In your review I noticed something in which you say chicken can be an allergen for some cats! That threw me! I’ve been fighting allergies in my Calico…AND feeding her Dr. Elsey’s Clean Protein CHICKEN kibble!! She gets itchy sores all around her neck. The vet is stumped. Nothing really wrong at all! Your thoughts? Ps i changed foods, laundry soap, etc., trying to see what helps…but didn’t think she may be allergic to chicken …
Hi Geri,
Thanks for your message.
Yes absolutely! Chicken can be an allergen for cats and it's present in lots of cat diets and treats. Cats can get allergies to almost anything and this includes their food. Food allergies can cause skin lesions around the face and neck so it's worth looking into this (along with any other investigations that your vet has recommended) as your kitty is showing some symptoms.
Have a chat with your veterinarian about it and see what options are available. They might recommend some skin tests first to check for parasites and fungal infections. If I was concerned about food allergies, I'd generally recommend a food trial to try and exclude allergens. Food trials should be done for at least 6 weeks and you can't feed any other food or treats apart from the trial food. Common diets to try would be hypoallergenic, anallergenic or a novel protein diet (trying a new protein that your cat doesn't usually eat e.g. venison or rabbit). We have some recommendations for hypoallergenic food here;
https://cats.com/best-hypoallergenic-cat-food
This article might be helpful too;
https://cats.com/food-allergies-in-cats
I hope this helps and let us know how your cat does,
Aisling