Hi! My vet recommend Rayne Nutrition RABBIT dry and wet cat food to see if it helps my cats ear allergies. My 5 year old girl has had chronic ear issues where she scratches them raw. It’s been this way since she was a kitten. Has anyone tried this food and compared to the other rabbit diets or novel protein diets mentioned on this site? My vet said the local dermatology vets that are treating ear infections/allergies are recommending this product too. I have had her on anti-fungal, antibiotic and steroid topically, and even tried Claro 3 times, which settled it down but I’m trying to figure out a way to keep it from reoccurring. thank you!
Hello! I also have a cat with severe food allergies and feed her an exclusively rabbit-based diet. I haven't tried Rayne (or previously heard of it), but it looks like it could be a good option. I don't love how much plant protein is added to the food but it appears to meet AAFCO nutrient minimums, so at least you know it's nutritionally balanced for cats.
If you're curious about other rabbit-based diets, I've tried them all (and wrote many of the reviews). I currently feed my cats Instinct LID rabbit dry food as a free-feed option and alternate between other wet and freeze-dried products a couple times a day. These include: the Instinct LID complete rabbit canned food, the Instinct LID rabbit pouches (supplemental feeding), Stella & Chewy's Absolutely Rabbit, and Vital Essentials Rabbit Bites.
I'm positive my one cat is allergic to chicken but uncertain whether other foods have caused problems because of allergies to other proteins or because they're cross-contaminated with chicken. What I like about the Rayne food you mentioned is that the brand only appears to offer cat foods with rabbit, kangaroo, or pork. The foods themselves may be produced by a different company, however, and sold as a private label thing. So it's hard to tell whether cross-contamination could still be an issue.
I'd say that if your vet recommends it and you can get it easily, Rayne might be worth trying. It's expensive, but so are all the other rabbit-only recipes. The Rayne dry food is about $70 for 6.6 pounds and Instinct LID rabbit is the same price for 10 pounds, so only a little cheaper. In your situation, it might be worth trying the Rayne for a few months to see if it actually makes a difference. Then you'll have some confirmation on the problem and can explore alternative products from there, if the price is an issue. Hope it works for you and your cat!
I just received my order from Rayne and my cats seem to like it so far. But like your cats, they get bored after a while, so we'll see how long their interest lasts. I usually just try to keep a couple different types of food around and switch when they start to lose interest. You could try warming up the food in a dish in the microwave for a few seconds... cats use their sense of smell first to decide if they want to eat something.
About the Instinct rabbit recipe, there are two... the regular one does include pork ingredients but the Limited Ingredient Diet one is rabbit-only. The packages of dry food look pretty similar, the LID one is just mainly white. The canned foods it's a little harder to tell, you just have to check the ingredients.
Regarding the ear infections, has your vet actually put a sample of the gunk under a microscope? My cat recently had a flare up and it turned out to be yeast, not bacteria. After 10 days of ear drops, her ears are both completely clean. It's impossible to tell exactly what the underlying issue is with ear infections without testing a sample and the wrong treatment just won't be effective. That said, my other cat just had chronic issues not related to diet... the vet said some cats have a thing where the dead cells in the ears just accumulate quickly and it gets irritated.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure what else to recommend for supplements if allergies are a concern. Warming up the food might make it more appealing, or rotating between a couple different things to stay ahead of the boredom.
I got the Rabbit Maintenance dry food and stew as well as the kangaroo cans. Yes, I'll be doing a review on it in September. My cats really love the rabbit stew and the kangaroo canned food. I'm not sure if the rabbit recipe might be different, but the kangaroo canned food is super soft and moist—not dry at all. Like your cats, mine will eat the dry food but it isn't their favorite.
I know what you mean about having to keep them on it their whole lives. Only one of my cats is allergic but I can't keep her out of any other food, so both of them have to eat it. I don't know if you're at home a lot during the day, but you could try offering the wet food in even smaller portions... like only two or three tablespoons at a time... so they're hungry enough to eat but don't get tired of it. That works pretty well for me (with dry food available all the time) but my cats aren't prone to overeating, so I don't really have to portion their wet food. That strategy might not work for everyone.
