Our customer asked:
I am looking for advice on what food to feed my cat as she has had a second bout of cystitis in less than 2 months and I am being to think it is stress related and my reason for thinking this is that she was in and out of the local Blue Cross Animal Hospital throughout July with her first bout of cystitis and repeated mild asthma attacks (which required her to stay in hospital twice on oxygen) this is now under control with prednisolone medication (http://www.viovet.co.uk/Efavet/c379/">Omega 3 & 6 in her diet to control this). Previously she was on dry food which she has had all her life (3 years) and I put her on Sheba Chicken & Turkey Delicious morsels as this is the only one from the Sheba range she will eat but the vet believes and so do I this caused her Atopy to flare up. I am just wondering which wet food would be best to feed her taking into account the Atopy because with this her skin goes really red and flaky?
Our response:
I agree that she is best on a wet food, not a dried diet if possible. As far as the cystitis is concerned, I would suggest Hills c/d or Royal Canin s/o (there are a few flavour varieties in there).
As for atopy, that strictly means allergic skin disease as a response to inhaled allergens (dusts etc) and so the above diets should all be fine. If however your cat also has some form of dietary allergy, which is distinct from atopy, then the situation is more complex. If this is the case (and I suspect it is not) then she would not be able to tolerate one or more very specific proteins in her diet. That could for example mean that she could not cope on any diet with chicken in it, or lamb, or milk, or wheat or whatever. Dietary allergies are always very specific to the base ingredient, the final form of the food is irrelevant. The only way you can tell if a food item is a problem for her, is to try it and test it out. If she reacts consistently then you can theoretically identify the underlying food constituents which are a problem, but this is not easy & takes some while. Rarely do cats react reliably enough for this to be done. (Partly because they can eat elsewhere without you knowing!)
I would try one or more of the diets above and see how you get on.