Anyone had a cat with food allergies, and if so, how did you resolve it?

We have a young female kitty - almost 2 years old. Symptoms include itching without obvious cause (meaning no mites, fleas, or mange), mild hair loss around eyes (due to excessive itching and grooming), and fur that appears greasy at times. Bloodwork came back all good except for some elevation in cholesterol.

Itching was treated with depo-medrol (30-day steroid), which stopped the itching for a few weeks, but potentially caused other, more serious issues. (Hyper-excitability, suppressed immune system - shortly afterwards she contracted a virus with high fever, etc.)

I don't want to just suppress symptoms....we want to attack the source of the problem. If you have any experience or advice in this area - especially what brands or types of foods you used to overcome this, your input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I found an excellent article on food allergies and what to do about it.

Little Big Cat is a fabulous site! Source(s): http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

my cat is allergic to fish. when we first got her, we fed her tuna and she would itch like crazy and lost a lot of hair. the previous owner told us that she was allergic to fish, so we took her to the docter and she gave her some sort of shot. now we have to look at the ingredient labels on cat food to make sure theres no fish in it.
Try hills z/d ultra diet. It has been successful for many cats.
One of our cats, Gordo, was from outside. He now stays inside with our other 5. He has hair loss troubles. My vet said he could be allergic to certain foods and they're allergy tests that can be taken to determine the cause but it's very expensive. My vet gave Gordo a shot (I can't remember what it's called) plus Frontline (even though no fleas) and I will be starting him on Vetalog on 6/23. She also said that I could try Science Diet Sensitive Skin but it might not necessarily work. I am going to buy it this week. If I can find out the name of the shot I will let you know but it cannot be done long term because eventually it could cause diabetes. Sometimes he tries to get the other cats to lick him on the parts he can't reach! He's a very skittish cat, too.

Good luck!
***I ONCE HAD A FEMALE CAT WITH FOOD ALLERGIES. I TOOK HER TO THE VET AND HE SAID JSUT TRY ER ON DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD FOR A WHILE, UNTIL YOU FIND THE RIGHT ONE FOR HER. SHE HAD SORES ON HER BACK AT THE BASE OF HER TAIL. SHE SOON DISAPPEARED AFTER THAT AND I NEVER FOUND A FOOD THAT SHE WASN'T ALLERGIC TO. I HOPE YOU HAVE BETTER SUCCESS WITH YOUR KITY. THEY ARE OUR FURY LITTLE FRIENDS, AND I KNOW HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO ME, AND I'M SURE YOU FEEL THE SAME ABOUT YOUR KITTIES. GOOD LUCL.***