Help with Food - Allergic to Everything!

[Annie in Chicago]

Hello!

My cat Gideon has been in remission since November. He was on Prozinc (1 unit/2x) for three months after an extreme diet change - he went from being a food snob with unlimited dry to Fancy Feast and no more than 50 calories of dry per day. He was also newly allergic to fish but eventually settled into a no-fish diet with no issues.

He began having a severe skin reaction the other week. He has been on an antihistamine and topical ointment since March 2. It seemed to get worse with chicken so I cut that out and he has been eating mostly turkey.

His face was doing much better until I gave him some Merrick's limited ingredient turkey tonight and he began tearing up, pawing his face like crazy and his face is super inflamed.

So now he seems to be allergic to fish, chicken and turkey. He ate a can of duck for dinner, which was great, but I need some other options. I am at a loss to find things without any of those ingredients that is also low carb and gets him his daily calories (~220 per day but ~50 of that is allotted to dry.)

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have to call my vet tomorrow to check in but would welcome any insight before then.

Thanks in advance - I was an infrequent poster when he was on Prozinc but the information I got here was invaluable and I continue to lurk all the time!

 

[Squeaky and KT (GA)]

At this point, you're almost at homemade. Almost everything out there has fish in it somewhere even if used as a source of Vit E. Merrick's Limited Ingredient is one of the few I CAN feed...

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

I just recently switched my girl over to Hounds and Gatos Lamb and Lamb Liver, Duck and Trout/Duck. Found out the hard way, you have to be careful with a lot of the novel protein foods as many seem to have chicken in them perhaps to keep costs down.

 

[Annie in Chicago]

Thanks, I was just on their site and pretty much everything contains fish oil. The ingredients change without warning as well - two of his non-fish FF flavors now have fish (as we discovered when this first started).

I was afraid the answer might be 'homemade.' I'm going to see if my vet makes customized food. It's so strange because he was improving on the FF turkey so I thought limited ingredient would be even better but it was an instant and horrible reaction. It's almost like all the extra crap in FF was a shield. But I hate to go back to that and risk him reacting this way again. I feel horrible - he loves to eat! I always said his autobiography would be called 'The Hungriest Kitten.'

 

[billysmom (GA)]

I was looking at the food chart and this brand looks promising (expensive though). https://kohapet.com/shop-limited-ingredient-cat-food
Check carb content with food chart because a couple are on the high side. But they don't list any fish oil. I might have seen one with chicken liver, but most of the limited don't have that.

 

[Maggies Mom Debby]

But they don't list any fish oil.

But they do have New Zealand green mussels. Not a fish, but from the sea.

 

[Beck and Philly]

I have a super allergic dog and cat here. Take a look at BalanceIT.com. If you decide to try homemade, you can customize recipes.

As far as canned, my vet said to stay away from anything with feathers, peas, and eggs. There are still a ton of options out there. My vet recommends venison as a good protein for allergies. There are also novel proteins like kangaroo. The ingredient list is key. With my dog, I tried adding crushed eggshells for the calcium. Instant reaction. Duh! I knew she was allergic to chicken, but I never made the connection that eggs come from chickens.

 

[Maggies Mom Debby]

Have you tried a beef?

And have you considered it might not be the protein, but an additive? FF and Merrick Turkey both have guar gum, but the Merrick has Yucca Schidigera Extract. Just an idea.

 

[Bobbie And Bubba]

I just went through this with Bubba. He developed super red and itchy ears ( yeast infection) and then started scratching himself on his face, ears, and neck ( indicative to an allergy) We cut out chicken first and he got a bit better, but it turns out he is allergic to pork as well. Look to see that the turkey you fed him had any chicken byproducts in it. Most cats that can't have chicken, can usually tolerate the chicken organ meats, but maybe yours can't.

I had to scrabble to find proteins. I am giving him hard boiled eggs every 3 days. ( he needs 3 of them to get his daily calorie requirement ) . I do raw ground turkey one day, you might try that. If you have an objection to raw, you could lightly cook it and cool and see how he does with just turkey. I also give poached salmon once a day. Is it all fish he is allergic too?

Check out http://www.foodfurlife.com/ website, it will tell you how to do homemade food and that is where I get my supplements from to make the foods I am giving Bubba complete. They have a lot of good information under cats.

Good luck, I know how frustrating it is.

 

[Carol & Murphy (GA)]

Hi Annie
I am also in Chicago - I have a few cans of Koha Guinea fowl that Murphy, who once loved it, will no longer eat. I probably also have a can or two of ziwipeak venison and/or lamb if you want to try. All these novel proteins are great, if only the cat will eat them.

 

[Annie in Chicago]

But they do have New Zealand green mussels. Not a fish, but from the sea.

I noticed this after I bought it. Good to know that they aren't technically a fish though? I might try a little bit to see what kind of reaction I get. Every time he starts to improve, he has something that sets him off again so it can't be any worse than anything I've already done.

 

[Annie in Chicago]

Hi Annie
I am also in Chicago - I have a few cans of Koha Guinea fowl that Murphy, who once loved it, will no longer eat. I probably also have a can or two of ziwipeak venison and/or lamb if you want to try. All these novel proteins are great, if only the cat will eat them.

Thanks, I actually bought a can of the Koha Guinea Fowl then realized it has salmon oil in it. All of the Koha and Ziwi Peaks have New Zealand green mussel as well. I might try a little of one of those just to see...

