OT But Need Ideas

[Anitafrnhamer]

Squeaker is still in remission from a relapse in May 2014.

At the time of the last relapse, the IM also thought he had food allergies due to the extent of self wounding he was committing. At that time he advised changing food to Hill's Rx d/d. There were only two flavors to choose from: venison and duck. I started him on the venison and after a couple of months he stopped eating this. So I switched to the duck which he did eat. The feeding calculation was 1 3/4 cans per day but he wouldn't eat more than 1 can.

Due to concurrent health issues (sodium restriction/RCM and a 2/6 murmur as well as chronic renal failure) I have blood work run every 2 months. The Nov 2014 results showed a blood serum calcium level of 15. I had an ionized calcium test to follow up and those results showed the iCA as 1.67 (range 1.00-1.40 mmol/L). The gen vet and I decided to try a food change; additionally, Squeaker's consumption of the d/d duck 1 week prior to the Nov 2014 blood work had dropped to 1/2 can per day. Despite using an appetite stimulant he would not eat more than 1/2 can. The gen vet consulted the IM about a custom diet and the recommendation was either BalanceIt or OSU. I am in Ohio so OSU was chosen.

All necessary test results and information were forwarded to OSU. The nutritionist there stated the d/d was the best food for Squeaker to use. I don't know if they didn't pay attention to the elevated calcium and the fact he was refusing to eat the d/d or what but they insisted that the d/d was the most appropriate food.

The gen vet and I decided that since Squeaker wouldn't eat the d/d anymore that we would switch to another commercial brand. After much searching, we thought that Weruva On The Cat Wok would be a good choice. I switched to this for two months and had the standard CBC run in Jan 2015. The blood serum had droped to 12.4 (8.0-11.8 mg/dL) so the change in food did seem to lower the calcium level. However, one week before the Jan blood work, the scratching/wounding began again.

We thought that the allergy response could be from the beef in the product so I switched to 3 other flavors of Weruva that do not contain beef. Yet, after 2 weeks the scratching not only continues but seems to be worse.

It seems the gen vet is possibly not sure what to do now as he really is not being helpful at this point. I am looking for ideas as to what I could possibly feed Squeaker that he would not have an allergic reaction to, that he will eat consistently, and that will be compatible with all of his health concerns and dietary restrictions.

Any thoughts?

Anita and Squeaker

 

[KPassa]

You might be interested in this post by @Christi & Noodle about non-invasive allergy testing.

Noodle had symptoms exactly like the ones you describe and had every test in the book. He also tried diet after diet (vet-prescribed). No improvement. In fact, he got worse than ever on the so-called hypoallergenic and hydrolyzed protein diets (Hills Z-D, etc.) Finally, out of desperation, I was unloading all this long history on a new vet. He asked me if Noodle had ever been tested for food allergies. I told him that in the whole 4 YEARS of this struggle and several vets, NOT ONE had ever told me there was such a thing. So they took blood, sent it off to Spectrum Labs (it cost $140) and it came back that Noodle was highly allergic to TUNA, SALMON (in many, many canned cat foods), rabbit (in the so-called novel protein diets), soy (in Z-D), corn (in the Royal Canin he had been living on--again, vet-prescribed), tomato (in some canned cat food--why, I don't know) wheat, brewers rice (the lead ingredient in many dry formulas) and brewers yeast. Quite a list! So I took my magnifying glass to the canned aisle of the pet food stores and bought safe trial formulas that did not have any of those ingredients. Noodle was also a newly-diagnosed diabetic so I had to also factor in the high-protein, low carb foods. Well, it was like someone threw a switch. After we eliminated those ingredients he had firm, non-smelly stools for the first time since we adopted him 5 years ago. He had had a biopsy a month before showing mild-moderate IBS and due to the findings, the pathologist strongly suspected allergies. It turned out to be true. The only diarrhea Noodle has had since was when he was given antibiotics for a UTI and then, recently, for his dental. I'm sorry, I know this is a LONG post and many vets/people scoff at food allergy testing. But all I can tell you is it was an absolute miracle for Noodle and I wish I had done it years before. The hundreds of dollars I spent on tests and vet-prescribed crap food I would love to have back I hope you find the right solution for poor Eddy. Believe me, I feel your pain. I know how disheartening and hopeless it seems when you do everything you are told and it doesn't make any difference. Please keep us posted.

Christi

 

[Vyktors Mum]

i was wondering if you could try a raw diet but reading through the previous post allergy testing would really seem like the way to go - life will be so much easier if you know exactly what you need to avoid

 

[BJM]

You may need to home cook a diet using BalanceIt, rather than a commercial diet.