Bengal has food allergies

sophie0816 · **Joined:** Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:32 am **Posts:** 6

So my 4 year old Bengal girl suddenly lost a good bit of hair near the base of her tail a few weeks ago. I thought perhaps she'd had a tussle with her sister, so I gave it a couple days. No improvement in hair, so I took her to our vet. I gave the go ahead for allergy testing via blood work. Food allergy results came back today: Oats, Venison, Blueberries and Cranberries. :eek:

My babies currently eat Blue Wilderness Indoor Chicken Formula Dry food...turns out it has both blueberries and cranberries in it. :rolleyes:

They also eat the Blue Wilderness wet cat food, but none of those ingredients are included so I am good on wet food.

I'm looking for suggestions for grain-free food that don't contain the berries (or oats, venison)...this is where I'm struggling. Nearly all of the top grain-free brands I've researched have the berries. Anyone else had this issue and found a food they felt good about feeding their little nuggets?

Thanks!!

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

At least you found out the culprit for your kitties! There are hundreds of different types of cat food on the market -- reading the ingredients or just surfing online and reading the ingredients will lead you in the right direction. Thankfully, mine is not allergic to any foods. I know a lot of the grain-free dry food will contain some fruit -- don't know why. Cats don't eat fruit in the wild, do they? Based on my limited research, many dry food formulas contain cranberries. Now, I don't know if they are recognizable in the dry food that you could remove them. You may simply have to keep your kitties on the wet formulas. Note, some pet stores have nutritionists that can help you select the proper dry food without the ingredients you want.

brianj12 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 13, 2015 6:50 pm

Wow, how on earth did your vet make that determination? If that's correct, that's really impressive.

In any case, that's pretty crazy. I just checked the dry foods that I use and you're right, they all have that stuff in it!

I think you may need to use one of the "limited ingredient" varieties like:

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/cats/limi ... grain-free

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/produc ... oductId=88

They are specially designed for use with cats will food allergies.

Some of the crappier brands also have limited ingredient formulas, but hopefully one of the above will work for your cat.

The really stupid thing is that Blue Buffalo and Go (both good brands) each has a whole set of limited ingredient formulas, and all of them seem to have the berries in it (plus a HUGE list of ingredients :rolleyes:

)

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

Yeah, the cheaper dry foods won't have all that fruit stuff in it. But there must be foods out there for cats who do have food allergies. I use Google constantly, so give it a try and you may come up with something.

sophie0816 · **Joined:** Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:32 am **Posts:** 6

Thanks all! Yes...rather than go the food elimination route, they did a food allergy test via bloodwork. It's shipped to a lab at the University of Michigan, one of the few labs in the country that do it (same as the TF test - hard to find a place to do it but they are out there!).

I'm glad I did, I NEVER would have thought the berries, I would have started with proteins.

I found one at my local pet store, Pet People. It's Natures Variety Limited Ingredient Formula. I have started transitioning to the new food and she is already licking less! :)

I was sad about Blue Wilderness, they love it - they gobble it up. But the berries are everywhere! Even in some Wellness wet foods!!! Crazy!

sophie0816 · **Joined:** Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:32 am **Posts:** 6

http://www.naturesvariety.com/instinct/ ... /lidturkey

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

So happy you found something for your babies!

sophie0816 · **Joined:** Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:32 am **Posts:** 6

Thank you! :biggrin:

COVEN · **Posted:** Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:18 pm

Do you happen to know the place that did your cats allergy testing? I have a cat that has been vomiting for over 8 weeks. Everytime we think it is under control it seems to flare back up. He has tested negative for everything and they believe it is IBD caused by a food allergy. Right now he is on Science Diet D/D (venison and pea formula) and seems better but I was wanting to figure out what exactly he is allergic to. TIA.

sophie0816 · **Joined:** Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:32 am **Posts:** 6

Coven - my vet drew her blood and sent it to a lab at the University of Michigan. Hopefully yours can do the same!

sophie0816 · **Joined:** Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:32 am **Posts:** 6

I will look at her bill when I get home and try to see the specific labs they ran for you.

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

Sophie, hope things are going much better for your kitties.

COVEN · **Posted:** Fri Dec 11, 2015 4:44 pm

That would be great., thank you!

Nblearchangel · **Joined:** Thu Sep 26, 2013 5:41 am **Posts:** 86

Anybody know how long you need to feed your cat the limited ingredient foods to see improvement on symptoms for the food allergy?

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

Two to four weeks is average.

Bengal has food allergies

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