Dog Community

Cats with Food allergies?

EW

Posted : 1/31/2007 8:26:56 PM

Does anyone here have a cat with food allergies? Mine older cat has them, if he eats the "wrong" food he gets these horrible excema like spots that he has to scratch and lick and then they take forever to heal, sometimes get infected. Its sad. Anyway, with Science Diet Z/D he's problems are under control, the only real problem I have is this stuff is so expensive. $20+ for a 5lb bag. And between the 2 cats (there's no way to keep the other cat from eating the other's food...so they both eat it) they can zoom thru that bag in about 6 weeks or a little less. I've been feeding them this for years...but I'm wondering if anyone has a different pet food that's worked for their cat with food allergies? I'd just love some input, either less expensive options or options that don't require the vet...because sometimes waiting for the vet to get the food in and be open when I'm available to get the food (my schedule's a little odd) is almost as painful as the cost of the food! Sorry for rambling, thanks for any help!

astaracheetah

Posted : 2/1/2007 12:32:24 AM

My cat developed a food allergy after eating Innova EVO for a few months. She started scratching at her face and scabs appeared, and she'd scratch those until they bled... it was awful... antibiotics didn't work, she didn't have ear mites or anything... so the vet had me put her on IVD Green Peas and Rabbit for a while to see if the scabs and her itchiness went away. All her scabs are gone now, after a month. So she is allergic to something in the EVO. At least I know it's not a grain, since EVO is grain-free... that narrows it down a little.

Food allergies are so expensive... >-.-< I paid $30 for an 8lb bag of that stupid food, and after this, I'm going to end up having to do an elimination diet which is going to suck. After I figure out what she is allergic to, I'll be switching her off this prescription crap... Natural Balance and Nature's Variety (I believe) make allergy diets, so I want to try those.

It really depends on what your cat is allergic to in the food. A more common ingredient will narrow down your choices by a lot. >X.x;<

marynh

Posted : 2/1/2007 8:28:15 AM

I had a foster who had food allergies and she wouldn't eat the ZD food (I ended up giving it to her adopter....that hurt at that price).
I also had to give Lonnie prednisone cause she was really digging up her back and head - she is a snowshoe meezer and the pred ended up turning her entire body gray!!! Apparently it's a rare side effect of pred interfering with the hormone balance but her brown coloring turned white in a matter of 2-3 days!!! She went home in December and her brown areas are just starting to turn brown again.
I had to give her c-chlor - a mild antihistimine. I gave her 1/2 tablet once a day for 5 days and stopped. It cleared it up. I wouldn't do this unless adviced by a vet but it helped immensely and she continued to eat what my cats were eating. And her adopter reports she has had to give her the c-chlor for 3 days just one time since she's been there.

keedokes

Posted : 2/2/2007 11:07:01 PM

You could try asking your vet about Felidae. It worked really well for our 6 y/o, Maia. It's about $30 for a 20lb bag, and it's great for their skin, too. It's human grade, really top quality schtuff.