What would you do? I'm desperate!

hello dear friends:

I'm feeling worried ansd desperate right now, most of you know what my Lucas is going through. The vet diagnosed Lucas with food allergies, he is on Royal Canin Hypoallergenic and canned z/d, but mostly he eats the dry RC Hypoallergenic, he hates canned food.

he has been almost two months on this diet and he seemed to be a little bit better , but here is a picture of him today:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...8/P6142138.jpg

I called the vet so i could take him today and he is on vacations, he returns on June 17, I'm thinking if he gets worse I will have to take him tomorrow to another vet, but I wanted to go to his vet because he knows all about Lucas.

What would you do? The diet is not helping, he is on a high dose of prednisolone and is not helping. We don't use perfumes, he used hypoallergenic litter, we use hypoallergenic detergents, you name it, we've done it.

I was thinking it could still be the food, maybe the rice. I think maybe I should start him on grain free food, but I don't want to make a mistake. What are your thoughts? I will take him to the vet and listed to his advice, but Lucas is not improving and I don't know what to do....I'm lost here

Tammy

Oh my God Tammy, that poor baby
I don't know if I would wait... And I think it would be good to go to a second vet actually, a second opinion is never a bad thing. Have you spoken to your vet about an antihistamine? Also, rather than simply a grain free, I would make sure it is an allergenic diet- grain free- do you have natural balance there?
They do have the duck and green pea in both canned and dry... Hills and Royal cannin make venison/green pea, duck and green pea, rabbit and green pea, and I believe chicken and green pea- they also come in dry and canned, I believe, and have no grains. I think that would be your best bet other than putting him on 100% Z/D wet, which you said he is not eating sufficiently on its own.

Oh Carolina, I'm going crazy, I fell helpless. I can't get Natural balance and I need to ask trhe vet if he can order the Hills with novel protein, but I think they don't ship those to PR, I will ask anyways. My brother keeps telling me to go to another vet and I think I will have to, this can't continue, my baby is suffering too much. I need an antihistamine and if the vet doesn't prescribe it I will find another who does.

It is impossible to get Lucas to eat canned food only.


The only grain free food I can get is Blue Wildernes, it is the only grain free food that our petsmart sells, and the only natural food they sell here in PR, I could try ordering online and check what they can ship to PR.

The problem is thst BLue Wilderness duck formula, for example, 'is grain free, but it has duck, chicken, turkey and fish, soo, why is it called duck formula? I don't get it. Now, the canned duck formula has duck only and I think it has turkey broth.

I'm so desperate that I was thinking of getting it just to see if the proble is the grains, but I don't know if that is the right thing. I will ask the vet first.

I just don't get it, he was getting better and now, he looks like it is all staring again

Tammy

Tammy,
My son's little cat looked just like yours only worse. That poor girl was so bad she was bloody and full of scabs. We really thought she was never going to get better. She was on steroids for a while, that I do know. And my son finally did find the right food for her. I'm going to find out what he uses. Hold on. There's an answer for your poor kitty.

Thank you! I decided I'm taking Lucas to a new veterinary clinic tomorrow, I didn't want to go because it is like an hour away, but I have to do something for my boy. If it is not food allergies, we have to find out what it is. He can't stay like this.

Maybe our first vet was right and it is Lupus, I just wish he had run a test to diagnosed him, but he didn't , he just prescribed the prednisolone and the antibiotic.

Oh Tammy! Of course you're going crazy.

I agree with Carolina - at this point, it'd be a good idea to get a 2nd opinion anyway.

Do they sell zyrtec there? (generic is ceterizine). It doesn't require a prescription, it's sold in pharmacies. Cats generally do very well on it - it's much newer than benadryl, and it doesn't cause them to foam at the mouth because it doesn't have the problem with the bitter. It's also very good for allergies that are affecting the skin. When our vet put Chumley on zyrtec, it was just 1/2 a human pill once a day, then we bumped him up to 1/2 a human pill 2x a day.

