Kitty dislikes Hill's ZD Diet Food.

[glinda]

Alice rips her fur off in large amounts all over her body and the Vet has put her on ZD Diet. She does not like it and it has been a year. She hasn't gotten allergy tests since they are not real accurate but does end up getting a shot twice a year and that usually helps.
Any suggestions or ideas on this? I have heard Royal Canan makes an allergy food. Any one had a similar problem with their cat?

[japple]

1. Have you tried Wellness or Innova EVO? If they're not

available where you are, you might try Paul Newman's.

[glinda]

5. We tried EVO and that is when she broke out badly.

[Sanity Claws]

2. I think other brands have food for cats with allergies

Do you have a PetSmart near you? If not, go on online and shop there.
I'm thinking Natural Balance makes that kind of food.
You might also try something like Spot's Stew put out by Halo, which has limited ingredients.

Do you know what your kitty is allergic to?

[glinda]

6. I try not to shop at Petsmart much since the food poisonings. They were very helpful

in having a record of my purchases that I submitted to the PetFood Lawsuit. She became allergic after she ate poisoned food. I had read that Halo had had some sort of issues with their food. I think paralysis??????? Can't remember exactly.
I hate Hill's products but I also have a kitty that had Renal Failure as a result of poisoning and he eats his KD and Hill's products. I think that is all he can have is what is for Renal Failure. He now gets 2 IV fluid treatments a day.
We do not know know what Alice is allergic to. I was advised that allergy testing was not accurate so just to forget it. Is that true at all???? I feel so bad for her as she can loose up to 1/4 of her fur.
Our dogs eat EVO and home made wet and our cats are on Instinct, KD and CD. And ZD which Alice hates.
I am not happy with my choices.

[Sanity Claws]

9. Are you sure Halo had problems with food poisoning?

I started using Spot's Stew after the food recalls but I don't recall Halo being involved.
Also, I misspoke. I get Spot's Stew at Petco, not Petsmart. I don't think Petsmart carries it.

In any event, I don't blame Petco or Petsmart for the food problem. I blame the food manufacturers.

[glinda]

10. Halo's problems were in the last four months or so. Not related to the other time.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. I'd second the Wellness or Innova EVO

The Innova EVO is one of the few things my IBS cat can tolerate, and the other cat's coat was improved tremendously by Wellness.

IMHO, Hill's prescription food is crap. IBS cat was on it for awhile, until we discovered EVO. It was full of fillers and made him fat. Until that food, he was really skinny/muscular, and is now back to being really skinny/muscular.

[glinda]

7. What is IBS??????

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

12. Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Basically, he was completely fine until the HUGE pet food recall. He had been eating the recalled Nutro food. Until then, he could eat anything with no ill effects. After eating the recalled stuff, he got a really sensitive stomach.

Most foods cause him to either puke or get diarrhea. The only foods he can eat (that we've discovered) without getting sick are Evo Innova canned, TikiCat canned sardines, very small quantities of dry Wellness, and freshly killed rodents (he has to score those for himself).

[glinda]

13. That damn recall! Three of our cats have been affected. Alice's Immune System

went all to heck at that time. Buster is now in Renal Failure and Smudge has his issues also.

[LeftyMom]

4. My Trin had the same issue.

She's on Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet now. She's mostly stopped the fur removal (before she would look like she'd been shaved anywhere she could reach, now she does one little spot over her left hip and only that one spot- I think it's a bit of a nervous habit for her anymore.)

We tried a lot of different foods to get one she doesn't react to- we never tried Science Diet because it's overpriced crap, IMO.

Royal Canin is good but almost nobody around here sells it. I prefer the Natural Balance because I can get it in big bags at the pet store (okay, at one pet store way out in the burbs clear on the other end of town, but still...) and it's not so expensive that I can't give it to all four cats and save myself a lot of hassle.

[glinda]

8. That's interesting.

The ZD is prescription diet.

[Lorien]

11. Try Natural balance duck and green pea formula

it's made especially for cats with allergies. I'd never trust anything made by Hills. Just read the ingredient list and you'll see why.

Are you sure it's a food allergy though? Flea bite dermatitis and some pollen allergies can cause hair loss too.

[glinda]

14. I think I will look for it but I just asked the Vet and he said we need a certain kind of

Protein or protein processing. I don't think he actually tested her though for anything. I know when she had Evo, at that time, she totally went into hair loss. I know about the flea thing but we have no fleas. It DOES seem that it used to be twice a year at certain times like next Fall she will probably have the same issue. But it seems more now that is near all year round with some times being worse than others.
He gives her some sort of shot and it goes away but I hate Hill's anything and wonder what to do.
We sought out a second Vet for our Renal Failure kitty. Unfortunately he is now on Hill's wet for Kidney and Iams wet for Kidney. I don't know how to get away from the awful Prescription Brands!
Has anyone had their cat tested for allergies and did it work?

[Lorien]

15. Here are a couple of links:

http://www.petside.com/health/petvet/skin-allergy-feline.php

http://cats.lovetoknow.com/Feline_Hair_Loss

CRF info: http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/renalfailure.htm

[realisticphish]

18. This ^^^ NB is great

while SD is garbage. Slightly better garbage than, say, purina cat chow, but still garbage.

[glinda]

21. Am going to a PetCo today to buy some and give it a try. Will let you know.

[glinda]

22. Alice kitty loves the wet canned version of this but will not even try the dry.

Another of my cats won't eat it either. Poooooooo. I hope I can get her to eat it. It smells like peas and alfalfa so maybe that is a turn off.

[Blue Gardener]

16. Personally, I think Science Diet is highly overrated

I had two cats get bloody diarrhea from Science Diet. I switched to Pet Promise and they're doing great. I will NEVER buy Science Diet again.

[glinda]

17. We NEVER use Science Diet for regular healthy animals at all! But it is just the

ones with big issues that we are stumped by and hope to change foods. I am somewhat doubtful about Buster for his Kidney failure but perhaps for Alice's allergies.
PS Thanks for the links!

[realisticphish]

19. One big problem

is that I understand that SD give grants to a LOT of vets. And the vets recommend it, quid pro quo. And, sadly, a large number of vets don't get much nutrition training. One of my friends who went through vet school said they had one single class on animal nutrition, and that included everything from fish and reptiles to livestock.

I have to deal with it all the time (I work in a pet store). People come in thinking that SD is the best food one could possibly buy. They sometimes don't believe me that there are MANY better brands, even when I show them ingredient lists

[glinda]

20. Agreed! We DO NOT do SD for the majority of our pets but two

of our cats are on" prescription SD" foods. Not the normal Science Diet. We would NEVER feed that to our pets!!!!!!!
And when a person goes to the Vet's office, typically Iams/Eukanuba and SD have bribed the Vet Clinics to carry just their garbage. I do know this from a good Vet who explained this to me years ago.
The whole issue is concerning our Alice who does have severe reaction to foods and Buster, who has kidney failure.
We had a holistic-regular Vet and he is the one who put Alice on ZD and Buster on a variety of Renal Failure wet foods. Of course all of these are either Science Diet or Iams although we do wet packaged Royal Canan also for Kidney.
I am not sure the ZD is even working. And she hates it also!