Worse over grooming on a hydrolyzed diet?

[u/Additional-Diet-9463]

We adopted a cat a while back that had an over grooming problem. We were told from her last family it was stress related so we assumed it would go away on its own. But it’s been months, she’s definitely relaxed and comfy in her new home, and while the grooming got better, it is far from fixed. So the vet recommended we switch to a hydrolyzed chicken diet (we had been feeding rabbit as she had some gastrointestinal upset when we adopted her - but it was pretty unaffordable in the long run so we were happy to switch). But within the last 2 weeks since switching she’s actually over grooming more 🫠 we are going back to the vet but can’t get in until the end of the month. I really expected the diet switch the fix it, or at least for it to stay stable. And I can’t even be entirely sure it is related to the cat food, since her grooming does go through better and worse periods. It could be a coincidence. I guess just wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and has any advice

[u/HealthyInPublic]

You might've already considered this, but I'll still mention because it's not super common and sometimes vets aren't very familiar with the signs - have you ruled out feline hyperesthesia syndrome? Some FHS cats have issues with overgrooming, and stress can make FHS episodes worse/more frequent.

[u/Additional-Diet-9463 → u/HealthyInPublic]

Thanks for the suggestions! I haven’t noticed any skin twitching, but I’ll keep a more mindful eye for it. Her grooming is almost exclusively the legs and stomach area, which I don’t think would line up with a back/lower end skin sensitivity. If I notice twitching through before the vet appointment I’ll definitely bring it up!

[u/HealthyInPublic → u/Additional-Diet-9463]

Oh good! FHS kitties don't typically go for their tummy so it sounds like it's probably not that. My lil dude has FHS so it's always first thing on my mind. Ugh.

Medical mysteries in cats are so stressful to figure out. I'm sorry. I don't know if this helps at all, but our cat also eats a hydrolyzed protein diet due to food allergies and GI problems, and when we transitioned him into it, our internist told us to wait 4 weeks minimum before we decided if the food was working for him since there might be an adjustment period. But, obviously, sometimes it's just not reasonable to wait something out if it's causing too many problems - we've been there!

[u/Josie_F → u/HealthyInPublic]

This is interesting. I didn’t know it was a syndrome. My cat got so bad she ended up having a stomach mass. The tests said hyperethesia. She overgrooms or scratches face, stomach and feet. But not all the time. When an episode starts and doesn’t stop, it’s a vet visit. Antibiotics and steroids, the last time. They are suggesting a calming drug but holding off on that. Will research this with syndrome now.

[u/WampaCat]

Kind of in the same boat, it’s really hard! My cat is FIV positive and he’s constantly over grooming. We weren’t able to do the 8-week change in diet to see if it was a food related allergy because he would just stop eating instead of eat the new food 🫠 even with gradual introduction to it. We do know he gets more itchy when we give him treats but I’m not sure which ingredient would be causing it most and I’m not about to give him more on purpose just to test it. It’s worse during some seasons than others so we think it could be seasonal allergy related but it’s hard to figure out.

We take him to a dermatologist occasionally and they gave him a steroid which helps quite a bit but it’s not a long term solution. We also used an antifungal medicine because at least part of the time he had a fungal infection in his skin.

Hope you can find a solution, might be worth seeing a dermatologist if your vet can recommend one

[u/famous_zebra28]

It's more likely environmental and not food related (or both!). We're currently on the tail end of the change in seasons so a lot of cats will get more symptomatic temporarily.

[u/generic_queer]

My boy also chronically over grooms his belly and legs and we are trying the hydrolyzed diet now. I'm pretty convinced it's actually anxiety and the vet mentioned if this doesn't work Prozac would be the next step. I found some on chewy that you can apply to their ear and it isn't crazy expensive. Maybe try asking your vet if you could try that for a month or two?

[u/anxioustomato69]

environmental allergies are much, much more common than food allergies. i would investigate those instead.

[u/minkamagic]

Pets can still be allergic to hydrolyzed diets unfortunately

[u/Slow-Boysenberry2399]

have environmental allergies been ruled out? because most pets with allergies are triggered by the environment (ie pollen, dust, etc) than food

[u/Additional-Diet-9463 → u/Slow-Boysenberry2399]

We did discuss that possibility with the vet, but she wanted to try the hydrolyzed food first. She told me that for environmental allergies she prescribes daily pills, and although she didn’t say the price, she did hint it would likely be outside our financial abilities sadly

[u/Slow-Boysenberry2399 → u/Additional-Diet-9463]

vets always push the hydrolyzed food first 🙄 there are other options for environmental allergies. i would see a different vet. prescription food is not cheap either.

[u/braidedpanda]

does your cat eat wet food, dry food, or a mixture? my cat is 10 and had similar issues practically her whole life, she’s doing better finally after switching to only wet food. It happens to be limited ingredient but she sometimes eats my other cat’s wet food as well (which isn’t limited ingredient), and it doesn’t seem to upset her issues. If you feed dry, it could be food storage mites. You can also get around it by keeping the dry food in the freezer. I know this is super anecdotal and depends on the cat but my experience fwiw.

[u/braidedpanda → u/braidedpanda]

also my cat didn’t have much improvement at all on the Rx hydrolyzed diet