How to get a cat with food allergies to eat
Cats with prescribed hypoallergenic diets often refuse to eat the specialized food, rejecting both commercial options like Rayne and home-cooked alternatives like fresh salmon. This leaves owners stuck trying to find a brand that treats chronic health issues like ear infections while still being palatable enough for the cat to actually consume.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1trying novel or uncommon protein sourcesDid this help you?
- 2switching to limited ingredient dietsDid this help you?
- 3cooking novel proteins at home and balancing them with supplementsDid this help you?
- 4purchasing prescription hydrolyzed protein foodDid this help you?
- 5trying different brands like Tiki Cat, Open Farm, or SmallsDid this help you?
- 6switching to Royal Canin hydrolyzed cat treatsDid this help you?
- 7using limited ingredient foods based on alternative proteins like turkey, duck, or salmonDid this help you?
- 8trying pure meatDid this help you?
- 9Feeding chicken flavor exclusivelyDid this help you?
- 10Mixing wet food with water to make a slurryDid this help you?
- 11Buying different tin cat food flavors to test what the cat likesDid this help you?
- 12Buying specific brands like Churu or Inaba squeeze treatsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“does anyone have any treat or recipe recommendations? churu is her favorite thing in the world but it seems there are none for allergic kitties :(”source ↗
“Most cat foods that seem reasonable contain some level of fish.”source ↗
“She is a finnicky cat!”source ↗
“I’ve recently tried Rayne for a week and they don’t seem into the dry food.”source ↗
“The vet said rabbit. I got Rayne and they don’t like the dry food. I’ve baked them wild caught fresh salmon and they didn’t like it. Im kinda stuck”source ↗
“I have a cat with food allergies that was causing him chronic ear infections. We tried several different foods and Royal Canin Selected Protein PR was the one hewould eat.”source ↗
“That way I'm not spending hundreds on different foods. Just to end up with him getting an upset stomach.”source ↗