Easy way to wean cat off of Fancy Feast and onto Hills Prescription Diet? - HELP!

wrote in message
news
I'm trying to get my elderly mom to stop giving her cat (with a granuloma
like skin condition on her hind legs) Fancy Feast and try Hills low
allergen Z/D prescription diet formula to see if it was the Fancy Feast
that's the problem.

Fancy Feast varieties with meat (and not byproducts) as the first ingredient
have been part of what keeps my cat from having linear granuloma.

More important has been controlling things like perfumes in litter and on me
and my clothes, dust, mold, and cleaning agents.

If you have not made serious efforts to control the above, do not put the
cat through this. Fancy Feast is high protein, high moisture foods, many
varieties with no grain or gluten, which ARE the main food allergens for
cats. And, they find it delicious. And dry food is going to suck.

Get the cat a Depo shot, control the allergens, and everyone, including
your mother will be happy. My cat gets by on two Depo Medrol shots
a year, and my vet told me they generally do not see adverse complications
unless they are giving the shots more than once every two months.

I have to agree that the Fancy Fease is the least of the problems. Most
cats do much better on Fancy Feast because it is better quality food without
all the fillers.

My mother has a cat with the same problem and I can tell you it's more of a
seasonal allergy type reaction and an emotional response. It's a vicious
cycle you are creating by causing your mom to have more stress over the cat.
The cat cries for it's food, your mom gets stressed this causes the cat more
stress which in turn leads to more licking and chewing to itself. I've seen
it time and time again with my mom cat. Everytime there is some upheaval in
the house or change in schedule she goes to chewing herself and can make
herself sore and bald overnight. Every spring and fall she has the same
type of thing happen. After almost 15 years of it we have just taken to
getting her a depo shot twice a year and if it gets really really bad she
ends up on pills and sometimes valium.

To keep peace in the house and take the cat for the shots, let her feed it
the Fancy Fease and get the carpet cleaned while your moms out of the house.
Stanley Steamer can come in and be done in just a couple hours time.

Celeste




"cybercat" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
news
I'm trying to get my elderly mom to stop giving her cat (with a granuloma
like skin condition on her hind legs) Fancy Feast and try Hills low
allergen Z/D prescription diet formula to see if it was the Fancy Feast
that's the problem.

Fancy Feast varieties with meat (and not byproducts) as the first
ingredient
have been part of what keeps my cat from having linear granuloma.

More important has been controlling things like perfumes in litter and on
me
and my clothes, dust, mold, and cleaning agents.

If you have not made serious efforts to control the above, do not put the
cat through this. Fancy Feast is high protein, high moisture foods, many
varieties with no grain or gluten, which ARE the main food allergens for
cats. And, they find it delicious. And dry food is going to suck.

Get the cat a Depo shot, control the allergens, and everyone, including
your mother will be happy. My cat gets by on two Depo Medrol shots
a year, and my vet told me they generally do not see adverse complications
unless they are giving the shots more than once every two months.

on Wed, 13 Dec 2006 23:46:49 GMT, "Spot" wrote:

To keep peace in the house and take the cat for the shots, let her
feed it the Fancy Fease and get the carpet cleaned while your moms out
of the house. Stanley Steamer can come in and be done in just a couple
hours time.

and do the upholstry, too. Until you eliminate potential environmental
allergans, changing the food is too drastic.

--
Lynne

http://picasaweb.google.com/what.the.hell.is.it/

"cybercat" wrote in
:


wrote in message
news
I'm trying to get my elderly mom to stop giving her cat (with a
granuloma like skin condition on her hind legs) Fancy Feast and try
Hills low allergen Z/D prescription diet formula to see if it was the
Fancy Feast that's the problem.

Fancy Feast varieties with meat (and not byproducts) as the first
ingredient have been part of what keeps my cat from having linear
granuloma.

More important has been controlling things like perfumes in litter and
on me and my clothes, dust, mold, and cleaning agents.

If you have not made serious efforts to control the above, do not put
the cat through this. Fancy Feast is high protein, high moisture
foods, many varieties with no grain or gluten, which ARE the main food
allergens for cats. And, they find it delicious. And dry food is going
to suck.

