Cats with immune issues?

I just had Spot in to the vet, he has an infection in his foot and my vet thinks it is pododermatitis. He also has some gum inflammation and she thinks he may end up losing one of his fangs... She thinks this together indicates he has a poor immune system and may have continuous problems. He has chin acne too and this is not the first time he had a foot infection. He is on antibiotics for his foot and she recommended washing it with chlorhexidine shampoo (which I already had.)

His littermate Mr Grey also has immune issues (allergies, eosinophilic granuloma complex, etc...) so it may be genetic. Now I am worried that they both may end up having a lot of health problems...and they're not even 3 years old yet! I also have two of their other littermates so now I am worried if they may end up with immune issues also.

My vet suggested probiotics might be helpful for their immune systems.
I was wondering if anyone else had cats with immune issues, and have you found anything that helps? Of course I always run everything by my vet first before trying anything new, but I am curious if anyone has these issues or has found anything that really helps to boost the immune system.

Hi My Cat Lucas has a lot of issues, right now we don't really know if he has an autoinmune disease or food allergies. But when my cat first got sick a friend told me I should get him 4Life Transfer factor for cats, but I've never got it because I don't really know what Lucas has. But I've read that it helps a lot.

Maybe someone here knows about it.

I hope you can get help for your kitties, I know how hard it is to see them sick.

Oh yeah, Bugsy!
One thing that helps - a LOT - pet insurance for both, immediately! I can not tell you how important this is and how much money it will save you.... It might even be the difference in between keeping your cat alive or not at times - seriously.
They are young and you don't need to tell them any of this genetic stuff - this is all an assumption. Thing is, if you wait, they can develop something chronic, or be hit with something very expensive, then it will be too late.
I call Bugsy my Murphy's law kitty - everything that can go wrong will
We are now battling a nearly 8-month long diarrhea as consequence of him taking Clavamox for an UTI he had back in October. Can you just imagine how expensive that has been?
Sure, some things help - Lysinse, Transfer Factor (Classic if he has Gum/gingivities and allergies), Feliway to keep the stress down, wet food, and a good probiotics is essential - both my vets told me Proviable-DC is the best
Good luck with your boy!

My vet explained to me that allergies are a form of auto-immune disease, so I suspect there are a lot more cats out there with them than we all realize.

My Stumpy has had an auto-immune disease since he was about 18 months old (he is now 16 years old). It's always been related to his skin - he had no hair on his torso for nearly 8 years (he was allergic to one of our dogs), then it migrated into his gums (had all of his teeth removed when his body thought his teeth were foreign invaders).

I do as much as I can to keep his stress levels down and keep his healthy. Because of the constant inflamation in his system, he's been on steroids for close to 5 years. If he is agitated from the inflamation, it stresses him out and brings his immune system down.

A lot of your treatment will become trial and error. If you find something that works, stick with it. If it doesn't work, keep looking. Stumpy finally stabilized after all of his teeth were removed and we put him on the steriods.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

A lot of your treatment will become trial and error. If you find something that works, stick with it. If it doesn't work, keep looking.

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Sooooooooo true!

Yeah I've already experienced the trial and error with Mr Grey and his allergy issues, unfortunately it seems like corticosteroid shots are the only thing that really relieves his symptoms... Every time the shots wear off he starts chewing sores into his feet and ankles again. Even with the shots he still licks his legs/feet too much but at least he isn't ripping his skin off. The limited diet has helped some too as when he got the wrong food he started getting really bad lip ulcers. It's been really hard on him to have these recurring issues, and hard on me too and on my wallet and I am really hoping that Spot isn't going to have issues as bad as Mr Grey does... I can barely afford Mr Grey's vet bills as it is.

I can't do Feliway though, Spot HATES it for some reason. I tried using it once on their bedding and Spot refused to go near the place where it had been sprayed, he would freak out if I tried to bring him near it. I have used some calming essences though.

I emailed my vet to ask about the Transfer Factor, she said we could give it a try.

Originally Posted by Nekochan

It's been really hard on him to have these recurring issues, and hard on me too and on my wallet and I am really hoping that Spot isn't going to have issues as bad as Mr Grey does... I can barely afford Mr Grey's vet bills as it is.

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Get insurance.... seriously...
it is going to cost you very little a month, and save you a lot of $$$.... with these two, this is a certain thing....

I looked up insurance and it was around $20 per month per cat with a $500 deductible per illness (after which they pay 90%) and it excludes pre-existing conditions so Mr Grey's allergy issues would probably not be covered. So I decided it really wasn't worth it if I have to pay them $240 per year plus I have to pay $500 per illness before they start covering anything, and it doesn't cover routine visits or yearly vaccinations/bloodwork type stuff. They had other options for deductibles such as $300 a year for a $100 deductible but even that is not too good especially if I got insurance for more than one cat.

Originally Posted by Nekochan

I looked up insurance and it was around $20 per month per cat with a $500 deductible per illness (after which they pay 90%) and it excludes pre-existing conditions so Mr Grey's allergy issues would probably not be covered. So I decided it really wasn't worth it if I have to pay them $240 per year plus I have to pay $500 per illness before they start covering anything, and it doesn't cover routine visits or yearly vaccinations/bloodwork type stuff. They had other options for deductibles such as $300 a year for a $100 deductible but even that is not too good especially if I got insurance for more than one cat.

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I am going to PM you....