Chook Me!

Where can I find an organic diet for my cat that does NOT have some form of chicken in it?

My cat has severe food allergies to poultry. She has blown out an eardrum twice because of it. I have had her on Venison and Pea, and Rabbit and Pea dry diets. With both of these I have unfortunately gotten stale food. She now will not eat. I have already started diagnostics on her to see if there is something else going on, but she is ravenous and will not eat her food. It is after hours so I can't find anywhere to get food now. I have bloodwork scheduled for tomorrow. But I believe that all her ills are caused by food. I will not feed her a raw diet. There are too many diseases that go along with that. I had her on solid gold for a couple of years - until they added chicken to their mix. I've had her on IVD and Science diet. I have gotten several stale bags in the last several months because the bags are not sealed properly. Any suggestions would be helpful. I am a former Vet Tech and I am familiar with all the Prescription options. I am looking for something else. I have run out of options there, and am looking at the very real possibility that I cannot feed my cat. Result - euthanasia. I am not willing to go there. Rachel, thanks for the input. I, too am a Former Vet Tech. I am fed up with the Hills and Royal Canin diets. When my cat was first diagnosed with food allergies, we put her on Venison and potato dry. She LOVED it. But then one day I opened a new bag and the food was way darker and smelled different. That was how I learned IVD changed the formula from potato to pea. She absolutly refused to eat it. Long story short, I have had her on Rabbit and pea now for about 3 years. My vet office doesn't take back food that is opened. (at $38 bucks a bag it's killing me). I'm tired of getting stale food from them. They don't stand behind their product. I have an e-mail in to Hills as we speak. Waiting on a reply. But in the mean time, my cat is losing weight. Typically 7# now down to 5.9# I am very worried. I am also in communication with the internist I used to work with. Thank you everyone. I do appreciate your information and help. I believe her problem is totally food related. I am still having the bloodwork done, in case there is some underlying cause. I found a specialty pet food store just a couple of miles from my house. I picked up a couple of cans of Merrick's that has no chicken in it. I also ordered a bag of food (they didn't have it in stock). I prefer to feed dry. And she likes it better.

Public Comments

1. Tuna out of the can.
2. Ask your vet , thats the best way to go :)
3. Unfortunately chicken is in most foods as you know. But chicken is not in Hills Feline Light Cans (but is in the dry food). If you can't get your cat to eat anything, she will deteriorate very quickly as you know. So it is better to feed her whatever raw foods she will eat than it is to feed nothing at all - it is only temporary so it is fine to feed her the raw foods that she likes. The issue with raw foods over 'complete foods' (such as foods made by Eukanuba or Hills), is that the raw foods don't neccessarily give the cat all of the vitamins & minerals needed and long term feeding of this may lead to some form of malnutrition. But it is fine to give raw treats in moderation as long as the bulk of the diet is a 'complete food'. If your kitty isn't eating anything at all then raw foods are the best foods until she does eat a complete food such as Hills or Euk. Try not to feed too much fish tho as long exposure to fish can cause lower urinary tract disease due to the excess magnesium & phophorus. (this can cause crystals in urine that can block the urethera - more common in male cats as the urethera is narrower than it is in females). Raw kangaroo or beef could be beneficial with small amounts of fish until you get her onto a proper diet. Avoid too much liver foods as they are addictive & hard to get the cat to eat anything else once they are hooked! To get a cat to eat a new food, you have to mix it with the old food & gradually over a week or two take out the old food & put in the new food. Eg. 90% old 10% new - then 80% old 20% new - 70% old 30% new etc etc - you get the idea. Until your cat is eating 100% new. If she starts to not eat the new % go back to the ratio she would eat for a few days & just go slower with the mix change. The stale bags (if they are chicken free) you should take back to where you bought them & get replacements so kitty has a better chance of enjoying them if they aren't stale. If they were Hills or Eukanuba bags then there shouldn't be an issue as they are always good at replacing faulty product. I wish you all the best with your kitty and hope she improves & gets better very soon. Good luck with it all. Also check out: http://www.evopet.com/products/default.a... and http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products/default.asp?id=1003
4. Commercial food is not the best option as you have little control over the ingredients. Suppliers can change contents with no notice. And as for dry pellets... these are mostly carbohydrates and thus inappropriate for obligatory carnivores like the cat. You may want to try a balanced raw diet (muscle, ordgan, bones and supplements) that avoids poultry. You can even make this yourself. See links for reference.
5. I don't know of that many organic foods and I'm not sure how adamant you are about that. What I can recommend is a GRAINLESS food. Nature's Variety produces several lines of food and all are of the best quality. They offer canned food with novel protein sources - rabbit, duck, lamb, beef, venison, .... and chicken! I don't know if their dry food contains chicken - it seems likely - but at least it is grainless. They also offer commercial raw although I'm not a big fan of that. If you're going to feed meat, then feed meat! Natural Balance also has a fairly decent line of canned foods and at least one decent dry food. I'm not a fan of dry foods, of course, but there are a few I will endorse. NB's duck and green pea is one, as is Evo, Instincts (from Nature's Variety) and Wellness Core. However, I suspect these last three probably do contain chicken.