Do any other cat owners out there have this problem? My cat cannot eat any tinned or dried food only one called Sensitivity Control SC31. This was made by Royal Canin and I have just found out this week they have stopped making it!! They say not enough cats are allergic to rice therefore it is not economically viable.

This was a double blow as the vet has just informed me that she has an inoperable tumour, although he said this type of tumour is slow growing and can be 'eased' with pain relief. Nevertheless, what with this and not having her favourite food - her last days are going to be pretty miserable.

There used to be a brand of cat food that was pure meat with no rice, it came in a big roll, like a sausage, wrapped in plastic, and you could just slice it off and use it. I can't believe there are no cat foods out there that don't contain rice, it seems very odd.

Thanx Susie - there is one dried food the vet has asked us to try - it is made with Venison and pea. Unfortunately, my cat has turned her nose up at it. There is a prescription tinned food as well (very expensive) and we tried her on it a couple of years ago - again, she didn't like it.

The Royal Canin dry food was made with tapioca and some type of fish - she loved it.

We will perservere with the replacement product and hope for the best - if she continues to not eat it we will have to go back to the drawing board and search for recipes that will give her the protein and carbs she needs.

Cats are pure carnivores, in the wild they don't eat anything else but meat. Why don't you just try doing that? Feed your cat a mixed diet, minced chicken, minced beef, fish, etc., either mixed together or separately. Tuna's a good one, it has a strong smell that even poorly cats seem to like. If you want to get a bit of carbohydrate in there, maybe some breadcrumbs to bulk it up, if your cat doesn't have any allergy to that. You could perhaps also get some of these grass pots for cats, to introduce a vegetable element. It won't be as cheap as canned food, but if you buy in bulk, and stick to cheaper cuts, it's a lot better than the expensive commercial brands. Sort of like making up proper food for babies, instead of Heinz ready meals!

Thanx again Susie. She is allergic to beef (and other red meats), rabbit and milk. Some flowers an shrubs also cause probs. We have supplemented her original dry food with chicken and fish but she does need the vitamins etc that are in the dry food so it will be a case of mimicking these. The grass pots and bread crumbs are brilliant ideas -
many thanks.

Have you tried lamb? That's often given as part of a hypoallergenic diet in humans, don't know why it seems to cause fewer problems. I'd also suggest getting a vitamin/mineral supplement from the vet, perhaps in liquid form, so that you can feed the chicken and fish and add the vitamins. Adult cats don't normally need milk, but if you look on the Internet, there are some milk supplements for motherless kittens that might be worth a try, just for a bit of variety. I think it's a question of building up your own diet plan that suits your cat's condition, but still provides all the necessary nutrition.

Just found this website while looking for something else: http://petfoodwarehouse.co.uk/browse_219. If you do a Google search on "lamb hypoallergenic", which is what I was doing, it actually throws up a load of information on hypoallergenic diets, although some of them also contain rice, which wouldn't be much good for you!

Oh thank you so much. I will definitely ask the vet about supplements and try some of the things you suggest - to be honest lamb wasn't mentioned when she was allergy tested so it looks like that may be a solution. I have been so worried about her tumour and waiting for MRI specific results that her eating has now become something else to worry about asnd I'm afraid I wasn't thinking logically.

Have you tried cheap tinned fish? When we lived in Asia you couldn't really get cat food as such, so our cats were nourished on some ghastly russian tinned herring and mackerel.

Cheers Grassmarket, you won't believe this but she has also had kidney failure so we were advised to cut out tinned fish because of mercury content.

All this sounds like she is one unlucky moggie but she is happy and loved.

She can come to my house and eat all the mice Everyone's happy.

Sorry that wouldn't work either - she catches them, brings them in and then forgets all about them. We had one poor dormouse in the house for 3 days - it gave itself up eventually cos it was so hungry. She hasn't got the 'kill gene'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Magsy!

Our big boy has a grain intollerance, which one we don't know yet but since switching him to a grain-free cat food he's been thriving.

We feed him the Sensitive Fish & Potato dry food from Arden Grange. It's quite a good price (only a little more expensive than Royal Canin) and he loves it!

http://www.ardengrange.com/Pet-Food/cat-food.asp?id=51

Maybe your cat will like it too? There doesn't seem to be anything in it that she reacts to.

Neon Hamster Hello there - thank you so much I will buy some. I sent a letter of complaint to Royal Canin and they are sticking to their guns but are posting me some wet food samples (which I think she has had but I will try anyway). But this food you suggest sounds just the thing - I think it is the fish flavour she is missing. So thankyou once again. Has your boy been allergy tested?

You're welcome!

Our boy hasn't been tested yet, though I think we will before bringing in a new friend for him. We mentioned it at his vet checks and they weren't worried about it and the change in his poop from swapping over to grainless is so extreme (in a good way) that we didn't see the need at the time.

He loves, loves his AG Sensitive. It is small round biscuits and has quite a greasy feel, and it does smell fishy. My boy is a Maine Coon and not a year old yet, so still growing rapidly, and he's looking in lovely condition for it. The cheapest place I have found it is on Vetuk.co.uk.

I also add some tinned Classic Cat Food once a day for a treat. It's made by butchers and only about £2.50 for 6 tins, and they do a selection of fish flavours as well as meat and game. It is grain free and additive free, so have a look at it next time you're in the supermarket. My boy has no ill effects from it, and as he only has 1/3rd of a tin each time, it costs a whole 15p a meal!