 

[Annie in Chicago]

I just went through this with Bubba. He developed super red and itchy ears ( yeast infection) and then started scratching himself her on face, ears, and neck ( indicative to an allergy) We cut out chicken first and he got a bit better, but it turns out he is allergic to pork as well. Look to see that the turkey you fed him had any chicken byproducts in it. Most cats that can't have chicken, can usually tolerate the chicken organ meats, but maybe yours can't.

I had to scrabble to find proteins. I am giving him hard boiled eggs every 3 days. ( he needs 3 of them to get his daily calorie requirement ) . I do raw ground turkey one day, you might try that. If you have an objection to raw, you could lightly cook it and cool and see how he does with just turkey. I also to poached salmon one day. Is it all fish he is allergic too?

Check out http://www.foodfurlife.com/ website, it will tell you how to do homemade food and that is where I get my supplements from to make the foods I am giving Bubba complete. They have a lot of good information under cats.

Good luck, I know how frustrating it is.

Thanks, that's interesting to know about the chicken organ meats. The weird thing is, he seemed okay on the Merrick Duck but I realized afterwards that it has chicken in it, but not the by-products. I'm also thinking it might be a supplemental ingredient that's the issue but trying to cross reference everything is..overwhelming. I spoke to my vet, who is also looking into some custom canned options for me - it's not only a matter of finding something he's not allergic to but keeping it low-carb if possible so he remains in remission. Gah!

He is alllergic to all fish. I'm not averse to making his food but want to make sure I do it right so he gets everything he needs.

 

[Annie in Chicago]

Have you tried a beef?

And have you considered it might not be the protein, but an additive? FF and Merrick Turkey both have guar gum, but the Merrick has Yucca Schidigera Extract. Just an idea.

Yeah, this is what I'm starting to think and trying to pinpoint. I have a spreadsheet with a bunch of foods and all of their ingredients that I started trying to cross reference before getting overwhelmed. I'll revisit that. The Merrick Turkey that gave him such a bad reaction has pea protein, which nothing else does (I don't think). He's still allergic to something else but that was the most extreme so far.

 

[Annie in Chicago]

I just went through this with Bubba. He developed super red and itchy ears ( yeast infection) and then started scratching himself on his face, ears, and neck ( indicative to an allergy) We cut out chicken first and he got a bit better, but it turns out he is allergic to pork as well. Look to see that the turkey you fed him had any chicken byproducts in it. Most cats that can't have chicken, can usually tolerate the chicken organ meats, but maybe yours can't.

I had to scrabble to find proteins. I am giving him hard boiled eggs every 3 days. ( he needs 3 of them to get his daily calorie requirement ) . I do raw ground turkey one day, you might try that. If you have an objection to raw, you could lightly cook it and cool and see how he does with just turkey. I also to poached salmon one day. Is it all fish he is allergic too?

Check out http://www.foodfurlife.com/ website, it will tell you how to do homemade food and that is where I get my supplements from to make the foods I am giving Bubba complete. They have a lot of good information under cats.

Good luck, I know how frustrating it is.

I actually bookmarked the Food Fur Life site the other night after reading about it somewhere else on here - thanks!

 

[Bobbie And Bubba]

Thanks, that's interesting to know about the chicken organ meats. The weird thing is, he seemed okay on the Merrick Duck but I realized afterwards that it has chicken in it, but not the by-products. I'm also thinking it might be a supplemental ingredient that's the issue but trying to cross reference everything is..overwhelming. I spoke to my vet, who is also looking into some custom canned options for me - it's not only a matter of finding something he's not allergic to but keeping it low-carb if possible so he remains in remission. Gah!

He is alllergic to all fish. I'm not averse to making his food but want to make sure I do it right so he gets everything he needs.

Check out the link I gave you for Foodfurlife. With their EZcomplete, he will be getting all the nutrients that he needs if you decide to do homemade and/ or raw.

 

[Bobbie And Bubba]

pea protein

Kill anything with pea protein in in. It's a carb and a higher carb. Cats are obligate carnivores and should not be eating carbs.

 

[membeth]

I just recently switched my girl over to Hounds and Gatos Lamb and Lamb Liver, Duck and Trout/Duck. Found out the hard way, you have to be careful with a lot of the novel protein foods as many seem to have chicken in them perhaps to keep costs down.

Hounds & Gatos has salmon oil in it (even in the lamb and duck varieties), so it's a no go for Gideon, unfortunately.

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

I hadn't noticed that when I made the suggestion because I was trying to get the poultry out of my kitty's diet only to find a lot of the more unique protein source foods contain poultry proteins. Fish oil was not in the foods I was trying to eliminate so I didn't pay any attention to that ingredient.

 

[membeth]

I hadn't noticed that when I made the suggestion because I was trying to get the poultry out of my kitty's diet only to find a lot of the more unique protein source foods contain poultry proteins. Fish oil was not in the foods I was trying to eliminate so I didn't pay any attention to that ingredient.

Yup, I had the same problem, and checked tons of ingredient lists before finding low carb foods that didn't contain any poultry. Pants eats Hound & Gatos lamb, but I'm pretty sure the only thing she's allergic to is chicken, so I wasn't worried about the salmon oil.

I took a second look at my list of poultry-free foods from when I was coming up with options for Pants, but I don't have anything that's under 10% carbs that doesn't contain fish. The closest thing I found is Nature's Variety limited ingredient rabbit, which is 13% carbs and doesn't contain poultry or fish. It does have peas in it though, if you're worried about that.