Thank you so much for replying Kate! We are still on this journey. It has been a couple months now and I think we’ve made some headway with the ear infections, but my girl still continues to have flareups and I haven’t figured out why. Her right ear was chronic and now the fungal/bacterial seems to have switched to the left ear. She scratches to the point of blood, despite us cleaning and medicating them. Animax ointment helps a lot, but she hates having it put in her ear (greasy) and she has been on it for so long, I wonder if she will become immune. And now she’s bored with the Rayne rabbit, or it’s not very flavorful. She and my other cat, a boy with G.I. issues, look up in disappointment every time I put it down. Sigh…so I bought rabbit treats, like the Vital Instincts you recommended, but they are as hard as glass. Tricky for my boy with tooth resorption issues. So I used a coffee grinder to make the treats into a powder and put it on top of the food on days they walk away.
I’m giving them the Rayne dry free-feed, which doesn’t seem to go down very fast, and the wet “cups” (the6 did not like the canned and the stew has more carb ingredients. I compared it to the Instincts, but they’re wet contains: Rabbit, Pork, Pork Liver, Pork Broth as the first four ingredients, which seems like it would be higher in pork than rabbit? Thoughts?
I feel terrible that they are not excited about their food anymore… And yet I also feel frustrated that the ears are not in pristine condition for their restricted diet and of course costs… which I wouldn’t mind at all if it were doing the job. While income is limited, vet bills are even higher, but I’m still managing to have both frequently. Can you think of any other nutritional supplement to add into their food? Have you heard of Redonyl powder? It’s supposed to help with allergies and immune system… But I don’t find it for sale everywhere which to me implies that it’s not very popular or effective. 🤷🏼♀️ I really appreciate your input! Thank you!
Kate, thank you for your reply! I’m curious what you think of the Rayne and which type did you get? Cups, Cans, Stew, Dry? Will you do a review on it? We are using the dry and cups. Kitties did not care for the canned (too dry and no smell), and I didn’t want to get the stew because the ingredients are so different from the dry. I’m trying not to add too many extra ingredients. And yes, I always warm up their food. Since the rabbit Vital Essentials were too hard for my boys teeth. I ground it up like powder and I sprinkle that on top if they get super finicky. The dry doesn’t go down fast but they will eat it in between wet if they must 😹
I just read and listened to your video on probiotics. I use the Nutramax in the blister caps, bc my vet recommended it, BUT I thought the other recommendations you had were interesting. I’m just not sure if anything with flavoring is a good idea when they are already on a limited diet. My girl with the ear issues has no G.I. problems. But my little boy tends to have gooey poop that sticks to his fur and then gets drug through the house. So that’s why I give it to him once in a while. I’m also trying psyllium. Just trying to decide whether giving him probiotics every day is a good idea or if that would create a tolerance to it.
To you answer your question, yes the gunk has been looked at and tested by an ear specialist and also our regular vet multiple times. It was a combo of fungal/yeast/bacteria. The specialist treated her with Claro successfully, but then it came back over time. We have been using Animax (a combo for fungal and bacteria)) in between because when she had her third Claro her tympanic membrane ruptured and we were not sure if it was connected to the Claro. Poor girl 😔
Her ears DO look better on the rabbit, I just hate to limit them to this their whole lives. The Rayne is a bit more affordable than the Instincts, but I’m more worried about them not getting any variety or dare I say enjoyment from eating. They get SO excited right before I put it down, then it’s a look of “ugh mommy, not this again”. They eventually eat it, but it takes longer the longer they are on it, and I’ve thrown out a lot too…sigh…thanks again!
Kate,
Thank you for your reply! I’m curious now that you have tried the Rayne rabbit, how do you think it compares to instinct and Freely limited ingredient rabbit? How your kitties like it and also what do you think of the company and sourcing compared?
Are you able to use the kangaroo in addition to the rabbit because it’s also novel? Or they haven’t been exposed to before?
Lastly, I am leaning towards staying on it because my girls ears are improved… But that being said my little boys, G.I. issues are better but still could be improved. And I’m not sure what to do about that. I’m trying psyllium right now, and the NutriMax probiotics.
best! 😻