My two males are the same way. I find, however, that Nelson gets much quieter and calmer if I put him in a pillowcase before putting him in the carrier. He will let me gently drop the case over his head and work it down over his entire body until he is completely inside. Then I can lift the whole bundle into the pet carrier. He almost goes limp while I'm doing it. The vet tech says she has seen other cats like that, too. Somehow they feel safer if they can't see the carrier, or maybe they think they can't be seen by any enemies when they're covered like that.

I was reading an article on asthma & allergies that said new studies indicate that people should get rid of their cats even if they do not react to cat dander in skin-prick tests. Gee, I got rid of my asthma, allergies, daily drugs (and allergist) by going grain-free ... and kept the cats! We all do best on paleo diets.

Monstrous! How heartless do you have to be to "get rid" of your pets even if you don't have an allergy? It's different if you have a child with asthma who is suffering and not getting better, but I'd sure try getting rid of grains and dairy first.

Deirdra, did you eliminate dairy when you eliminated grains? It seems like dairy exacerbates my sinus and congestion symptoms, but they're pretty mild even at their worst, so I am waffling on the dairy.

Nelson, I swear we could be related somehow. Dairy also makes me snotty. That's definitely a sign of intolerance according to Dr. Briffa. If I don't mind having a stuffed up nose all night then sure, dairy is a good thing.

We could be related, especially if you're scots-irish with a little cherokee thrown in.

I have decided to take another run at dairy-free starting immediately. The congestion is mild, but I'm getting tired of it. And, of course, any intolerance can do sub-clinical damage that I'll regret someday.

I have been diagnosed with osteopenia (another celiac marker) so I don't eliminate dairy casually, but the calcium/magnesium and D3 should help with that, along with the gluten-free diet. (By the way, my sleep is still fantastic!! D3 is my new magic pill!)

Ok, now I have to go google Dr. Briffa.

No cherokee but I am scottish/irish/english!

drbriffa.com/blog should work

Dairy stuffs me up pretty bad. I gave it up years ago. I do use butter on occasion. Butter does not affect me at all but I don't eat a lot of it either...just a little to cook my eggs in.

That's been my dairy-free approach as well. A little butter as appropriate, but no milk, cream, cheese, or yogurt. The goat milk yogurt is easiest to digest, but it still messes with my mucus membranes.

I'm scottish/irish/english & dairy makes me snotty too. I completely eliminated dairy a few months after going grain free, but I now am able to have a tiny bit: 1-2T of heavy cream per day and 1-2 oz of high-fat lower-casein hard cheeses a few times a week (look for highest fat lowest protein choices you like on http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/nutrient-search). I also make ghee, which removes most of the casein from butter. To remain snot free I have to avoid cream cheese, ricotta, cottage & other low-fat un-aged cheeses, yogurt & of course milk.

I don't have time to read this whole thread now, so forgive me if someone already pointed this out. It's imperative that cats get taurine in their diets. If you're feeding anything other then cat food (which I don't personally like at all), you MUST feed hearts for taurine.

Or you can add it to their food. I thought all uncooked meat had taurine. Yeah, pretty much most of it does. Not sure why you fixed on beef hearts but there's taurine in lots of uncooked meats: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cat-Food-3490/taurine.htm

I do supplement my kitty's food though, and he gets insects sometimes outside, which are high in taurine.

I don't know about your cat's specific situation, but my pusses had big time personality changes (for the better) when I switched them to raw. Same with my sister's cat, who went from being a timid little thing who hid all the time to a meowing, bug-chasing lap cat. I'd bet that a grain-free diet at least would improve things.

I focus on hearts (actually chicken, I never said what type and 2 of my cats don't tolerate beef) because it has a fixed amount of taurine (raw, of course). Different types of muscle meat, not only from different animals, but from different parts of the same animal, have different levels of taurine. There's also a difference in the same cut of muscle meat depending on whether you buy commercial or organic meats. There's even a difference between grass-fed and grain-fed cattle. It's simple, espcially for a newbie, to ensure that your cats are getting enough taurine by including hearts on a daily basis. That way you don't have to worry that the turkey wing you bought on sale isn't going to have enough, but the beef cheek does.

My Elliott who is a 8 year old Seal Point Siamese has hyperesthesia. We treat it with a depo shot from the vet every 6-7 months and it helps. I do not like the idea of steroid, but we try not to do it too often.