigerated? Why would he be fine with it one day and not the next? And he's been getting the same food for two weeks now. I really, really want to give him this stuff. I think it'll help. But obviously it won't if he's just going to throw it up.

He is really making things hard for me with his sudden weirdo physical quirks!

 

[Missy & Kitty]

Hi there!

Maybe it's too much all at once. Try adding a little to several meals instead. I was using the Iceland Pure Unscented Sardine and Anchovy oil with my cat, but I only used half a squirt in the AM and half in the PM (as opposed to what the bottle recommends, and I started him out with less than that). Any more, and he would get sick. What's nice about the Iceland Pure is that it already has Vit E added to it, something you need when adding essential fatty acids to a cat's diet so that you avoid steatitis. Right now, I'm using krill oil instead of the fish oil since fish oils can sometimes be hard on a cat's tummy.

Is the Fancy Feast you are feeding grain-free? If not, is it possible that Travis is having an allergy to the grains in his food?

 

[Ruefrex]

Thanks, Missy!

Yes, the Fancy Feast is grain-free. I gave him the full dosage yesterday and he was fine, but maybe having another full dosage 24 hours later was a problem? I can't figure it out. I will try giving him less and see if that helps. That's a great suggestion! What kind of krill oil are you using? I'm going to try giving him less of the fish oil tomorrow to see if that helps but I would like to try krill if that is a better option for him. He used to be such an easy cat!!

 

[BJM]

I had a civvie who licked all the fur off her belly and it was food allergies in part. To rule out that, you have to use a different protein, such as venison or lamb, or a hydrolyzed diet ($$$) for a couple of months, then gradually reintroduce foods to see what triggers or aggravates the problem.

And you can use a steroid, it just raises the insulin requirement. Plus, if it isn't a steady dose, you may need to use a supplemental insulin on days with the steroid vs those without, which can be tricky to figure out.

 

[Missy & Kitty]

I agree with BJM, if the food is grain-free, then it sounds like an allergy to the protein. What is the source of protein in what you're feeding? Do you rotate foods or just stick to the one food?

I have had negative experiences with steroids with my cats, so we don't use them anymore. In fact, the use of steroids is what caused Kitty to get diabetes in the first place. She gets flea allergy dermatitis really bad, and the vet gave her a shot of pred. The next thing I know, she's drinking and peeing a ton, and that's when we found out. Not cool, vet. Noooot coooool. I'm currently giving her Only Natural Pet Skin and Itch Homeopathic Remedy, and that seems to be helping her a lot.

For the krill oil, I'm using Mercola Krill Oil for Pets. It comes in an airless pump, and he just gets one pump a day. No mess, and super easy to use. He loves it mixed in with his canned food.

 

[Ruefrex]

Thanks, you guys! I've been giving him Natural Pet Skin & Itch Irritations, which is similar to the one you're using, Missy. I'll try that one as well and get the krill oil. This one seemed to help a bit. And he's not nearly as bad as he was before. Now he's mostly chewing his feet, but just a little more than usual, and licking his legs. He's not pulling any fur out and doesn't have any new awful spots.

We had a horrible heat wave a few weeks ago and I had the air on all the time, and that's when he started this. He's had a few points where he's licked all the hair off of his belly but not in a long time. He's never had any issues with food and since his diabetes diagnosis, he's been getting the beef, chicken or turkey Fancy Feast. When this started I decided to go to one variety, so he's just been getting the turkey for a few weeks. I know there's probably other poultry in there so switching to one variety isn't likely to do any good. Definitely not doing steroids aside from the topical that he's only getting on one spot. The tricky thing with this guy, too, is that he's been off insulin since about ten days after his diagnosis, so I am trying to do everything I can to keep him off.

I may be overthinking this a bit, since he hasn't developed any new wounds or bald patches. Have you guys had experience with the alternative protein foods? My vet was thinking about that but the food they have is too high in carbs (OF COURSE). I'm kind of mystified by this part!

 

[BJM]

Check the food list. I think there may be some venison, duck or rabbit varieties, although they may be more costly.

 

[Missy & Kitty]

He's not pulling any fur out and doesn't have any new awful spots.

Hooray!

Does turning the air on coincide with changing to only the turkey food? Maybe try giving the beef FF for a bit and see if there is any improvement. I just looked up FF on the food list, and I had no idea they had so many varieties. Goodness! It doesn't look like they have too many under 10% carbs. What about a different brand with a different protein? Is the FF a new food for Travis? I wonder if there is an ingredient in it that doesn't agree with him.

Have you guys had experience with the alternative protein foods? My vet was thinking about that but the food they have is too high in carbs (OF COURSE).

I have been fortunate that none of my cats have had any allergies to their food, so I don't have any experience with them.

 

[Ruefrex]

I switched him to the turkey only when all of this started, and that was after our "the Earth is going to burn in a pillar of fire" heat wave. The food he's getting is the classic pate, which is all about 5% and under, and that's made the difference in him not needing insulin so far. I'd been rotating the chicken, beef and turkey and that's basically all he's gotten. But all of them have "meat by-products" and the beef has fish in it! Since he's doing better, I'm hoping it's not a food allergy because that other stuff is REALLY expensive! I might do a trial of one of the duck or venison varieties but they're so costly that I won't be able to do it for more than a few weeks.

Mostly I'm afraid to change his routine all that much because of the diabetes. He's been doing so well!

 

[Deb & Wink]

The Fancy Feast Chicken Feast also has fish in it. Fish is a common food allergen for cats.

