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Old December 30th, 2010, 02:31 PM
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aarnat aarnat is offline
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Join Date: May 2008
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Question Cat food sans chicken

As the title suggests, I'm in the market for some cat food that has zero chicken. That means no eggs, no feathers, no chicken eyeballs. Absolutely nothing chicken... which is proving nearly impossible !

The reason is that my boy Odin has an incredibly rediculous allergy to it. He was never formally tested at the vet persay, but we did a special diet and the result is when there is no chicken present in his food - he's ok!

Currently Odin is eating medical hypoallergenic duck and potato. Though it's working out alright... he still has some minor reactions. I haven't noticed too much lately, but there's the odd puke here and there. Not a furball.. full on puke. He hasn't had bloody diahrea since the new food, so I know he's doing better... but I have to wonder how long this food will last before he builds an allergy to it. This is basically how everything started about 4 years ago.

I hope that he can keep on this food for longer, but I'm thinking before it gets to the point of complete intolerance that I will find him another food to interchange so that his body doesn't build allergies.

I refuse to buy grocery store brands and most big box pet food store stuff... so I don't mean to offend if I refuse certain brands but based on my experience, that stuff is worthless and has only caused us bigger issues. I have a BIG pet peeve with many pet food companies out there so it's a struggle to find a good food for my babies. I just thought I would put that out there... so nobody thinks I'm a total snob... I just don't agree with animal cruelty, cheap fillers, bad ingredients, and random chemicals. My furball deserves better

Anyway, I've tried the raw diets, and as appealing as they are to me.. it literally put him inches from death. I apologize but raw is not a food for him no matter how much praise it gets. Wet also results in a quick bout of bloody stool so I can't switch him to a full on wet diet. Kibble he does good on.. and I sub a bit of wet here and there. This is the best possible combo I can get atm.

My dilemma is him starting to show signs of introlerance. I saw dick van patten's but it too is duck... same protein source. It may be a good subsitute if it doesn't cost as much as medical. I've tried evo - bad results. California naturals - equally bad. Solid gold worked until the chicken in it built up in his system then he had his last reaction which lasted him about 5 months.

I'm not sold on home-made.. mainly because I don't want to miss any possible ingredients and nutrients my boy will need. I don't want him to suffer because I was too dumb to know cats needed x vitamin or x ingredient and I haven't yet come across a recipe to explain to me exactly what my cat needs and what the diet provides/lacks. I'm just not confident in myself whatsoever.

Anyway... long ramble... but any suggestions out there? The extent of his allergies are alopecia, scabbing, scratching, puking blood, pooping blood (literally just blood). I have often woken up some mornings to so much blood on the floor I was worried that my kitten wasn't alive. Something as trivial as picking out a food to feed him is enough to stress the heck out of me worrying that the new food will put him in a relapse. He's happy right now... and I'm hoping I can keep him happy and avoid any further problems if this food he's on atm isn't cutting it
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