Hypoallergenic food

[Stephen (Astra & Luna)]

Our cat Astra was diagnosed with diabetes last year and we gave her insulin and a diabetic diet until we managed to get her into remission earlier this year.

Unfortunately for that period we were treating her diabetes her stomach was really bad (explosive diarrhoea), so when she went into remission we put her on a diet of the Hills Z/D hypoallergenic dry food, which has sorted that stomach issue out - the vet did offer to do more tests to find out what exactly she’s allergic to, but it involves a long journey to the nearest surgery that would perform that kind of tests and she’s already a very stressful girl so we decided against it.

Sadly she has recently been showing the same symptoms as last year and the vets confirmed a few days ago that her diabetes is back, although her glucose levels aren’t terrible and they hope to be able to treat it only with diet this time, without the insulin injections.

So, we bought the Hills M/D diabetic dry food, hoping it would be okay for her stomach, but unfortunately within a day it’s clear to tell that this isn’t agreeing with her.

Really looking for any advice, the vet said there isn’t any food which will help with both conditions at once, and this seems to be confirmed by a pretty exhaustive web search, but I’m hopeful someone here who has had a similar experience may have some suggestions.

We live in the UK if that helps with any recommendations too.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Unfortunately, the two foods you have been using are very high in carbohydrates. In all likelihood, the Z/D is what threw your cat out of remission. (It helps to remember that remission really means diet controlled.) The dry M/D is also very high in carbs.

I have a couple of suggestions.

• First, get rid of the dry food. It's terrible for diabetes and the ingredients in Hill's foods are not wonderful.
• Look for canned foods that are novel proteins. Generally, look for rabbit, venison, kangaroo, or any food that has not been part of your cat's diet.
• Consider adding a probiotic to your cat's diet. S. boulardii is great for controlling diarrhea. A general probiotic may help to calm things down.
• This is a link to a website on Raw Feeding for IBD Cats. Whether you want to consider a raw diet or not, the information on supplements is wonderful for treating some of the symptoms you mentioned. They also have a Facebook page where you can get more immediate help.
• You may want to consider a raw diet. Many of the canned cat foods contain gums (e.g., guar gum) and carrageenan. These additives can cause GI problems.

I have an IBD cat. I give both of my cats a partially raw diet. I supplement with ZiwiPeak canned food. The line does to contain any gums or other undesirable additives. They also have an air dried product if your cat is a dry food addict. The food is pricey but it's a high quality.

 

[Stephen (Astra & Luna)]

Thank you so much for your reply!

Sorry if this is asking a bit too much, but would this type of food be along the lines of what you’re suggesting (wet food with a novel protein)?

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats...LbVTBmbNJKQAb_0kiqKKdAKFXb8qpOB8aAsFIEALw_wcB

Our two cats are pretty inseparable and will both eat the same food - so unfortunately I think the brand you mention is a bit above our price range of what we can afford.

I’ve ordered some probiotics too.

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

Thank you so much for your reply!

Sorry if this is asking a bit too much, but would this type of food be along the lines of what you’re suggesting (wet food with a novel protein)?

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats...LbVTBmbNJKQAb_0kiqKKdAKFXb8qpOB8aAsFIEALw_wcB

Our two cats are pretty inseparable and will both eat the same food - so unfortunately I think the brand you mention is a bit above our price range of what we can afford.

I’ve ordered some probiotics too.

Hi Stephen, I don't know if the food you posted is low carb or not but you have the idea. I tried finding it on our UK food list and it wasn't there, but there are many options for single ingredient, low carb wet foods for you to consider that you can get on Zooplus.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

You don't need to buy "veterinary" diets, many cat food manufacturers make alternative protein diet foods. A quick search on zooplus found a few. Note that salmon or fish is a common allergen for cats. You might want to look at the proteins in the foods that were giving her diarrhea, and avoid them. Chicken and beef are other common allergens.

 

[Stephen (Astra & Luna)]

Hi again. Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately we're really not having much luck with Astra...