Get the cat a Depo shot, control the allergens, and everyone,
including your mother will be happy. My cat gets by on two Depo Medrol
shots a year, and my vet told me they generally do not see adverse
complications unless they are giving the shots more than once every
two months.




We've been giving the cat the Fancy Feast flavors without the wheat
gluten but they throw every protein source in there (beef, fish, egg)
along with the chicken or turkey.

She doesn't use perfumed litter and my mom tells me she stopped using
perfume a long time ago. The dust and carpet situation might be a
problem to clear as I explained in my previous message. The minute I
suggest buying a steam cleaner for the carpet, you can just imagine what
she says.

We've already gotten rid of one bad carpet, but the other one has held up
and she refuses to pick it up.

Thanks for the suggestions.

"Spot" wrote in
news:Jh0gh.7087$Li6.3057@trndny03:

Subject: Easy way to wean cat off of Fancy Feast and onto Hills
Prescription Diet? - HELP! From: "Spot"
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats.health+behav,rec.pets.cats.anecdotes

I have to agree that the Fancy Fease is the least of the problems.
Most cats do much better on Fancy Feast because it is better quality
food without all the fillers.

My mother has a cat with the same problem and I can tell you it's more
of a seasonal allergy type reaction and an emotional response.


Unfortunately, this cat seems to have it all year round. I wonder if my
mother's anxiety and depression compounds the problem as the cat sees and
hears her in her moods. I truly believe animals can sense this (as a
major anti-depressant commmercial currently running on TV shows).

After almost 15 years of it we have just taken to getting her
a depo shot twice a year and if it gets really really bad she ends up
on pills and sometimes valium.


So you would suggest the Depo Medrol? Does your cat seem out of sorts
for the first 2 days after the shot? Ours hid under the bed for a day
and seemed sad. She came back to herself after 2 days or so.

How was the Valium? Have you tried any anti-allergy pills like
Chlortrimeton (half of a 4 mg pill)?

To keep peace in the house and take the cat for the shots, let her
feed it the Fancy Fease and get the carpet cleaned while your moms out
of the house.

Celeste


She's never out of the house except for a trip to the supermarket and the
baker! LOL! How else do you think she manages to make all these phone
calls?!

"cybercat" wrote in :

If you have not made serious efforts to control the above, do not put the
cat through this. Fancy Feast is high protein, high moisture foods, many
varieties with no grain or gluten, which ARE the main food allergens for
cats. And, they find it delicious.


Fancy Feast is like crack for cats! I don't know what they put in it, but
all cats seem to love it.

And dry food is going to suck.

I'm not going to keep her on a strictly dry food diet. It's the Hills Z/D
prescription low allergen wet and dry food.

I may just have to give her the Fancy Feast canned food with the Hills z/d
and see how she does if she won't eat the Hills canned food. At least
she'll be free of wheat glutens in her diet.

I just don't like changing dry foods because it takes a while for their
digestive systems to adjust and you have to change slowly. I'm just
wondering if I should just go back to Purina Pro Plan already and let the
Depo Medrol shots take care of the situation.

wrote in message
...
"cybercat" wrote in :

If you have not made serious efforts to control the above, do not put the
cat through this. Fancy Feast is high protein, high moisture foods, many
varieties with no grain or gluten, which ARE the main food allergens for
cats. And, they find it delicious.


Fancy Feast is like crack for cats! I don't know what they put in it, but
all cats seem to love it.

Well, good, because it is good for them.


And dry food is going to suck.

I'm not going to keep her on a strictly dry food diet. It's the Hills Z/D
prescription low allergen wet and dry food.

She is still going to think it sucks compared with FF!


I may just have to give her the Fancy Feast canned food with the Hills z/d
and see how she does if she won't eat the Hills canned food. At least
she'll be free of wheat glutens in her diet.

Where was the wheat gluten coming from? It is in a few varieties of FF
but not all.


I just don't like changing dry foods because it takes a while for their
digestive systems to adjust and you have to change slowly. I'm just
wondering if I should just go back to Purina Pro Plan already and let the
Depo Medrol shots take care of the situation.


Have you addressed the dust, chemical, fragrance, mold, etc. issues?

Honestly, why feed her dry at all? It always contains more grains, and
they are the chief allergens.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Wed 13 Dec 2006 07:10:45p, wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav
m:

We've been giving the cat the Fancy Feast flavors without the
wheat gluten but they throw every protein source in there (beef,
fish, egg) along with the chicken or turkey.

