Licky Granuloma - change to Hill's z/d, d/d or IVD Limited?

As many of you know (and some have similar problems), my cat and I have
been battling her "licky granuloma" on her right hind leg for several years
now. I've gone from several depo medrol shot at the beginning to treating
her with 2.5 - 5 mg/day of Prednisolone with Tresaderm or Gentaved applied
topically when there's an outbreak. Her latest outbreak lasted two months
and I now have it under control (she's now taking 2.5 mg of Prednisolone
every other day).

I've decided to try to take her off her Purina Pro Plan Chicken and
Rice/Beef and Rice hard food diet (getting her off of Fancy Feast canned
food will be alot harder! At least the Fancy Feast doesn't have wheat and
corn).


I've been reading alot about the Hill's z/d and d/d diets. The z/d is the
more "allergy friendly" diet. D/D is good too, as it avoids the beef,
dairy, fish, corn and wheat that seem to affect cats with skin problems.

I've also read good stuff about the Innovative Veterinary Diet (IVD)
Limited Ingredients line.

Has anyone had any luck with any of these foods, and just as important, did
your cat eat the food (dry or canned) and not snub his/her nose at it (as
my cat did with the IVD canned Venison and green peas).

wrote in message
...
As many of you know (and some have similar problems), my cat and I have
been battling her "licky granuloma" on her right hind leg for several
years
now. I've gone from several depo medrol shot at the beginning to treating
her with 2.5 - 5 mg/day of Prednisolone with Tresaderm or Gentaved applied
topically when there's an outbreak. Her latest outbreak lasted two months
and I now have it under control (she's now taking 2.5 mg of Prednisolone
every other day).

I've decided to try to take her off her Purina Pro Plan Chicken and
Rice/Beef and Rice hard food diet (getting her off of Fancy Feast canned
food will be alot harder! At least the Fancy Feast doesn't have wheat and
corn).


If you have it under control, why on earth change her diet?? And if you do,
there is no good reason for taking her off Fancy Feast, which has no known
allergens. Just change her dry food if you think it is a problem.

I've been reading alot about the Hill's z/d and d/d diets. The z/d is the
more "allergy friendly" diet. D/D is good too, as it avoids the beef,
dairy, fish, corn and wheat that seem to affect cats with skin problems.

I've also read good stuff about the Innovative Veterinary Diet (IVD)
Limited Ingredients line.

Has anyone had any luck with any of these foods, and just as important, did
your cat eat the food (dry or canned) and not snub his/her nose at it (as
my cat did with the IVD canned Venison and green peas).

I had a friend who used the z/d for a cat who had an allergy problem.
She used it for several months but didn't see any improvement.

Might I suggest that you try a high-quality food that doesn't contain
corn/fillers instead of a prescrption food? Wellness canned is a good
food that I used on my Tucker for several years. Now I feed Nature's
Variety raw, another excellent food that contains 95% meat and 5%
veggies (no grains). You can check out them at www.naturesvariety.com
and www.omhpet.com Both have store locators.

I'm not affiliated with either company. I'm a consumer who has used
their products with great results.
Rene

I think IVD or IVD Select is the same as Med-Cal which is a
prescription food in Canada.
Rusty has been doing well on Medi -Cal's Preventive formula with his
urinary problems.
He is currently on Medi-Cal's Mature formula. The price is good too,
even lower than
some of the non-prescription cat food. Rusty only eats canned food on
the vet's order. He hasn't turned his nose on any food offered to him,
(except when he was on antibiotics)
even those that didn't agree with his tummy.
Rusty was also on Hill's I/D, S/D, C/D. Yes, he has been through the
merry go round of
food. Hope we don't have to change food again anytime soon.

Winnie

wrote:
As many of you know (and some have similar problems), my cat and I have
been battling her "licky granuloma" on her right hind leg for several years
now. I've gone from several depo medrol shot at the beginning to treating
her with 2.5 - 5 mg/day of Prednisolone with Tresaderm or Gentaved applied
topically when there's an outbreak. Her latest outbreak lasted two months
and I now have it under control (she's now taking 2.5 mg of Prednisolone
every other day).

I've decided to try to take her off her Purina Pro Plan Chicken and
Rice/Beef and Rice hard food diet (getting her off of Fancy Feast canned
food will be alot harder! At least the Fancy Feast doesn't have wheat and
corn).


I've been reading alot about the Hill's z/d and d/d diets. The z/d is the
more "allergy friendly" diet. D/D is good too, as it avoids the beef,
dairy, fish, corn and wheat that seem to affect cats with skin problems.

I've also read good stuff about the Innovative Veterinary Diet (IVD)
Limited Ingredients line.

Has anyone had any luck with any of these foods, and just as important, did
your cat eat the food (dry or canned) and not snub his/her nose at it (as
my cat did with the IVD canned Venison and green peas).

"cybercat" wrote in :


wrote in message
...
As many of you know (and some have similar problems), my cat and I
have been battling her "licky granuloma" on her right hind leg for
several
years
now. I've gone from several depo medrol shot at the beginning to
treating her with 2.5 - 5 mg/day of Prednisolone with Tresaderm or
Gentaved applied topically when there's an outbreak. Her latest
outbreak lasted two months and I now have it under control (she's now
taking 2.5 mg of Prednisolone every other day).