We've tried just about every single protein food we can get our hands on (including most, if not all, on the UK Food list posted above), but she either won't touch it, vomits it back up or still has terrible diarrhoea.

We thought we had her settled on SPECIFIC lamb & rice, which she happily ate for a few weeks and her stools were looking really healthy, but then she started being sick and wouldn't stop. We had to take her to the vets, where she spent two nights (and hated it), then when she came home she wouldn't touch the lamb & rice again.

While she was in the vets, they said she had a urine infection and suspected pancreatitis. Not sure if that's complicating what she can and can't eat, but the vets are really unhelpful when it comes to anything dietary and it's massively frustrating.

Since then we've tried Mac's Mono (all the single protein flavours), Feringa (same again), Blink!, MjamMjam, ZiwiPeak as recommended above, as well as a few other brands.

Really at our wits end. She still looks and acts healthy, but the only thing we can think of is to put her back onto the hypoallergenic biscuits that she was on before the diabetes came back. But we know this will basically mean she never goes back into remission, which really feels like admitting defeat for her and we don't want to do that.

We're desperate, so any help is greatly(!) appreciated.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Has your vet ever suggested getting an ultrasound? It could be good to rule out anything else going on in her GI system. It's possible it's something other than a food allergy going on.

Pancreatitis can cause vommiting, diarrhea, and inappetance. She will need pain relief (it's also painful), anti nausea meds (preferably ondansetron) and maybe fluids. More information here: A Primer On Pancreatitis and Article on Pancreatitis for UK residents

 

[Stephen (Astra & Luna)]

Has your vet ever suggested getting an ultrasound? It could be good to rule out anything else going on in her GI system. It's possible it's something other than a food allergy going on.

Pancreatitis can cause vommiting, diarrhea, and inappetance. She will need pain relief (it's also painful), anti nausea meds (preferably ondansetron) and maybe fluids. More information here: A Primer On Pancreatitis and Article on Pancreatitis for UK residents

Yeah, they did an ultrasound when she was last in and found nothing (she still has the massive shaven patch on her side to show for it too).

A wee bit of an update though - we got some more advice from the vet who has suggested a week of boiled/steamed turkey to see if something really bland and low in fat would help her pancreatitis, before looking to transition her onto gastro intestinal wet foods. So far so good with the home-cooked turkey, no more vomiting (so far) and her diarrhoea looks to be improving, if not fixed quite yet. Luckily I had found a low fat, single protein (turkey), gastro intestinal wet food (from the UK food list above) which is due to be delivered soon anyway, so that seems to be the perfect food to transition her to after a week or so. I'll leave a link to it here in case it's useful to anyone else:

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/integra/integra_cans/99036

Thanks again for the help and advice.

 

[Teetee (UK)]

Hi @Stephen (Astra & Luna)
You can use this carb calculator to work out the carb content in food, i use it all the time.
https://secure.balanceit.com/tools/_gaconverter/index.php
Regarding Astra's food, we had loads of problems with our cat not eating and having severe bouts of pancreatitis (confirmed on 24th June)
One night (30th August) he had a low number and we gave him high carb Gourmet Gold to bring his numbers up a bit, for days after that his bloods were all over and he was in pain, off to the vets and pancreatitis was confirmed again with blood tests.
Obviously at the time we didn't know what caused it but something caused his bloods to be all over and the only thing different he had that night was the Gourmet Gold that contains the vegetable protein extract.
We stopped giving him Gourmet Gold because it contains vegetable protein extract because for some reason reacts badly to it, also he started reacting badly to whiskas and we couldn't understand why until i read the ingredients and low and behold they had started adding vegetable protein extract to it.
Now all we give him is Sheba fine flakes in jelly which does not contain the veg protein extract and he's not had one bad episode since and ate every meal since. No pain killers, no antacid and no appetite stimulants at all since swapping foods, (fingers crossed he stays that way) coincidence or not i don't know but i believe it's not, maybe that's Astra's problem and worth a try.
P.S
Just looked at the Z/D cat food and it also contains veg protein extract.