Vets will always suggest the hypo-allergenic diet as one of the
first trials, after flea treatment. It's very hard to stick to,
even if she only has the one cat, though that makes it a little
easier. I don't agree that wheat and other glutons are the *most*
common triggers, though. Fish is very high on the list along with
egg, IIRC. Wheat is somewhere on the list for common cat allergy
triggers, though, but surprisingly corn isn't.

According to the vet dermatologist I took Shamrock to, the most
common allergens other than flea bites are atopic - dust, pollen,
mold spores. The problem is that there are just so many varieties
of all of these. They can tend to be regional and they get into
everything and float in the air. In cases of these allergies, the
cat would have to live in a bubble to avoid them, so it depends on
the intensity of the reaction to really know how to treat.

I guess you will hear differing "expert opinions" from every
various vet you talk to if you have the luxury of asking a few.

She doesn't use perfumed litter and my mom tells me she stopped
using perfume a long time ago. The dust and carpet situation
might be a problem to clear as I explained in my previous
message. The minute I suggest buying a steam cleaner for the
carpet, you can just imagine what she says.

We've already gotten rid of one bad carpet, but the other one
has held up and she refuses to pick it up.

I wouldn't buy a steam cleaner if you can just have a cleaner
company come in and steam clean it for her. I see specials all the
time, and have that done a couple of times a year until I can pull
up all of my own carpet and get laminate installed. But, like our
dermatologist said, there is still bedding, mattresses, furniture,
air ducts, and every surface that you miss during even the most
thorough cleanings.

FRT, Shamrock hasn't had a steroid shot since finding a low dose of
cyclosporine (10mg) that his stomach can tolerate. He had his last
Depo shot in July. He still has a few bumps at the base of his tail
and one hind leg, and he still gets a little itchy, but nothing
like it used to be and he doesn't pull his fur out and bite himself
bloody any more.


--
Cheryl

wrote in message
...
"cybercat" wrote in


She doesn't use perfumed litter and my mom tells me she stopped using
perfume a long time ago. The dust and carpet situation might be a
problem to clear as I explained in my previous message. The minute I
suggest buying a steam cleaner for the carpet, you can just imagine what
she says.

We've already gotten rid of one bad carpet, but the other one has held up
and she refuses to pick it up.

Sorry, I missed this. Your mom would likely be healthier without carpets,
as your cat would. Wood or laminate or tile with area rugs that can be
thoroughly cleaned are so much better all the way around. (But old people
seem especially to want wall-to-wall. I hate it, it just traps dirt and dust
and
mold.)

Regarding perfume: think also laundry detergent, air fresheners, spray
bleach products, and smoke/fumes of all kinds.

Strangest thing is, though I was a 25-year smoker, it seizes my lungs
up now right away in cold weather. (As is so common, asthma
accompanies my allergies.) Then there is the stench of it on people,
but that is just a matter of revulsion, not health. (I cannot believe
I smelled that way at one time and that people actually dated me
and a non-smoker actually married me!) But I digress. I do try
not to be one of those pillish ex-smokers, but it is hard. I actually
find myself avoiding smokers these days just so I don't have to
smell it.

The reason I am so adamant about this is because I have allergies too,
and find all of these to be irritants that make them worse.

Please go with the Depo, and lay off the dry food altogether if you
can. Convenience is the only reason I can see for feeding it.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Wed 13 Dec 2006 07:22:42p, wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav
m:

I'm just
wondering if I should just go back to Purina Pro Plan already
and let the Depo Medrol shots take care of the situation.

One of my other cats had bumps that he chewed on until infected, and
it dawned on me that he was sampling Pro Plan dry that one of my
other cats ate, so I stopped feeding it. He is a dry food junkie, but
eats SD Sensitive Stomach, so that's already limited in ingredients.
When I discontinued the PP dry, he hasn't had a recurrance of skin
problems. PP dry food, like their canned, has wheat in it. For both
of these cats (your moms and my Rhett) it very well could be wheat.
Worth a try. A good simple-ingredient dry food is California
Natural. 50% of mine eat mostly canned food (fancy feast
coincidentally LOL) but will munch on a few pieces of CN.

--
Cheryl