? Hypoallergenic food

[Amy Dobson]

Hi,
I'm wondering if my Murphy has good allergies. Short of carrying out a skin biopsy to try and determine what is adding to hisitching, can anyone recommend a hypoallergenic food?
I've no idea if he does actually have good allergies, but I'm hoping ah change in diet might at least she'd light on whether we should explore this further.
We're UK based, so any advice or suitable food recommendations would be hugely appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Amy and Mr Murphy Mouse.

 

[Critter Mom]

Hi Amy,

You could try asking your vet to take a blood sample and run some allergy tests. They're not 'absolute' but they could give you a guide to foods to which Mr Murphy Mouse (great name!) may be intolerant.

The usual trick is to try feeding something that is a novel protein source for a given period. If all goes well on that, you can start reintroducing other foods then withdrawing them if they cause a reaction. Your vet should be able to advise you about food trials (but they can be hit 'n' miss and also they take forever).

You could try the Happy Kitty Company - perhaps their venison flavours? If you give them a call, Sam (female) should be able to recommend something suitable. She's very friendly and helpful. The foods are German, and excellent quality. (Wish Saoirse could tolerate them but her pancreas wasn't having any ... :-( ).

Zooplus do a product called Kattovit Sensitive chicken flavour. It's a paté - just over 4% calories from carbs - and it's a single source protein food. I think Zooplus may have other hypoallergenic foods, but you'd need to check the carb content on them.

The best luck I've had so far with Saoirse is Sheba Fine Flakes in Jelly poultry selection. It's not hypoallergenic, but it's the food she has tolerated best out of the umpty-million I've tried her on over the past year. It's poultry meat and supplements, and comes in at under 2% calories from carbs. (NB - a bit high in salt, and also in phosphorus.)

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Amy, we've missed you..! (And Murphy too.... )

Is Murphy still not feeling any better...?

What exactly are you feeding him at the moment?
Common causes of allergy and intolerance include; beef (a very common allergen), fish/seafood, chicken, grains, soy, eggs and milk. But cats can be allergic or intolerant to other proteins also (a cat here recently was allergic to duck, for example).

Is it possible to have some allergy tests done? If not, then it may be worth trying an 'exclusion diet' starting with 'novel' (less common) proteins that are less likely to cause problems. Yes, it can be a time consuming process. But it may be that you strike lucky early on and find some foods that Murphy can eat without causing him problems.
There aren't a whole lot of single source protein foods available, but the Ropocat range from the Happy Kitty Co could be a good starting point. All my lot love the venison Ropocat. It's their absolute favourite. And it comes in small tins so you needn't waste heaps if the food doesn't suit. Rabbit-based foods are another good bet and usually well tolerated. But the Ropocat rabbit food is higher in carbs (according to the label values) than some other foods. Lamb is fine for many cats too.
There are quite a few chicken based foods, so if Murphy is OK with chicken then it should be fairly easy to cater for him.

Any foods that contain 'meat and animal derivatives' (or some such wording) could contain Any Damn Thing (meat-wise), and so would have to be avoided if trying an exclusion diet, so do check food labels carefully...

You may want to have a look at the UK food link in my signature. Single protein foods should be noted in the comments column. (And please get in touch if you need any help.)

I am so sorry that you and Murphy are going through this, Amy.
How are Murphy's numbers? Still good, I hope? And how are you..?

Eliz

 

[granadilla]

I can't offer food suggestions as I'm in the U.S., but I wanted to say good luck! My kitty is dealing with IBD so I'm also trying novel proteins on her. Duck hasn't seemed to make much difference (at least not yet). Best of luck to you and your kitty.

 

[Amy Dobson]

Hi all,
Thank you for your replies.
We're doing well, aside from Murphy's continual itching around his head. Treatment for mites definitely helps, but I've a feeling he's sensitive to food too. It's tricky because he's very slowly healing from corneal ulcers, which also causes the itching. But every day he's producing black wax in his ears, which possibly suggests an allergy to food (to my mind).

