Swollen Kitty

Hi all,
My cat Maggie in the past week has had swelling of various parts of her body. Almost 2 weeks ago we noticed the left side of her face was very swollen and the next day her whole eye and side of her face were swollen. We took her to the vet that Saturday and they didn't know what it was, gave her a shot of benadryl and told me to call if it didn't get better. Her face almost immediately went back to normal. However, last week around Wednesday the OTHER side of her face swelled up. It wasn't as bad as the other side had been and it disappeared w/in the day so I didn't call the vet. Then this past Saturday we woke up and found that her left paw and her leg were enormous...almost twice the size that it is normally. We took her to the animal hospital and they couldn't find a thing wrong w/ her. They did a full blood test which came back normal. And after leaving the vet with a shot of Benadryl in her the paw went back to normal. They are totally stumped. I'm thinking it's an allergic reaction but I have no idea what she is allergic to. Has anyone else had a similar problem with their cat?
Sarah

Hi Sarah - Welcome to TCS. I'm sorry that Maggie is having this problem.

I'm not familiar with this in cats, but it sure sounds like an allergic reaction that people sometimes experience.

It's a good thing that the Benadryl relieves Maggie's symptoms, but she can't keep getting shots every time she swells up. You need to find out *why* this is happening to her.

If your vet can't determine the cause of the swelling, you should try to find a feline specialist (a board-certified internist).

Think about going to Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston - it may be a bit of a trip for you, but they have an excellent reputation and specialists who may be able to get to the bottom of what's going on with Maggie.

Poor kitty. Sounds miserable for her

Has she been introduced to any new food or furniture/fabrics, toys, anything at all that is new in the past couple weeks? What about bugs or bees that might be biting or stinging her?

I hope you can find out what the problem is soon. Lots of get well wishes for her.

Thank you for your responses! The vet has told us to give her half a Benadryl pill for a few days. So far so good. I can't afford another expensive vet visit! I was thinking back to a few weeks ago and realized that I have been using a new 409 carpet cleaner to treat some stains on the rug. That may be the culprit and will stop using it immediately. Thank you for your well wishes for Maggie. She's been a trooper through all this. I just hope it doesn't come back again!

Sarah

Aw, poor Maggie! I hope the new carpet cleaner was the culprit, and she doesn't have a re-occurence of the problem. Big head skritches to your girl.

Aww... poor little baby. Please keep us posted.