Skin allergies, raw feeding or other suggestions

[TanyaG]

Interested to know if anyone else has had success or improvements in feline skin allergies or skin issues like dermatitis etc that improved with a raw food diet? Or anything else that helped? Pls share I'm desperate for solutions!! My poor cat Tinka has likely ended up with diabetes from long term steroids use, which have been used on her off and on for past 5 yrs or so to treat skin issues thus driving the condition deeper, suppressing her immunity and increasing her BG. She's now off the steroids and we did see an almost immediate reduction in BG but understandably will take time on the juice to reverse damage but hoping for remission in time on TR method. But for now my girl is in a cone cause of the itching, scratching and licking is so bad and she makes wounds on her ears, fave and body. She's so itchy and has little bumps on her ears etc and they hot and inflamed. My vets hv no solutions. Tried a new online holistic vet and he's recommended a full raw food home prepared diet so iv started that this week and working hard to balance it. I'm not sure what food allergies she has, we tried a cooked elimination diet for almost a year but couldn't keep her on one protein for 3 months at a time without her going off it. Now with homemade raw it's even harder to source one protein for meaty bones and offal. New vet seems undeterred by potential food allergies and just says to rotate at least 3-4 proteins. Can that work? What if she's allergic to one though surely it'll keep her flared? He's posting me out homeopathics to help with detoxification and aupport immune system. Not sure if it's worth paying a fortune for food allergy tests as apparently they often give false positive results. Would love to hear from others on suggestions or your own journeys with kitties. Thanks!

 

[Kris & Teasel]

I have no experience feeding raw food to my cats. Allergies can be/are a response to particular protein molecules and I'm not sure whether cooking alters the protein structure enough to render it more or less allergenic than the raw, un-denatured protein, ie., is raw chicken protein more/less allergenic than cooked chicken protein.

One piece of advice that has been given here before is that if a kitty has some other health issue that needs treatment in order for kitty to thrive and have quality of life then the insulin dosing has to be worked around that. It sounds as though your girl has significant itching and discomfort from allergies. She might need periodic steroid treatment so that she feels better and you'll could adapt your dosing regimen around that.

We can all sometimes get so focused on one issue - eg. eliminating food allergens - that we lose sight of the bigger picture: is my kitty as happy and healthy as I can get her, medical complexities and all?

 

[Pati]

I have no experience with cats and food allergies but I do with dogs.
I am aware of the "rotate the proteins" theory as well as the counter argument opposing that. Each side is adamant about their opinion. One counter point is that to do an elimination diet you need to use a novel protein and if you have been rotating proteins it becomes challenging to find a novel one. With dogs we usually do a single novel protein for a period of time, often 6-12 weeks. It takes some time after the allergen is removed for the symptoms to abate. Then a single ingredient at a time is added back. This includes the supplements to balance the diet as the sensitivity can be to something other than the protein. It sounds like you've already been through (or attempted) the process but Tinka wouldn't continue eating the single protein. I have no experience with that.

As to raw or cooked, I have a dog allergic to turkey. It makes no difference whether it is raw or cooked. Her skin turns red, her ears become inflamed, and she scratches constantly. So much so that I do not have turkey in the house. She also cannot eat oatmeal.

On the one hand if you are going to try the new vet you might follow what he says exclusively to see if it will help. I, like you, wonder how you can rotate in and out of multiple proteins when one of those is likely to be the culprit. You might ask him that question.

If you decide to go the route of an elimination diet again there are a lot of limited ingredient diets on the market now. If you decide to home prepare, I get my animals' meat from White Oak Pastures in Georgia. They do ship. I am able to get any species protein plus offal that I want.

One challenge you might have is your elimination diet has gone on so long now that you can't be sure whether it is a particular ingredient or lack of an ingredient such as zinc. If you think that might be true you might look at some of the limited ingredient commercial diets that use single source and they fill in the gaps with supplements. Again that is not fool proof as Ziwipeak for example uses kelp. Kelp itself is not bad but anyone can be allergic to anything.

Do they use antihistamines for cats like for dogs? That might be a short term solution while you determine the cause.

I have heard the allergy tests are not worth the $.

You might consider a telephone consultation with Lisa A. Pierson, DVM referenced on this message board. She has experience with diabetes and formulating diets.

 

[Critter Mom]

If you decide to go the route of an elimination diet again there are a lot of limited ingredient diets on the market now. If you decide to home prepare, I get my animals' meat from White Oak Pastures in Georgia. They do ship. I am able to get any species protein plus offal that I want.

Very useful to know.

Do they use antihistamines for cats like for dogs? That might be a short term solution while you determine the cause.

Piriton (chlorphenamine) can be used to treat cats.

(Advisory: antihistamines may increase blood pressure so a BP check before starting treatment would be a wise idea.)


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