We currently buy him the Granatapet range from the happy kitty co. Which has been great at helping keep his numbers in check - he came otj whilst on this food, so we've understandably continued it.
However I *think* he might have a reaction to chicken and duck.

I'm going to try the venison or lamb ropocat range and see where that takes us.
I might ask about a blood test again , though my vet said they're completely unreliable and not worth it. Does anyone think it would definitely help? Our vet has suggested a skin biopsy, but I'd rather hold off from doing anything too invasive. Murphy absolutely hates the vets.. he's terrified and it without a doubt puts him out of kilter for a few days when we go.

I need to buy some food whilst we wait for the ropocat order to come. Our local waitrose sells Lilly's kitchen.. do you happens to know if the lamb flavour contains chicken?

Thank you

 

[Amy Dobson]

Oohh and Murphy is doing well still otj, with BG numbers pretty much spot on the 5 mark each time I check (every few days).

 

[Critter Mom]

The Lily's Kitchen flavours are very, very rich and strong smelling. Also, watch out for the tray 'dinner' varieties. Unless they've changed the recipe recently, they definitely contain carrageenan. It upset my civvie's GI tract, and it also triggered a MASSIVE pancreatitis flare in Saoirse. Recently I tried my civvie on one of Sainsbury's Taste the Difference pouches. It gave her the runs and I found out when I checked with Sainsburys that it also contains carrageenan.

If you have a Pets at Home store near you, they might have this:

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...r-duck-and-pheasant-complete-cat-food-6-x-85g (no chicken, roughly 6.5% kcal from carbs).

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

We currently buy him the Granatapet range from the happy kitty co. Which has been great at helping keep his numbers in check - he came otj whilst on this food, so we've understandably continued it.
However I *think* he might have a reaction to chicken and duck.

All of the Granatapet foods contain salmon oil, so might that also be a possible culprit? Or is Murphy OK with some of the Granatapet foods?

The Lily's Lamb food does contain chicken, and beef too!
"Produced from 100% Controlled Organic Farming Freshly Prepared: Organic Lamb (30%), Organic Beef (20%), Organic Chicken (5%), Organic Pork (5%), Organic Carrots, Organic Dandelion, Organic Nettles, Organic Spirulina, Carrageenan, Taurine, Vitamins and Minerals."

The range that Aine has posted a link to above looks interesting, and if you want to avoid duck there is a 'turkey and rabbit' version of the food.

There are very few single protein complete foods, or foods that don't contain chicken (or unspecified 'animal derivatives'), in supermarkets. Those I've found so far are all fishy, such as Thrive tuna (in silly little tins) and Tesco finest fish multipack (contains tuna, mackerel and sardine)...
Edited to add: There's also the Hi Life 'Tempt Me' fishy pouches (containing tuna and mackerel) that should be available from Waitrose.

Does Murphy like raw meat? If so, then you may be able to find minced lamb or turkey in the supermarket. These aren't complete foods, but you can add up to 20% plain meat (equivalent of one meal out of five) to the diet, as long as the other foods are complete.

 

[Amy Dobson]

Aine, Murphy really didn't do well with Lily's kitchen.. his face scratching went off the scale.
Eliz - thank you for your recommendations.. The ropocat only arrived today (love that they include a toy mouse and dried treats). Thankfully he loves the venison
My understanding was that it would take a while to see if there was a sensitivity. But is it possible there could be an immediate reaction? He's not groomed in his usual post food frenzied way or scratched his face since having it?
Thank you,
Amy

 

[Critter Mom]

I was really underwhelmed with Lily's Kitchen foods. I think they're designed more for humans than cats. They certainly smell more like human food - something you might find at a charcuterie?

That's really good news about the reduction in postprandial grooming activity, Amy. One thing I've learned from learning more about Saoirse's clinical signs and observing them closely is just how fast her coat condition can change during the day. I think it's definitely possible that Murphy is deriving immediate benefit from his new vittles.

I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know how he gets on with the Ropocat Venison going forward - maybe drop me a PM in a while when you've had time to gauge his response to it?



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