Kitty Food Allergies
Sunday, October 25th, 2009I intended to write much sooner but it’s been a bit crazy around here. Most fortunately, our Baby has been home since last Monday. I was so very happy to see her. I think she was happy to see me too but, of course, that would be totally beneath acceptable kitty behavior to exhibit that much emotion.
When she first came to live with us, she was absolutely insane when we put her in the carrier and after being kept in a cage all weekend, I expected the same behavior. I was wrong, thank goodness. She did let me know she would really rather not but she was pretty good all the way home. (It’s about 25 miles from Keizer to the vet’s office in Albany, Oregon so it takes about 30 minutes to get home.)
I was also afraid Gizmo would have “forgotten” about Baby and she would relapse into her old snappy behavior, but again, I was most happy to be wrong. Giz gave her a good sniff (from a safe distance of about 2 feet) but she didn’t hiss or slap.
I understood the nurse to say Baby could not have any fish but she could have a variety of other flavors of foods. I thought she could still have Fancy Feast but not the fish flavors. The next day Baby threw up in the doorway to the livingroom and sometime during the night, she threw up in the laundry room. I called the doctor as soon as he opened on Wednesday morning and asked if I should bring Baby back to see him.
I was most grateful that Dr. Braat took the time to talk to me himself so I finally understood exactly what he wanted me to do. I’m not criticizing the nurse in anyway; I am hearing impaired and I may not have heard her instructions correctly. He explained to me that Baby was not to have ANY Fancy Feast at all. The ONLY brand of food she was to eat was any non-fish flavor of Friskies. I went out and got several Friskies flavors for her to try.
As I was fixing a plate for Baby, I got a surprise from my other little darling. I thought Baby was waiting at my feet to be fed but it was actually Gizmo. She LIKED the smell of the flavor I was feeding Baby. I was really surprised because it was Turkey/Giblet pate for Special Diets. Giz hasn’t liked turkey in a long time.
I started feeding her the same food as Baby. Most unfortunately, after eating the Turkey/Giblet stuff for a couple of days, she suddenly went off it. She hasn’t been too keen on much of anything for the last two days so I’ve been giving her an extra dose of tagamet. She’s shown some improvement but is still a bit fussy.
For the last two years, Giz has had to take Tagamet for her ulcer along with two other medications. I thought she was having an ulcer because she licks herself a lot and ingests a lot of hair. She throws up a lot of hairballs, which I thought kept her tummy upset and caused the ulcer to constantly return. Now, I think she was having food problems along with her hairball problems. I’m hoping that changing her food will help her have fewer ulcers. Only time will tell at this point.
Yesterday, I talked to my sister who lives in Michigan with her family and two kitties. She says that both of her kitties can eat neither Fancy Feast nor 9 Lives. The only food they can tolerate is Friskies. Unfortunately, we had never discussed her cats having feeding problems or I might have thought about allergies in my own cat. I feel really guilty about my poor babies having needlessly suffered as they have but I had NEVER heard of food allergies in cats.
Changing from Fancy Feast to Friskies will have a positive impact on our finances. The Friskies is a lot cheaper than the Fancy Feast, but the thing I liked about the Fancy Feast is that they have the individual serving size cans. When Gizmo was my only cat, I had a lot less waste with these cans. So far, with both the cats on the same food, I don’t have a lot of waste either.
I do worry about spoilage. Gizmo has always been partial to having her food warmed. Often, I microwave her food for 6 or 8 seconds and she will eat it much quicker. Baby really likes the Friskies but she doesn’t like it really cold from the refrigerator either so I’ve been leaving the open can on the counter. I’ve tried several flavors but for buying convenience, I bought two cases of Friskies Turkey and Giblet Pate for Special Diets. Baby still likes this flavor but Gizmo seems to be “not so much” about it right now. I’m still experimenting with different flavors for her.
One of the very best benefits of the change to Friskies is that Baby has completely stopped vomiting. I was very concerned she was going to have continuing problems with the gingivitis and would have to take medication for the rest of her life. Because the medication was causing her to have diarrhea, I really didn’t want her to have to be on it long-term.
Also, our house has been much quieter since Giz continues to have a quieter relationship with Baby. They haven’t been hissing at each other very much. Occasionally, if they come upon each other unawares, they will have a bit of posturing but other than that, life is pretty quiet, thank goodness. We are comfortable enough with the situation to leave them in the house together when we go out.





















