Food allergies in cat, question about diet

[thepeach80]

I hope this is the right spot. I haven't been here since the boards were combined but you guys know more than anyone else I know. I've come the conclusion Arnold has allergies to something. We got him on wet food and OTJ and he was doing well and then started having blood diarrhea. He was checked at the vet w/ no illness found. We switched to raw food and it went away and he was doing well. About 1.5 wks ago he started refusing his raw food (we're using Nature's Variety right now) and just wasn't eating so we went back to wet food and he'll scarf that down. Well, I woke up this morning to bloody, mucousy diarrhea. :YMSIGH: So, what can I do? He was on Fancy Feast, so is there a higher quality food that I can try? Does rotating between canned and raw food work for some cats? I'm just at a loss as to what to feed him as he's never liked the pate style cat food but has been eating it fine since refusing the raw. He really does prefer the chunked food but that is hard to find in higher qualities. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jill and Remi]

Okay, my first thought is did the vet check for colitits? Not even sure if you can check for it but kind of sounds like what may be going on.
That being said, I do have a cat with allergies. I had an allergy test done so I do know what she is allergic to. She did not present with any of those symtpoms(not to say those could not be symptoms).
Cats can get picky about food so I have to change mine up a lot. I would ask the vet if Arnold could have colitis or IBD or something, or maybe he just has a sensitive stomach. I hope he is better soon!

 

[Jean and Megan]

My allergy cat does beautifully on Wellness Chicken and Wellness Turkey. They are both pate style and higher quality. His allergic symptom, though, is asthma. Occasionally loose stools, but the asthma cough is the more usual problem. As I understand it, however, an allergy is an allergy and symptoms can vary quite a bit from cat to cat. Also, what is good for one allergy cat will not necessarily be good for another. I found that the Wellness was good for him quite by accident (another of my cats was eating it and he snitched some, it agreed with him, I gave him a little more, and so forth, until it became evident that this was the "magic" food for him).

Merrick is another high-quality food. Grammie's Pot Pie is a chunky chicken food. Merrick Cowboy Cookout is a beef pate. Both of these are diabetic-friendly, also.

A trace ingredient, such as a coloring, a preservative, or a particular chemical used as a vitamin, can be the allergic trigger. It isn't necessarily anything that is a major ingredient. So many chicken foods disagreed badly with my allergy cat that I never dreamed a chicken food would end up being the answer for him, but one did. Another food that was limited ingredient, novel protein, and designed specifically for allergic cats was a disaster - made his asthma much worse. Go figure :roll: