What do your allergic girls and boys eat?

[ElliesNextNameChange]

It seems my newish little lady has multiple allergies. Not mild ones either - at her worst, she had open weeping sores on her paws and ears and was scratching, nibbling and licking herself 24/7. Her skin is now healing, fur growing back, and scratching has reduced to an almost-normal cat amount of scratching. She's eating James Wellbeloved grain-free turkey formula. That's it. No variation, no treats. Just that and water. I really hope this isn't all she can eat because she's a thin cat and she doesn't love it. She'll eat enough to stop her hunger, but you can tell she doesn't really enjoy her meals and really she doesn't have an ounce spare on her. She loves fish, but I'm pretty sure that's a major trigger.

One of our cats has started having awful skin reactions over the last year or so. she's had so many trips to the vets, steroids, antibiotics etc. it's been dreadful, I really sympathise with you as its so difficult to get to the bottom of.

We are currently on insect protein biscuits on recommendation of the vet. I am also giving a small amount of wet food with an uncommon single protein so like rabbit/ lamb/ ox etc. At the moment she is having insect biscuits with rabbit wet food so will see if it makes any difference although from what I've read it can take a few weeks to see a difference. We've also switched our other cat onto the same food as apparently that is also important as they groom each other.

The vet also recommended Coatex tablets (which we buy from Amazon) and also giving her the occasional bath. I've just bought the Anicura range which is a shampoo, spray and gel, she had a bath on Monday which was an unpleasant experience! Anyway the spray and gel have been fab, I've not seen her scratching at all which has been a huge part of the issue for her.

Sorry I've really rattled on in that last message. Sounds like you're on top of her skin issues so I would look into adding some wet food with an unusual protein as that might be more enticing for her? My two are never that bothered about their biscuits.

Thank you! How do you and they feel about the insect biscuits? I see the logic in a novel protein but it also seems pretty far from what a cat would naturally eat. She's not bleeding or having sores weep anymore but she's still an itchy girl so I'm hoping I can help her with that. Do they let you shampoo them? I must admit I have never tried to bath a cat. We do have the anicura gel which I've started to apply.

Good job she's so charming as she sure is costing me money 😉

Im not sure really, I don't love it and my preference would be for them to be on a more typical protein source. It's a last resort thing for us as her skin was so so awful and we've tried so many things.

They do seem to enjoy it though, it may be anecdotal but I have owned many cats over the years and I have seen most of them catch and eat various bugs over the years so I don't think it's worlds away from what they are doing when they are outside anyway .

My understanding is that insects are a good source of protein and provide lots of nutrients so can be a very good food source for a cat with allergies iyswim. I wouldn't choose to feed it otherwise though or without vets recommendation. Also as we are also giving the rabbit wet food at the moment I feel like that is a good addition to their diets so they aren't missing out on any protein. It's definitely a very difficult balance trying to find the right foods for her at the moment.

She didn't love the bath but she was very good, I just felt mean so it's not something I will be doing very often! I don't think I will bath our other cat at all as his skin is perfect anyway. The itching is awful isn't it, they don't understand that they are doing more damage! Her itching has completely stopped over the last week and I don't know if it's the new food or the anicura but I'm hoping it continues. I have found the only other thing to stop her itching has been steroid injections but the effects don't seem to last long for her so I'm keen to find a better alternative.

Get her allergy tested and then you can know what proteins and foods she's allowed.

That's true, I have seen her catch and eat flies and moths before! We might do allergy testing. I have a vet consult booked for Tuesday so will see what they think. Yes it's horrible seeing them damage their skin when they don't know what they are doing, but touch wood there are no more sores now, just itching. I think the anicura gel is good stuff, though she doesn't like it. She's a bright little thing so hopefully she will realise that having it on makes her feel better soon. My senior cat can eat anything and has perfect skin and perfect digestion. She's a princess in personality but robustly healthy and always has been. This one is a little tough scrappy tomboy with highly sensitive skin and stomach. Ironic!

My cat is a rescue, she had open sores from the scratching when she was taken to them. When we got her, she was on steroids and Hills Z/D dry and wet cat food. The sores had healed and she'd stopped scratching but she had patches of missing fur and just looked scruffy.

We carried on with the Hills, after two months the vet said we could drop the steroids. She stopped eating the wet food (don't blame her, it was a weird mousse).

Now and again I'll give her some tuna or applaws. She's potentially allergic to chicken so I steer clear of that. Vet said allergy testing would be a few hundred pounds and wouldn't necessarily help, so whilst she's not scratching anymore, I just carry on.

She's the same weight she was when we got her, but a lot more fluffy now which makes her look more filled out.

@WhatsitWiggle I've looked at Hills Z/D. Expensive but if that's what she needs its what she needs. No more sores but she was on my bed last night scratching away, so we haven't quite cracked it yet.

I buy in bulk from whoever has offers every couple of months. It has got more expensive (bags were 2kg, now 1.5kg but the price didn't change) but it works for her. There was a non-vet one for sensitive skin from Royal Canin that might be a bit cheaper?

Have you tried novel proteins on a raw diet?

Our cat has allergies which testing revealed to be to a variety of grasses and pollens. She’s very much an outdoor cat so keeping her in would make her utterly miserable. We did try a number of insect based and some hypoallergenic foods but they were either rejected or made no difference. She’s now on mostly applaws wet and dry.

We manage symptoms with a low dose of steroid, gabapentin(to help reduce the itching), and she has apoquel which is only licensed for use in dogs. This keeps it under control - the scratching got that bad she had open sores on her head and her ears were scabby.

@BlueRidgeMountain mine is a very outdoorsy girl as well, she voluntarily spends many hours outside every day. Dry grass definitely sets her feet off, when the grass is wet its much better so I guess the water is diluting the pollen.

On another note, she and my senior cat lay back to back with their bodies touching in the same den for the first time yesterday, which made me very happy. I've had her just over two months and there were some problems settling her in. Senior girl will reprimand her sometimes (as she should to be honest - sometimes the little one needs reprimanding) but the fact she let her in her den and lay together with her shows me she now considers her "annoying little sister" and part of the family.