Have you already done an elimination diet? For Chumley, we put him on chicken and rice for a few weeks - and while that helped the problem he was having with diarrhea, it was clear there was some other issue. But it's a good place to start - and you can always try eliminating the rice.

From there, we moved to the Hill's hypoallergenic (z/d). You don't know if you'll be able to get it there - but a word of caution. The wet food IS hypoallergenic - the dry food is not. It's... something "sensitive." I don't remember exactly how it's worded - but the dry has brewer's rice in it. And while Chumley - as it turns out - is not allergic to whole rice, he IS allergic to brewer's rice.

The other thing you can do is look for foods that do not have wheat gluten or brewer's rice. I spent about three hours one afternoon in the pet food store just reading ingredients. For Chum, the problem isn't "grains" per se - and it isn't proteins. It's a number of usual triggers. And many foods with "gravy" have wheat gluten in them - and a lot of dry foods have brewer's rice in it.

But these are all things you can discuss with your vet, when back - or with a new vet if you decide to get a 2nd opinion.

I agree with switching to either an elimination or raw diet as soon as you can and then working from there.

Tammy, discuss Zyrtec with the vet... it is an antihistamine...
thing is, not much is said about skin, but who knows... Also apparently 50% of cats respond to it, the other 50 don't. antihistamines have very little side effects, which is nice.... much less than pred, thats for sure.
I also read that Pred after a while can do damage fir the skin - that is what can be going on there...
I use a natural homeopathic medicine for bugsy's diarrhea that helps quite a bit - they happen to have a couple o things that can help with skin allergies:
http://www.nativeremedies.com/petali...allergies.html and http://www.nativeremedies.com/petali...c-cat-dog.html
and http://www.nativeremedies.com/petali...-wound-dr.html

Take a look.... the first one is actually for allergies... the others are topical for the wounds....
There are some Ideas you might want to discuss with you vet on this link here Tammy: http://www.cat-health-guide.org/feli...allergies.html

It took a while for my son's kitty to get better. It seemed like forever really but she got a little bit better every week. She was in bad shape. It may have been an allergy to a flea bite, or it may have been something she was eating. The steroids did help her stop itching so much. He has her on Blue Buffalo chicken and rice, the dry.

My best guess is it's not environmental. I have to be really careful with one of mine or she gets skin issues. I have her on no grain right now and she does well on it. She has an auto immune issue so when she has a break out it's because something has triggered that.

I hope you find some answers at the new vet. I know this is very frustrating. Your poor kitty isn't doing well so neither are you.

I'm surprised the steroids haven't done more. Then again, I do know that these kinds of issues can take a long time to resolve.

Good luck today.

Tammy of course you are beside yourself with this going on with your sweet Lucas. . I would be too. I wish you could somehow get the Natural Balance Limited Ingredient diets. My sister's cat, Howie, had that SAME trouble a few years back and she tried all sorts of diets until she tried the limited ingredients. Howie cleared up soooo fast, within a month's time. His coat came back and the sores all healed up and went away. Allergies are just so difficult to manage with our furbabies and I just am sending Lucas MEGA vibes . I also agree with Carolina and a second opinion wouldn't be such a bad idea. Most really good vets will understand you wanting to do that and respect you for it. Just lots of to you today and vibes

Update:

Lucas is looking a little better today, so I will take him to the vet tomorrow. It is obvios the hypoallergenic food isn't helping so we'll see what is next for Lucas.
On the positive side, Lucas is eating well, he doesn't have a fever, he isn't vomiting and he doesn't have diarrhea, Tahnk GoD! he looks very sad , but is because of the itching.

I've been reading carefully all your posts and they help so much. Carolina, it is very interesting what you said about the prednisolone, you opened my eyes, he's been on it for years, that could be a cause for Lucas problem, I can't exclude any possibilities. I will do a reasearch on the prednisolone.