I've decided to try to take her off her Purina Pro Plan Chicken and
Rice/Beef and Rice hard food diet (getting her off of Fancy Feast
canned food will be alot harder! At least the Fancy Feast doesn't
have wheat and corn).


If you have it under control, why on earth change her diet?? And if
you do, there is no good reason for taking her off Fancy Feast, which
has no known allergens. Just change her dry food if you think it is a
problem.




It's under control NOW for the time being. History shows that it usually
comes back within weeks (probably when the steroidal meds are completely
out of her system and the memory being itch free is gone)!

Yes, we used IVD. We used mainly the duck, our cat liked it.

Bob had pancreatitus and we had to avoid the fillers and foods that
could trigger an attack. He did very well on IVD.

Rhonda

wrote:

Has anyone had any luck with any of these foods, and just as important, did
your cat eat the food (dry or canned) and not snub his/her nose at it (as
my cat did with the IVD canned Venison and green peas).

"Rene S." wrote in
oups.com:


I had a friend who used the z/d for a cat who had an allergy problem.
She used it for several months but didn't see any improvement.


I reada similar responses to z/d on this board in a post from several years
ago.

Might I suggest that you try a high-quality food that doesn't contain
corn/fillers instead of a prescrption food? Wellness canned is a good
food that I used on my Tucker for several years. Now I feed Nature's
Variety raw, another excellent food that contains 95% meat and 5%
veggies (no grains). You can check out them at www.naturesvariety.com
and www.omhpet.com Both have store locators.


Thanks for the advice. Nature's Variety looks like a good food except that
the dry food contains some dairy. The canned food looks interesting and
very healthy. The raw food sort of frightens me (although I know that some
vets recommend it, especially holistic ones). I just worry about cats with
sensitive skin and stomachs (mine is prone to diarrhea when changing foods
too fast) trying a raw food diet. Some cats can adjust to anything (like
some people) while others just can't.


As far as Wellness goes, everyone knows the quality of the product. My cat
just wasn't too keen on its taste (for the canned food). Once again, the
dry food looks promising, although there are alot of ingredients in it,
whereas the Hills z/d, and d/d are just a few main ingredients with vitamin
and mineral additives.

Thanks for the advice. Nature's Variety looks like a good food except that
the dry food contains some dairy. The canned food looks interesting and
very healthy. The raw food sort of frightens me (although I know that some
vets recommend it, especially holistic ones). I just worry about cats with
sensitive skin and stomachs (mine is prone to diarrhea when changing foods
too fast) trying a raw food diet. Some cats can adjust to anything (like
some people) while others just can't.


As far as Wellness goes, everyone knows the quality of the product. My cat
just wasn't too keen on its taste (for the canned food). Once again, the
dry food looks promising, although there are alot of ingredients in it,
whereas the Hills z/d, and d/d are just a few main ingredients with vitamin
and mineral additives.

I was frightened too with the raw diet but I see the results now and
won't go back. It's meant to replicate what a cat's diet would be in
the wild, and contains more digestive enzymes than even canned (which
are cooked out). The key is to switch over slowly, over a period of 1-2
weeks, so the system can adapt to it.

wrote :


It's under control NOW for the time being. History shows that it usually
comes back within weeks (probably when the steroidal meds are completely
out of her system and the memory being itch free is gone)!

Yes, I remember you! Since you last posted, my cat's granuloma seems to
have changed to the itchy kind. She is still on FF and Purina with Depo
shots
ever few months. She just scratches in those little baldish places in front
of her
ears. I first noticed it a couple of months ago, got her a Depo shot and
they
disappeared but now they are back. She has little sores there.

My cat gets the occasional sore on his mouth. My vet thought it may be a
food allergy. I'm not totally convinced it's a food allergy, however, I did
start feeding my cat the IVD....rabbit and peas...both canned and dried. My
cat loved both. Of course, I think he'd eat anything. I don't know if the
IVD made a difference because I later began feeding him regular food
(Wellness, PetGuard, Royal Canin) and he didn't develop any sores for a
couple of months. Unfortunately, he just developed one this week. But I'm
still not convinced it's a food allergy.

Sue
wrote in message
...
As many of you know (and some have similar problems), my cat and I have
been battling her "licky granuloma" on her right hind leg for several
years
now. I've gone from several depo medrol shot at the beginning to treating
her with 2.5 - 5 mg/day of Prednisolone with Tresaderm or Gentaved applied
topically when there's an outbreak. Her latest outbreak lasted two months
and I now have it under control (she's now taking 2.5 mg of Prednisolone
every other day).

I've decided to try to take her off her Purina Pro Plan Chicken and
Rice/Beef and Rice hard food diet (getting her off of Fancy Feast canned
food will be alot harder! At least the Fancy Feast doesn't have wheat and
corn).


I've been reading alot about the Hill's z/d and d/d diets. The z/d is the
more "allergy friendly" diet. D/D is good too, as it avoids the beef,
dairy, fish, corn and wheat that seem to affect cats with skin problems.

I've also read good stuff about the Innovative Veterinary Diet (IVD)
Limited Ingredients line.

Has anyone had any luck with any of these foods, and just as important,
did
your cat eat the food (dry or canned) and not snub his/her nose at it (as
my cat did with the IVD canned Venison and green peas).