Does anyone have any experience using Atopica with their cat? I did a search here and found nothing.
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Atopica
- Thread starter techiegirl
- Start Date
Hello. I'd like to respond to your question about using Atopica in cats. My cat's been on it for almost three months and this drug is a miracle. She began breaking out with huge, itchy sores on her head and under her neck. She'd scratch the sores until they bled and her hair fell out. She was miserable! Within a few days of receiving a prednisone shot, she'd clear up for about a month to a month and a half. Then it would start all over again. After switching vets due to the fact that my old vet didn't seem to have any solutions other than expensive allergy testing, my new vet informed me how harmful prednisone could be and recommended Atopica. He was honest with me about the fact that it hasn't been approved for cats. He also warned me that it was very expensive, about $2 a day. However, the dosage can be decreased from daily to every other or every three. Since taking Atopica, her hair's grown back and the sores seem to be gone for good. She's sooo much happier than she used to be. The side effects were mild, and included slight vomiting and a little diarrhea. I think she knows that the pill helps her feel better because she doesn't run from me anymore when it's time to take her medicine. I would recommend this medicine for cats with allergy problems. It's just a miracle. I wasn't very optimisic when I started giving it to her because nothing else had worked, so I thought why should this? Well, it works. It really, really works. Do you have a cat with similar problems? Maybe I can help. I'd like to hear about it.
I have not heard. Sharky will know, or one of the other mods. Good luck.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
Thank you for your reply Rooks! It is good to see someone else who has had success!
Phoebe has asthma and has been using the AeroKat inhaler for almost a year now - Flovent daily and Albuterol as needed. Last October I moved and within a day she had started biting her fur out on both sides - gave herself a little mohawk! The vet and I thought it was stress from the move, although the other vet in the office thought it was allergies. She has CRF and herpes as well, which both complicate matters.
In March, both the tips of her ears started lilting over - kind of like a court jester's hat ,and she looked like a bat! Amusing as that was, I was worried if it was affecting her ears, what else is it affecting?! My vet had never seen anything like it and ended up posting on a website for vet's. Ends up it is most likely the steroid in the inhaler. So we took her off the inhaler and started her on Prednisolone which worked great for a little over a month, and then she had a nasty herpes outbreak with a corneal ulcer. Poor thing.
So she went back on the inhaler and started Atopica. The vet said to give it to her with food, as the castor oil in the pill can lead to stomach upset. So I gave her the first pill on a Saturday night and 2 hours later she woke up out of a sound sleep and just started vomiting everywhere and she was acting all woozy. I called urgent care just to ask if it was from the Atopica and they said yes, to stop giving it, and to call the vet Monday AM and ask him for "Plan B".
I called the vet Monday and told him what had happened and he said "there is no Plan B, you have to give it to her."
I was like, but if it makes her sick.... He said that 99% of pets "get used to it in a couple of weeks" and she will be fine. I felt soo bad - I couldn't do that too her. I spoke with the other vet - my regular one and she made me feel better and so I started her back on the Atopica, giving it to her 30 minutes after eating and she has not vomited from that since that first night! AND!!!! Her hair is growing back!!!
She is on her third month of pills and it has definitely helped with the hair growing back!
It's expensive through the vet, but it just Cyclosporine and I get it way cheap from Costco.
I would definitely recommend giving it a try - and although not approved for cats, (just dogs) there has been a lot of success with it in cat patients.
Phoebe has asthma and has been using the AeroKat inhaler for almost a year now - Flovent daily and Albuterol as needed. Last October I moved and within a day she had started biting her fur out on both sides - gave herself a little mohawk! The vet and I thought it was stress from the move, although the other vet in the office thought it was allergies. She has CRF and herpes as well, which both complicate matters.
In March, both the tips of her ears started lilting over - kind of like a court jester's hat ,and she looked like a bat! Amusing as that was, I was worried if it was affecting her ears, what else is it affecting?! My vet had never seen anything like it and ended up posting on a website for vet's. Ends up it is most likely the steroid in the inhaler. So we took her off the inhaler and started her on Prednisolone which worked great for a little over a month, and then she had a nasty herpes outbreak with a corneal ulcer. Poor thing.
So she went back on the inhaler and started Atopica. The vet said to give it to her with food, as the castor oil in the pill can lead to stomach upset. So I gave her the first pill on a Saturday night and 2 hours later she woke up out of a sound sleep and just started vomiting everywhere and she was acting all woozy. I called urgent care just to ask if it was from the Atopica and they said yes, to stop giving it, and to call the vet Monday AM and ask him for "Plan B".
I called the vet Monday and told him what had happened and he said "there is no Plan B, you have to give it to her."
It's expensive through the vet, but it just Cyclosporine and I get it way cheap from Costco.
I would definitely recommend giving it a try - and although not approved for cats, (just dogs) there has been a lot of success with it in cat patients.
