hello, you're new2cats and I'm new to this forum so that's a good start..
In brief, no it's not abnormal at all for your cat to be allergic to chicken.. We got a darling 9 year old rescue cat, Laughing Boy, a year ago and he was in a terrible state scratching and licking himself all day and night - he ended up with bald patches on the top of his head, no fur on his neck as well as biting all the fur off his front legs and creating huge bald patches on his stomach. It was unbearable watching him and we felt so helpless. First of all the vet said it was a flea allergy, then they said it was behavioural and he must be stressed but you couldn't get a more laid back (well when he's not scratching..) cat and so I was sure it wasn't that. Anyway, to get to the point, after 5 months of nothing really resolving itself we took him to a cat dermatologist as we had insurance ( given the cats and dogs home had said he was 'fit and healthy' when they gave him to us) and thought it was worth it. They do all manner of tests, including blood tests, and it transpires he is allergic to chicken, milk, all oily fish, rabbit, fleabites and, worst of all, house dust mites!!! On the one hand it was a relief to know he had no serious illness but on the other what a nightmare - unfortunately there is not a single cat food available in supermarkets that lets you know exactly what is in them and even the ones that he theoretically should be able to eat such as cod and prawn all contain chicken!! Its a real eye opener when you start looking at the crap that our pets are meant to eat and not really surprising they get ill.
Anyway, fortunately, Royal Canin make dry and wet food called 'sensitivity control feline' where the molecules in the food are such that they dont' trigger an allergen or reaction and the best thing is, unlike some special diet foods, cats generally love this stuff ( one is duck and rice, one is blue whiting and one is actually chicken but it doesnt' cause a reaction) I also get him Herrmans beef and quinoa ( zooplus stock it) and it literally contains organic beef, quinoa and spinach so is ethical and good for Laughing Boy and he adores it - your cat could the fish one they do too. I also buy him those oblongs of frozen coley ( cheaper than cat food) and just poach it in water ( as i can't use milk) - sometimes i mash in a few peas and he loves that too. So, you see, it doesn't have to be that limiting a diet and I would have loved someone to have told me all this but it's taken me a year to get to this stage through trial and error. The good news is I'd say LB is 90% better -he'll always have few scabs and itches as we can't keep our house dust free and I wouldn't want him constantly on steroids , but i would never underestimate the effect of food on our pets - both health wise for the animal and ethically for us ( e.g. pick up any can on the shelf and it will say 'animal derivatives' ):
Rant over but I really hope that has helped you and anyone else out there who has a cat with an unknown allergen. By the way, dermatologist cost £300 and of that we had to pay a £50 excess plus 20% of the balance ( that's because LB is over 9 but younger animals wouldn't need to pay that). In hind sight we would have been better to pay that £100 out at the start rather than endless fruitless trips to the vet.
Cathy
20-11-2009, 10:12 AM
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