Hypoallergenic diet because of a skin rash? Experiences?

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

Poor Willow has licked herself raw, then been through all sorts of tests and medications until the vets decided it was an allergic reaction and she was probably allergic to flea bites, despite being treated preventatively for them (only takes one bite etc..) but it could be food. Steroid injection helped hugely, but as soon as it started to wear off her skin has a rash again and she has again licked herself sore.

She's been given another injection and we have been advised to start swapping her over to a hypoallergenic diet in the meantime to see if that stops it coming back.

She is already a fussy madam who doesn't like a lot of cat food flavours. We have a bag of hypoallergenic food but don't expect this to go down very well. But we've started substituting the normal dry food for a greater % of the new stuff daily. But she normally has a mix of dry and wet (despite turning her nose up at most wet cat foods) food and I'm wondering what we can give her alongside the dry.

Any one with any experience of this?

Not cat but our dog had to have hypoallergenic food and it was life changing for her skin.

There are wet hypoallergenic cat foods available
www.lilyskitchen.co.uk/for-cats/hypoallergenic

14 on this site
www.zooplus.co.uk/search/results?ct=Cat%7CWet%20Cat%20Food&q=Hypoall

Thanks for the links. The Vet was clear that we shouldn't be looking at any grain-free foods. And as they aren't sure what she could be allergic to, it's tricky to decide on a single protein sources. The dry foods have proteins that have been treated to not be recognised as an allergen by the digestive system, apparently.

One of our cats presented with the skin issues as you describe. We switched her into dry only and used the hydrolysed protein food and also an insect protein dry food. She's also pretty fussy but wolfed them both down, particularly the insect protein.
Is there any reason why you also want wet food? Ours is pretty good at drinking water but if you're worried that they're not getting enough you could mix in into the dry and make a mash.
I'd be interested in why your vet advised against grain free. I only mention it as our last cat was fed lily's kitchen and it played havoc with his bowels to the extent he suffered from chronic constipation.

They just said that the cat did need grains in their diet so grain free should be avoided.

I've ordered some insect-protein dry food. She likes a big far blue bottle if she can catch one and eats them so let's see if it goes down well. I know she can just eat dry but we have always fed a mix of wet and dry so it is just what she is used to turning her nose up randomly at !

I have a cat who has atopy (skin disease caused by allergies) her problem is 100% controlled by hydrolysed diet ( she likes Purina HA) and rigorous flea control.

Overall about 20% of skin allergies tend to be food allergies I believe. So diet trials well worth a go.

You’re looking for hydrolysed protein diets ideally.

There are four main ones that I know in the U.K. - Royal Canin hypoallergenic, Hills z/d, Purina HA, and Specific allergen management plus. All have kibble versions, the z/d and Specific have tinned mousse/pâté versions as well. Have to say not the most palatable foods in the world but you might strike lucky.

One of my own skin allergy cats did well on the Lily’s Kitchen duck & turkey pâté as her exclusion diet trial. She refused to eat any of the hydrolysed diets, despite always eating anything else she can get her paws on that she is not supposed to! Obviously we lucked out that neither of those are trigger foods for her. If that had failed I’d have tried a different single source protein as a second trial. We’ve since found she can also tolerate lamb and fish, but chicken, beef, pork, dairy and cereal based things seem to trigger her. So she has turkey/duck/lamb/fish based grain free foods and she is fine. Apart from when she minesweeps the other animals’ bowls or ‘helps’ clean dishes waiting to go in the dishwasher 🤦🏻‍♀️.

We've been on a cycle of exclusion diets and steroids for about a year now. Our Penny has dermatitis and when it's bad she chews in between her toes until her paws bleed, it's awful!

Royal Canin Hypoallergenic didn't work for us, she had a flare up after being on this exclusively for a few weeks so had to go back on the steroids.

Right now we're weaning off steroids and on to Royal Canin ANALLERGENIC food which is eye watering expensive but vet assures us it's the only way to do an exclusion diet ...

I would be giving her chicken and fish tbh

Mine has a flea allergy and also pulls out his stomach hair for fun
He's fed grain free (they don't need grains, think about what stray cats would eat) and he has a steroid jab every 12 weeks
I know when he needs one as he will start vomiting and I will find clumps of hair around the house!

I have mine on the royal can-in sensitivity control, which is wet and dry. I had him allergy tested, he is very allergic to lamb, beef, pork and dairy. He does great on this food, only problem is I have 6 of them, and they all have to be on it to protect him. I’ve found they all love it, they get a mix of wet and dry.

Where did you get the allergy testing done? I've looked online and seen a few places, with wildly varying prices, and other sites saying it's very difficult to actually reliably test cats for allergies.

She's currently eating the Soya based one, but ignoring the insect protein based food. Oh well, it was worth a try.

We are on day 3 of her being on the hypo allergenic diet, and I'm sure she's missing the odd dreamy, but she is eating the food. If she flares up again in a few weeks when the steroids wear off she'll need another as they said it can take 6 to 8 weeks to be able to reliably say that she has been on the diet long enough so that a flare up will rule out a food allergy.

And if it does flare up again we are back to square one. She is finally out of her suit again as her skin is seeming to settle down, but the amount of damage she does to her skin while over-grooming is distressing to see until it settles down.