Royal Canin dry food and allergies?

[Dark Moon]

Good.

If he's fine with the other stuff, then keep him on the other stuff. As you say, easy enough.

You know that old saying (though I haven't heard it lately and it likely dates me!)... 29 million (or whatever) Frenchmen can't be wrong... Well they can be. Just because most all the cats in the Universe don't have a problem with a particular food doesn't mean yours doesn't have an allergy to it. It happens. I know this for a fact. Happens in people too. I almost died (and I mean that quite literally) because I was given a drug for arthritis which my specialist assured me is given out like candy, it's so harmless. And it obviously is. But there are always exceptions.

Allergies can also develop, so maybe you 'got away' with it for a while but ultimately (the big bag) ......

Just find what works and keep doing it.

And, once his scabs heal, give him a scritch for him from me and mine.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

If you take away the food and the problem goes away then there is something in the food that is the problem. You may have a hard time finding what it is, but you are doing the right thing.

That's what I think.  He'd never had RC before and it was a big bag so lasted him ages (he only has a small amount of dry food).  Now that he's on the Applaws dry, everything is healing up and going away so I think it's likely to be related to the food in some way.  Easy enough to not feed RC and fingers crossed he will be fine with other stuff.

[Dark Moon]

Oddly enough, Royal Canin is one of only 2 that my Winston can tolerate. It's the (oh shoot - forgot the #. 33 maybe? And I tossed out the bag yesterday!) one that is supposed to be easiest to digest. Anything other and his mouth goes wild.

I do think you are on the right track though. I have had cats with allergies before. I so remember the first. She would suddenly develop a terrible case of 'itchies'. Tearing around, scratching. Biting herself. Ultimately I took her off all cat food. Started from scratch (in our case chicken liver (in itself not a good thing as the main component of a diet. As they say - don't try this at home....)) and added on bit by bit until I found it. Took a while because, poor girl, hers was a dual allergy - to milk AND fish. Try to get a cat food without......  Especially since this was some 30 years ago when cat nutrition wasn't what it now is.

If you take away the food and the problem goes away then there is something in the food that is the problem. You may have a hard time finding what it is, but you are doing the right thing.

[Indys Mamma]

maybe it just did too good a job of softening his skin (the oils to give a glossy coat) so he scratched easier when playing with Jaffa?

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

It may have nothing to do with the RC, but it does seem to be a bit of a coincidence that he's not had this problem before and when I stop the food the problem goes away.

[fluffybunny]

Here's the ingredients list, bottom right of this page: http://www.royalcanin.co.uk/my_pet/cat_products/pure_feline/beauty.aspx

Mine and my previous kitty have all had various RC dry ones without any problems - not had the beauty one though, I guess it's feasible that one of the ingredients could have been a skin irritant for him. 

[MrsR]

My guys have been on RC for a few years now and all are fine, never noticed any problem with any of them and they've been on Urinary and Sensitive RC varieties.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Just wondering whether anyone has had a problem with RC dry food?  Mosi had a big bag of the Pure Feline Beauty food and a couple of months ago I noticed he seemed to have lots of scabby spots, mainly around his neck.  I considered taking him to the vet but as he was (then) uninsured and I was skint and car-less, I decided to hold off and see how it went given that they didnt' seem to be causing a big problem and he wasn't scratching excessively.  I wondered if it was a problem with food, or whether they were caused by Jaffa biting his neck.  Anyway, he finished the bag of RC about 2 weeks ago and I've been giving him viacutan once a day for about a month (he doesnt normally have that).  They are mostly cleared up now.  Just a couple of scabby ones that are obviously on the mend.  It may be coincidence, but I can't help feeling that they might have been due to the food.  The RC is the only thing I can think of that he'd never had before.  I don't have the bag any more to check the ingredients list.