Well, I heard back from the vet.

He doesn’t have the feline auto-immune thing the vet was thinking he had. So that rules out everything but a food allergy. WHICH IS WHAT I THOUGHT IT WAS MONTHS AGO.

*sigh*

I love my vet, I really do, but I think she LOVES spending other people’s money. Case in point: she now wants me to put Chester on a special food that doesn’t have a common protein source and is hypoallergenic – for 8-12 weeks. One that costs $21 for 4 lbs of food. Did I mention that I have a 3 cat household? Cats that have all been raised and fed for more than 8 years on a “self-serve” type of feeding regime? Did I also mention that if Chester has even one piece of the non-special food, it will negate any of the testing?

This poses a problem. Tim nor I have time to ration out portions of food for all three kitties and watch them eat it so we can ensure Chester eats his own stuff and stays out of the other food (and vice versa). Also, $21 for 4lbs of food? Is it made of caviar? Gold flake?

So I did a bit of research on some food I could buy in a pet store rather than from a vet then I called her back. Well, she hemmed and hawed about it and despite me READING HER THE INGREDIENTS LIST for the one I found, she still was pushing me to get the platinum and diamond encrusted food. I told her “listen, there is no way I will be able to start feeding all three of my cats on a ration basis and I do not have time to watch them eat every morsel of food to ensure Chester doesn’t get into the stuff he can’t have. Furthermore, I want to buy something that ALL THREE of them can eat so I can continue feeding them on their current “feed yourself” routine. Your food is too expensive and if there’s nothing wrong with this other food, then I’m going to go that route.”

Then she tells me about how the stuff SHE has has been “AAFCO Certified by feeding trials” and some other bullshit. I did some research on that certification – and could find no information on the internet about it. Sounds like a certification for a price to me. Then she said (because the food I was looking at was a lamb/rice combination) that lamb was “too common” and the stuff SHE had was a duck/green pea combination and that would be so much better. I told her I’d think about it.

Sheesh.

So I went to Petco (I know….but they were the only ones that had the allergy food, PetSmart didn’t have any). While they didn’t have the food I researched, I found a different brand called “Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets Green Pea & Duck Formula“.

Well, would you look at that? Duck and green pea. Specially formulated with “a single source of animal protein that most cats have not been exposed to, and a single source of carbohydrate not commonly found in cat foods.” Which is exactly what the other food the vet wanted me to buy had. I double-checked the ingredients list and there was nothing additional in the ingredients that Chester couldn’t have.

All that for $24 for a 10lb bag. Granted it’s not much cheaper – but it’s on par with what I had been feeding them (Science Diet Indoor Cat), so I won’t go bankrupt feeding all three the limited ingredient food. It should help with Roxy’s “eat too much and barf” issue. At least I hope so.

Thanks for all the good vibes. Keep your fingers crossed!