Food for cat with allergies - Anallergenic choices

[BabbleBee]

DBoyCat has been struggling with an unknown skin condition for a while and it seems very likely it is a food allergy which only started after the fields behind our house were built on.

We moved him onto AVA Hypoallergenic food for skin and fur, but that has been pulled with Applaws by the retailers while the RVC investigate a link with another health condition. He was eating it happily and skin seemed much better, but obviously we’ve had to change again and the Hills hypoallergenic has caused a flare up.

Our vet recommended using anallergenic food which has no meat as protein content, so we got the Royal Canin she advised but he’s not eating it. The only other Anallergenic I can see online is Virbac, but at £45 for a 3kg bag which is a lot of waste if he doesn’t eat that either.

Does anyone have any suggestions? It’s so hard to pinpoint his specific allergen and he needs to eat!

Years ago one of our cats had a allergy, never found out what to but he had steroid injections that helped but in end I put him on raw, I started off buying it but in the end I brought a mincer and done it all myself, his allergy improved with in a week. Might be worth looking into.

There are very, very few hydrolysed diets on the market unfortunately, and even fewer that are available in the UK.

I believe Hills do one but the price will be similar to the Virbac. Purina do a hypoallergenic dry and wet diet I believe but again, not cheap and also not quite what you're looking for.

Has the vet done any allergy testing?

I’m not sure it’s quite what you’re looking for as others have said but my male cat has been on Purina HA for over 4 years due to chronic vomiting (lovely!). Can recommend it, it’s about £55/£60 for 2 3kg bags.

I tend to use VioVet to buy his from, they might have something else they can recommend.

My Ddog had allergies (9 food 😂🤦‍♀️ and 2 environmental) and we had him tested which meant we could find a food which was available at retailers which suited him rather than £££ a bag at the vets. It also eliminated his allergy problems.

His insurance covered the allergy test. Is DCat insured? It's a simple blood test.

Thanks for the replies

We’ve been offered allergy testing but was warned that it wouldn’t be specific enough to pinpoint the allergen, but that was when they were saying they thought it was environmental and we needed to be referred to a dermatologist at ££££s

Since posting this I’ve found a guide on identifying allergens by starting a singular protein diet with meat that’s never been offered before, which isn’t dissimilar to going with raw as @FunLurker suggested so I think we’ll do that.

Girl Cat is on Virbac digestive support and that’s what he’s reacting really badly to, so there’s something in that which he can’t tolerate and many of the “hypoallergenic” foods are the same as this, including the Hills version which has caused the most recent flare.

Weirdly he turns his nose up at tuna (not like my old ginger boy who appeared out of nowhere as soon as the tin opener touched the tin!!) but maybe I’ll try something like that now.

Both my cats have allergies. One is on immunosuppressants and immunotherapy (allergic to dust and grass 🤦‍♀️) the other is managed by Anallergenic diet (we use Royal Canin). If your cat is insured, check your cover as we are able to claim up to £200 per year for food that is suggested by a vet. It helps with the cost.

if your cat is refusing the royal canin, could you trial mixing some of his old food into it and gradually reduce the ratio down over a period of time?

ZooPlus is quite a good place to look for foods with unusual proteins.

Allergy testing for DDog (probably 8-10 years ago now) was very specific - turkey, lamb, chicken, beef, corn, soy, wheat, rice, peas, house dust mites and storage mites. I can't see why it wouldn't be specific now?

@PieonaBarm food allergy testing is not hugely reliable and using hydrolysed diet ( not hypoallergenic) is the best way to see if it a dietary allergen. Hypoallergenic is not a protected term so really any food company can bung it on a bag without the evidence to back it up, hydrolysed is a protected term indicating that the protein and carbohydrate has too smaller molecular weight to cause an allergic reaction.
There are onlyfour proper hydrolyse diets in the IK RC anallergenic, hills z/d, PURINA ha and decors specific hydrolysed.
I use PURINA HA for my allergic/IBD cat and she is really good on it.

We had our cat tested and she has multiple skin allergies to dust and grasses, and the report tells us which grasses too. Her skin allergies are worse across her face, which fits with her walking through grass etc face first (and trust me, keeping her indoors is not an option!). She is on apoquel and gabapentin to manage the itching, and prednisolone for flare ups. So far she’s doing great. We did try hypoallergenic diets, but for the most part would refuse to eat them which made getting any medication into her very difficult, she’s not a compliant cat with trying to administer pills the normal way!

Unfortunately we don’t have any of the AVA left to mix in, otherwise I would have done so.

That’s where I ended up yesterday. They have German suppliers offering kangaroo!!

I went into Pets Corner today and they had an insect protein small bag so I’ve got that to try, but they also had single fish protein in small cans. I got him mackerel and herring and he’s wolfed that down so let’s see if he has another flare.

Ultimately I’d like to get both cats on the same food, feeding them separately is a nightmare.

He definitely wasn’t like this until the building work started, I thought it was an allergy to something on the site initially, but the houses have been there a couple of years now. When we first changed the food to the AVA he looked so much better, so I’m certain it’s food and not an environmental allergy.

We found our cat was happy to eat the Purina HA, unfortunately seems that her allergies are due to something else though. It was good as a trial.

We did move gradually though, increasing the ratio of HA to her normal food over several days.

One of my cats had awful skin problems last year/year before (built up over the months). I ended up paying for the allergy tests as I thought it would work the problem out quicker. Luckily no environmental allergies but a couple of food ones. Vet suggested Hills Prescription z/d and that has helped her so much. Completely sorted the skin issues and she is a MUCH happier cat :) I buy it in bulk bags from zooplus.

Definitely raw, foods like Hills,RC and purina I would avoid completely. Raw feeding is the most natural way of feeding and definitely helps with allergies.

Hey - we feed our cats different food, we use those microchip feeders and that solves the issue of the greedy cat eating the fussy cats food 😁. They’re expensive, but so worth it!

Good news - no reaction from either cat now from eating the single protein, no grain / filler fish. So I think it makes sense to move both onto the same diet, and now I need recommendations and to research for a supply!

Hi, could I ask what food you settled on in the end? I'm trying to help my five year old girl but I just can't seem to get her on the right food and she has the same symptoms as yours x

My cat is controlled with Purina HA, but it takes time around 12 weeks to see if the food is helping.