I had a civie, Libby, that was allergic to grains and would tear and lick her fur until she was raw and bloody. She'd chew her tail and hind legs something awful. The hydrolyzed protein food, Hill's Z/d gave her horrible unending explosive diarrhea. I finally figured out on my own that the rice in that food was a big part of her digestive problem. A did switch her to a grain free food, but it was high in carbs from the potato and pea and other vegetable ingredients. Luckily, she was not diabetic along with all her other health issues and did well on the higher carb grain free food.

I have not tried fish oil, but I did try cocoanut oil with one of my civies, Dancer, to try to help with her hairballs. She would eat the food and then vomit it back up, just like you describe with the addition of the fish oil to your cats food. I did end up stopping the cocoanut oil and she manages to keep her food down now. Only an occasional scarf and barf episode, and they are usually preceded by too many freeze dried chicken treats.

Those are my experiences. Not sure if any of that is helpful to you or not.

 

[Missy & Kitty]

I switched him to the turkey only when all of this started, and that was after our "the Earth is going to burn in a pillar of fire" heat wave.

:lol: Now that sounds hot!

Five of my cats, including Kitty, get Friskies classic pate in Turkey and Giblets or Mixed Grill. It does have by-products in it, but Kitty has done well with it, and it's inexpensive. My kidney cat, Tuff, gets Evo 95% Turkey and Chicken, Weruva Peking Ducken, Weruva Steak Frites, and Cats in the Kitchen Chick Magnet. It's definitely more expensive than the Friskies, but I rotate them, and they last a long time. The Evo is higher in fat, so I don't want to feed it exclusively. The Weruva is low calorie, so I don't want to feed that exclusively. I end up giving him most of a can of Evo a day and about half of a can of one of the Weruva flavors. He's doing wonderfully, gaining weight, and all but the chick magnet are under 10% carbs. Would you be able to do something like that? Chewy.com has some pretty awesome prices.

I had no idea that the chicken and beef FF had fish in them! What in the world? They do know that cats aren't supposed to have fish that often, right? *sigh* It's like they had too much fish on hand and decided to just add it to the other food to get rid of it. Awww, crap! I just checked the ingredients on the Friskies, and there's fish in the Turkey and Giblets. :-x I may need to switch to a different food. Thanks for mentioning that, guys!

I have not tried fish oil, but I did try cocoanut oil with one of my civies, Dancer, to try to help with her hairballs. She would eat the food and then vomit it back up, just like you describe with the addition of the fish oil to your cats food.

How much were you giving? I give a very small dab to the cats if they are constipated..moves things right along, and they seem to like the taste. It doesn't take much, and I think I read that coconut oil is higher in Omega 6 (causes inflammation), so you don't want to give too much. I also lighty coat gel caps with it when I have to pill Tuff..helps them go right down.

 

[Ruefrex]

I really don't think he has a food allergy because although he's still licking, his spots are healing and he isn't scratching the hair off of his neck anymore. I am trying to keep him at 5% carbs and under. I tried the Nature's Variety and discovered that he is NOT a lamb fan! He seems to tolerate the venison. Haven't tried the duck or rabbit yet. So I'm going to try and rotate as much of that in as I can afford, just to see if it helps, but he's also going to keep getting the Fancy Feast. Going to try the Friskies too.

I gave him just a few drops of fish oil this morning and that was fine, so I'll keep doing that although I did order the krill oil, which will hopefully go down better for him. Man, I used to just feed him and now there's all of this...!

Really appreciate the advice. Thanks!

 

[Missy & Kitty]

I'm really glad everything is healing up nicely! I hope it completely clears up soon.

Man, I used to just feed him and now there's all of this...!

It could be worse! One of my cats has kidney disease, and he gets B-12 methylcobalamin, Tumil-K, aluminum hydroxide, Zantac 75 (2x), Ubiquinol, Krill Oil, and Astro's Protein Powder (2x) every day. He also gets the occasional Cerenia, pumpkin, slippery elm bark, and Buprenorphine. I have to cut up the Zantac into little pieces and put them into gel caps. They get coated in coconut oil before administering. Whew! It is so much easier when you can just plop some food down and walk away. The poor old man needs me to sit there with him to help him eat. He likes it when I push all of the food into a big pile, and when it gets too flat, I have to push it back into a pile. Ha! Darn cats!

 

[Ruefrex]

WOW, Missy. That's crazy! You are an excellent cat mom. I really think my boy got bitten by a flea or something. He doesn't seem to be licking or scratching as much so hopefully it's not a food allergy and I can just keep feeding him the same old crap <g>. I got the krill oil, so thanks for that recommendation. He doesn't even seem to notice it. He really isn't fond of the Nature's Variety unfortunately. He put up with it for awhile but no go now. I'm going to just stick to the Fancy Feast and Friskies unless he develops some kind of a problem, although I would like to find something a little higher in fat/calories just because he doesn't eat that much and I think he's a little thin. Which is better than he was before!

 

[KPassa]

I created this sorted version of Dr. Lisa's list and I separated out the different protein types into their own tabs (meat, poultry only, contains seafood). Mikey is allergic to all red meats and I only feed fish once a week so I needed to find foods he could actually eat. He also does much better the higher the protein is, so I added an extra column with a protein/fat ratio to help me easily spot the higher protein foods (for Mikey, anything over 50% works best).

The daily food in my house is the Friskies Special Diet Turkey and Giblets: no fish in that one and only brewer's rice, plus it's lower carb than the non-SD Friskies (only 5%). Then I also supplement with Tiki Cat Chicken and Egg or Weruva Chicken Frick 'A Zee (too expensive for me to feed exclusively), especially when Mikey is running higher numbers since they're both lower carb than the Friskies.