my brother thinks his cat is allergic to dried egg product in its cat food...can this be true?

Question

my brother said that his vet told him to keep switching his cats food to find one that doesn't make it sick. it has irritable bowel syndrome and possibly food allergens. he said the ingredient that he thinks his cat is allergic to is the dried egg product. is there any cat foods out there w/o egg product? does anyone else have this problem? his cats fur is starting to fall out and it has acne on its chin.

Answer 1

Hi Barb...certainly! Cats can develop allergies to ingredients in their own food as well as treats we offer them. My cat also cannot eat eggs or anything which contains corn, corn meal and byproducts ... the symptoms are scratching viciously which takes out tufts of hair. Most cats develop allergies to corn, corn meal found in nearly all commercial grade cat food.

Here is a list of the premium quality foods devoid of fillers and byproducts to maintain optimal health for cats which are found in specialty pet stores such as:
Innova http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=%2F%2Fproduct%5B%40id%3D%272%27%5D
Nature's Variety Prairie http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1352
Wellness http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/cat_index.html
Wysong http://wysong.net/page/WOTTPWS/CTGY/FD
California Natural http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=%2F%2Fproduct%5B%40id%3D%2772%27%5D
Felidae http://www.canidae.com/
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/products/cats/

Here's more on commercial grade cat food and nutrition: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/cat-food/review.html

Whiskas, IAMs, Science Diet, Royal Canin (not their entire product line) Purina, Friskies (most commercial grade cat food) all contain byproducts and corn, corn meal as their primary ingredients. Corn products are actually fillers that are used to bind the dry food together as well as help preserve the shelf life of the food.

Feline Acne is as a result of plastic dishes which harbour bacteria. It is recommended that either glass or stainless should be used to help alleviate symptoms. More on feline acne: http://www.fabcats.org/acneandstudtail.html

Answer 2

Allergies is the easy answer these days for a cat pulling its hair out and having its bowel in an uproar. Unless your brother has actually spent the money for scratch testing on the animal, it is just a guess. That is the only way to know if the cat is allergic to something.

Most of the time, the common sense answer is that the cat is bored out of its mind. There was another post a few days ago, where the vet treated the cat for allergies for three weeks, before finally reaching a diagnosis of ringworm. The poor lady was frantic.

Tell your brother you will believe him when he can provide scratch test documentation. There are real cat allergists out there.

People get a pet cat and forget that it needs active play to stay mentally happy as well as physically strong, and maintain normal weight. They live to romp, run, jump, climb, that is what they naturally do. It is possible to have an indoor cat and still let the cat behave naturally. It takes some attention on the human's part.

Answer 3

It could very well be allergies to some sort of food substance. There are (I believe) scratch tests to determine what he'd be allergic to, but I think they might be kinda expensive ^^;

If you are unlucky, however, it might be a type of meat the cat's allergic to. We have an acquaintance who has a cat who's allergic to beef, for example ^^;

If your brother doesn't mind (and if he has time) making his own cat food from raw ingredients, there's a very healthy "diet" called BARF, tragically enough ;p (It stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.) That way it's easier to exclude the ingredients that the cat is allergic to, and it's also a lot healthier than cat food on the market (and considerably cheaper in the long run). In addition, as many allergic cats are allergic to some of the extra junk in the canned food, you automatically avoid them =)

Also keep in mind that cats don't react well to changes, so to continually switch cat food isn't a good idea, and might in itself cause stress... which could in extension lead to some hair-loss and acne too.

Answer 4

The cat is more likely to be allergic to corn or chicken in his food. Irritable bowel syndrome is caused by any grain in a cat's food (it is not natural for a cat to eat grains).

I feed my cats a raw meat diet (with an appropriate supplemnt powder) and I don't have intestinal problems. As I have been on a number of Yahoo groups discussing raw feeding there are a lot of comments that switching to raw meat eliminates the IBD problems almost immediately.

You can go to www.catinfo.org to learn about preparing the raw diets. I would sure give that one a try - it could solve the problem quickly. Dr. Jean Hovfe has an article on homemade diets for cats at her website www.littlebigcat.com. You could also do some searching for canned cat foods that do not have grains in them. I recently had some Nature's Organic and Nature's Logic canned food to give to my cats. Those two are very meat intensive.

Actually you can go to www.petfooddirect.com and pull up any cat food and find out the ingredients in the food. Cats do need vitamin A in their food as they cannot manufacture it in their bodies from their food as we can. So I think some egg yolk is frequently used to get that necessary nutrient to them. The two canned foods mentions use species liver in their food. That is how a wild cat gets his vitamin A - by eating the liver of his prey.

Answer 5

Yes that's very very true, I have a siamese that gets bad breath from his food, but I can't change the food because my older cats won't eat it. And the Acne on his chin comes from a plastic bowl or a metal/ceramic bowl not being washed often enough. Plastic bowl retain the oil in the food and is then transfers to the cats mouth. They have pores just like us that can become clogged. It is important that their bowls (food and water) and cat littler box get cleaned out for good internal health. (Digestive and Urinary)

Answer 6

Cats are like people too.
Sounds weird I know but it is possible.
So beware. Might want to change cat foods again.
The problems sound a little suver might want to go to the vet as well.

Answer 7

It is quite possible that the cat has allergies. They may not be due to the food. It could be in the environment! I, personally have two cats, and l dog. One cat and the dog, both have allergies to the environment, just like you and me! This is not impossible. What bothers us as humans, definitely affects our pets in the same way. Bad food, bad water, bad owners. Tell you brother to have the "cats" stool checked, this way the bacteriologist will find out if it is in the food. Otherwise, the cat could have a digestion problem, anything, it will be revealed in this "stool" test. then he can have peace of mind knowing the truth.

Answer 8

read the list of ingredients on all the foods you try--youn will find one kitty is able to eat. sometimes corn is a problem, sometimes chemicals are a problem--are the egg product thingies fake eggs?? avoid that stuff.
all the ingredients will be listed, just as they are on many people foods.

good luck. i watch a cat that has allergies--it is very frustrating

Answer 9

Try Hill's Science Diet.

Answer 10

cats have immune systems just as people do and they also can have allergies... therefore... the cat could very well be allergic to a substance in the food.. how to determine exactly wat ingredient it is would definantly be hard to do... the best bet is to change the cat food completely to maybe canned food... and if the cat is still showing allergic symptoms... compare labels and see wat is in both?!?! if problem still persists... consult a vetrinairian...