I will also discuss zyrtec with the doctor, I have zyrtec here, I use it when I get nasal allergies. The vet never told me I could give it to Lucas. This is new to me, so Tahnk you!

About the Natural Balance, well, I think I will see if I can get it online, I have to see who is willing to ship to PR>



Thank you all once again. HUGS!

tammy

Just make sure it's "plain" zyrtec - not "zyrtec-D." It should be the antihistamine without the decongestant.

Yes, you do have to be careful in keeping cats on the pred. over an extended period of time Sometimes, sadly the benefits outweigh the risks and you keep them on a modified schedule. I too would be seeking the advice of specialists at this point in time.

We had a very sick kitty that unfortunately passed a bit over two years ago. To make a very long story short - He was ferrel and we had a crappy vet who never educated us to test him for bartonella when we first got him. Our new vet (years later)assumed that he had been tested because he was so healthy and we didn't have records. At about 7, Frisky started having dental problems and we discovered after having several cleanings that he did have bartonella! We did oral extractions, laser treatments, high doses of antibiotics and nothing worked. After nearly a year and close to $4,000 (yes that is correct!!) we lost our beloved cat. We were in the process of setting up an appointment with a high end specialist about 3 hours away when he passed.

It is my only regret that we didn't seek this doctor out months earlier. I don't know that anything would have changed. I have complete faith in my vet. Over 90% of cats with Friskies disease are completely cured he was an extreme case. Our vet sought out advice from others. But you never know what may have happened.

My advice to you is to seek another opinion. Do whatever you are financially able to do to help your baby - you don't want that hanging on your head.

Do you know anyone in the States who could ship the food to you? Sending stuff to Puerto Rico is done using domestic shipping rates, so it wouldn't cost any more to mail something to you than to someone in California or Massachusetts. I think a bag of cat food would fit neatly in a USPS Flat-Rate box, that would cost $10.95 or $14.95 for the larger box. I don't know if many companies are willing but if you have friends who could do it that would work.

Tammy, Petco.com seems to deliver to Puerto Rico... You might want to try Amazon.com; I am not sure if they do - it says US only, not sure if that is continental or what (for Natural Balance)?
Petfooddirect.com ships too, but their shipping charges are through the roof!

I will do everything in my power to get to the bottom of Lucas's condition. Unfortunately , we don't have any specialist here in PR, just regular vets and most of them don't know how to deal with my baby. That is why I try to find help here and I try to educate myself to help my boy.

Yes, the zyrtec I have is plain, not zyrtec-D.

I wish they could all ship to PR, a bag of food fits ina flat rate box, of course and I'm very familiar with shipping because I make outfits for dolls and I sell them to the US, UK and other countries. In fact, here is my website so you can all see my work : www.tammysboutique.com

I will go check those sites Carolina, Thank you!!


HUgs, tammy

Originally Posted by Momto4kitties

I will do everything in my power to get to the bottom of Lucas's condition. Unfortunately , we don't have any specialist here in PR, just regular vets and most of them don't know how to deal with my baby. That is why I try to find help here and I try to educate myself to help my boy.

Yes, the zyrtec I have is plain, not zyrtec-D.

I wish they could all ship to PR, a bag of food fits ina flat rate box, of course and I'm very familiar with shipping because I make outfits for dolls and I sell them to the US, UK and other countries. In fact, here is my website so you can all see my work : www.tammysboutique.com

I will go check those sites Carolina, Thank you!!


HUgs, tammy

Click to expand...

Tammy, do you want me to ship it for you? I can ship it and you can paypal me the $$$.... let me know - I will be happy to do it - I can go to the post office this Saturday and put it in the mail....

I am sending your little baby tons of healing vibes

OMG Thank you so much carolina, I will let you know, I don't want to bother you if there is a food he can get here. I just want to make sure before I bother you. But I will keep it in mind and yes, I can paypal you the money, that is just so nie of you, thank you for caring for my baby so much, Lucas is a Lucky boy to have such aunties.

I will pm you.

HUgs, tammy