Well, Neon Hamster - good news to report. Arden are sending me some samples free. Their pet nutritionist rang me back and said in her opinion Jenny (our baby) will be fine but to be on the safe side we should check with the vet first. What you say about the food being small and greasy is a plus too - the Hills food the vet gave us was large pieces and she couldn't handle it. Which supermarket do you buy the Classic Cat Food from? I am not sure she will eat canned food but its worth a try (she has turned her nose up at the sample wet food Royal Canin sent). As she is now 11, I think she is just set in her ways, she does not cope well with change. And, how lucky are you - a Maine Coon! I love them (Jenny is just a common rescued mog
but bonny and loving).

How about this one as an alternative for her?

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/d...ue=HTML41#more

Brilliant! AG are quite generous with their samples, I think they sent us 200g. It'll be enough to see if she reacts to it (and likes it) anyway.

Classic cat food we get at either Tesco or Morrisons, though I think it's a case of just looking and seeing. It looks like this:

http://www.k9capers.com/shop/desc/bu...e_ltd/2893.jpg

Our Maine Coon is my first ever cat, I wanted one that was quite dog like and he is! He is also very big, 14lb already - He dwarfs most cats even as a kitten.

Here he is, very beautiful but often very very thick :
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/IMG_0983.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/IMG_1442.jpg

We had a moggie too, but she died at 8 months from FIP. She had a heart of gold, a wonderful cat. We're looking to get him a new sister soon as he does miss cat interaction.

Chessie - thankyou. All you forumers have been great. I have checked the website Chessie and it seems like we now have choice.

Jenny and her mum and dad couldn't be more grateful.

Oh how handsome he is. He reminds me of my first cat (30 years ago) - he was semi-wild, well born in the wild and he was long haired, marmalade and white. He was also larger than other cats. Jenny is tiny in comparison, I don't know how to post a photo (cos I am not a techie) but will ask hubby to do it asap. Jenny is our 4th cat and our first female. Did you read Chessie's post - another food out there - so we have choice.

Hi Magsy, sorry to take ages to get back to you!

That Applaws food. I was excited to see this at a cat show and they gave me a free sample. My cat ate it but had his allergic reaction the next day. This is possibly because it's rich, it LOOKS rich. If you do try it then I suggest you introduce it very very slowly. I have seen other people online have trouble with it too.

Thanks for the compliments about our boy! He's lovely really. We've just found him a new friend, a young Siamese, and she is coming to live with us in September.

Nice to hear from you again Neon Hamster. The Applaws people didn't respond to my email re a full list of contents and after what you have said we won't bother with it. Hope your boy didn't suffer too much afterwards. Good news - samples came today but we had already bought some Arden Grange via a local supplier - SHE LOVES IT. It looks the same and smells the same as Royal Canin so I don't think she saw any difference. We did tell the vet (who we had to see on Monday for test results) and he said great and he will look out for local suppliers for other 'patients'. Test results were inconclusive - so we do not know whether or not it is a tumour - it is all very complicated - he suggested taking her off pain relief for a few days and see what happens. There is definitely something wrong but even the experts in Edinburgh were baffled by the scan pics. As we were leaving he said 'it is a very interesting case'!!
Oh I love Siamese - you will have to post more pics in September. By that time my other half will have figured out how to post pics on the forum (he is a techie but he has never done this before!) of our darling Jenny.

Sorry about the Applaws, I just thought it might help.

Would love to see some photos of her when you get them!

Chessie - it may still be Ok for Jenny but I need a full list of contents - Neon Hamster's big boy is allergic to all grain but Jenny is only allergic to rice and some meats. Applaws says 80% meat content, and it could be either chicken or fish. What I wanted from them is a guarantee that the 80% meat was not 'bulked up' with beef, rabbit or other red meat. I might have emailed the wrong place!! I will try again. Don't be sorry - it was helpful, we have to try these things.
Over the last 2 days she has declined a bit, sick and off her food. We don't know whether its the change of food, the mystery illness or coming off her pain meds. She is also demanding more love than usual, especially at night - in bed!! Hubby still has to look at Photo Bucket - I will gee him up.

Yes, thanks for the info Chessie. I do find it a bit suspect that Applaws don't give a full list of contents on their website. I did see one of the ingredients listed elsewhere as "meat sauce". Meat sauce? What is actually IN the meat sauce?!

I hope that Jenny is feeling a bit better soon. I'm so pleased that she does enjoy the Arden Grange when she feels up to eating! Another one if you need to try is called Orijen, it's a Canadian food but they do stock it in the UK. My Canadian pet nutrition-mad friends recommend it highly. It is about £10 a bag more than the AG though, so while Drifter is happy on this one we'll stick with it.

Orijen do do a kitten grain-free variety though, which we may have to get for our new lady as she will be 7 months when she comes to live with us, though Drifter did start adult food early because of his allergy and he's fine. He'll be 1 year old next week!

Here is our soon to be new friend:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...e/IMG_1464.jpg

Hope Drifter likes her, he should, she's very pretty!

Hi again. Oh she is gorgeous. I'm sure he will love her. Jenny has picked up a bit today. Its a bit difficult to monitor her illness e.g. for 2 years we were away from our home cos of the June 07 floods, she put on a lot of weight in the rented house as we couldn't let her roam (near a main, busy road). This move also traumatised her, it seemed cruel keeping her in - I did accompany her on 'walks' but it was hard for her. When we moved back earlier this year we expected her to lose weight as she was once again back in her own domain and allowed to roam. Then came the pain (which she first had whilst we were in the rented house), then the change of food. Now she is losing weight - so it is all a bit difficult to quantify.

I will look up the other food you mention - sounds good - and hubby is working on the photos (as I type) on the other PC!