My cat is having allergies to the dry food I am feeding her. Which brand is good for sensitive kitties?

Question

I have tried felidae and innova evo, but both are giving her a rash around her neck. I was giving her canned felidae and she got really really sick. So, now she has raw food. I have cut out her treats and the vet told me dried chicken should be fine as a treat. But I need a dry food also because the raw is too expensive as the only food. So, what dry food is good for cats with allergies? What ingredients is she most likely allergic too so that I can avoid them?

Answer 1

If you truly feel that your cat is food allergic, you should put her on a limited ingredient diet, like the Royal Canin or Hill's prescription diets, they make several protein plus green pea diets. The one I always suggest to begin with is the Green Pea and Rabbit, because rabbit is a protein that they have never been exposed to - and it is very unlikely that she'll have trouble with it. So, start her on the 'novel' protein diet, and give her a few weeks on it until you see improvement with her skin issues plus one more week, then you can strt to introduce new foods - ONE per week, only. Like, cook a chicken and shred some of it onto her rabbit food (you can get both wet and dry, in both of these brands, from your vet), and, if, after a week, she is still doing well on the chicken, introduce a second food ingredient and continue with this pattern until you have introduced enough things to her without trouble that you can switch her over to a high quality food, like Wellness or maybe something like Science Diet Z/d which is a 'hypoallergenic' food but is chicken based. If chicken is OK for her, you should be ok switching to a chicken-based food, but you can't switch her back to lower-quality foods because of all the additives.

Good luck, be patient, you'll figure it out :)

Answer 2

Herring.....I believe fish in general can be an allergen for some cats, and I do recall hearing somewhere of a cat who reacted badly to herring.

This is just a shot in the dark though - Evo has lots of ingredients, but herring is higher up the list and jumped out at me.

Felidae cat & kitten also has herring, and also cranberries and rosemary extract, which are both in Evo too. The chicken and rice formula doesn't - not sure which you were feeding?

Of the three good dry foods I know of, Nature's Variety Instincts seems the most different from Evo. The other is Core, but the ingredients are rather similar to Evo's.

On the other hand, the general rule is that for cats with food allergies, it's best to go grainless and they're likely to do better with canned food, and especially ones with novel protein sources. If you want to supplement your raw feeding, why not try using canned food? A brand like Natural Balance isn't expensive, and they have a venison & green pea one. Venison is considered a novel protein, and I've even heard it touted as being good for sensitive systems.

I used to feed that and both my girls did well on it.

Answer 3

There's a food I used from the vets (prescription) that worked pretty well with ours, it's Venison & chick pea. There's a few other low allergy foods on the market. If you know what triggers the allergy, it can help (seafood? Wheat? Corn?).

You can do a mix of raw and dry food, which may help. I give ours some raw ground turkey I can get in the 1 pound tubes (it's flash frozen, very fresh) as well as some bits and pieces of what I'm cooking for supper.

Answer 4

I have a kitty with allergies as well who licks himself bald if I give him the wrong food or litter. I have had great luck with him on Science Diet Sensitive Skin Formula. It's expensive, but he has his fur back now and has for the past year so it must be doing good for him. Your vet can give your cat an allergy test to see exactly what she is allergic to.

Answer 5

The mother cat will know when to start the kittens on the dry food. Just keep finding the mother and the kittens will start eating the food when they are ready. If they seem to be having problems you could soften the dry food a bit with warm water. Maybe you could put the mother and the kittens in a large box if you intend on having them fixed and caring for them.

Answer 6

Iams or Wellness. I would try canned food instead of dry; it's bettter for them. or a combination of canned & dry. A vet should be able to do allergy testing if you really want to know what to avoid. Good luck.

Answer 7

NEVER, NEVER NEVER feed your cats JUST dried food - it damages their liver. Cats obtain some of the liquid they require from their food as opposed to actually drinking. Therefore they need 'moist' food as well as the dried biscuit type. By all means put some of the dried food in with 'tinned' food as a 'treat' or to bulk out the food in the bowl.

Answer 8

cats have allergies to foods with dyes in them mainly red dye #40 but all other dyes as well

Answer 9

Here are some resources that could help you determine what your cat buddy is allergic to:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?articleid=142

http://cats.about.com/od/catfoodfaqs/f/allergyfood.htm

http://www.purinaone.com/catcare_cond_atoz_article.asp?Seed=615&ArticleNumber=2

Tell your cat I hope she feels better :)

Answer 10

Iams.