Allergies continued...

Yes your cat could be allergic to catnip. Reactions can be immediate or delayed as the antibodies (which are triggered by allergens) from his previous exposure.to the allergen may still be 'acting up'. Try taking all traces of catnip away for a couple of weeks or even a month and see if you see an improvement. You also my want to invest in a cone to prevent him from licking and chewing. Just.remember that if it is.the catnip, he still may react for.some time after you take it away.

Yes, BG is great that way. I'd do it. Again - the problem is it can take a month - 6 weeks to know for sure (unless you see an improvement right away: it CAN take that long).

Did you order the 2docs allergy pills? Did they get there yet?

I should add - we saw an improvement in the amount Chum was nibbling at himself within two weeks when we started him on the chinese herbals his doc recommended. Thankfully they work - so I never did figure out the list of what he's allergic to.

Whenever there is an allergy in cats, it is the proteins to which they are allergic to (when it is a food allergy). As much as I believe in feeding LID diets, I would first contact the manufacturer to inquire about how they make their LID diets or if they are made at a totally separate factory which only makes these diets. Do they clean the factory thoroughly before making each LID diet to ensure there are no traces of other proteiins that could potentially be causing your cat's allergy? I know that Medi-cal here in Ontario cleans their factory out before making their hypo diet and they only make their hypo diet on Mondays.

I spoke to a client who works at Simmons who makes Wellness foods. I asked them about the Wellness Simple Solutions line for dogs and if they cleaned out their factory. He said yes and that the factory is totally cleaned before any Wellness product is made.

Pet food manufacturers should be required to do this if they are making a limited ingredient diet intended for pets with food allergies or intolerances. Just as they do with human food. Or they should have to say that there may be traces of whatever other protein on the label.

I would also add an Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acid supplement. These help with skin issues as well as with immunity which will help with allergies.

I completely understand what you are going through and I had the same question months ago. If he is allergic to food it will take time for him to get better. With my Lucas the only food that helped was the Hills z/d, I'm not a big fan, but there was nothing else available here in PR for him. I decided to try the Natural Balance duck and peas canned food, I will see how he does on that one. I should be receiving it tomorrow.

I asked my vet if an allergic reaction to food can happen instantly or if it takes time to show and he told me that if a cat is allergic to his food, you should see a reaction after he eats it. I believe my Lucas had an allergic reaction to hills z/d canned, but not to the dry, he does well on the dry, but my vet says that is not possible because that food is ultra allergen free.
Well I still think there is something in that food that Lucas is allergic to, so I wll not give it to him anymore.

If I were you I wouldn't give him catnip, because he is so allergic. I had to stop using perfumes and plug-ins and all that because of Lucas. Since we don't really know what they are allergic to, we have to do lots of changes.

It is so difficult. I hope your kitty gets better.

tammy

Hi! I'm glad ! I hope the new food works! My biggerst headache has been finding out what he is allergic to, I know he has food allergies because he got better once I put him on hills z/d, but I have to start doing food trials with Lucas, I received my NB green peas and duck canned today and he loves it! I have to watch him now to see if he has a reaction, I hope not.

If this works I will try chicken next.

Lucas is also FIV positive, like your kitty. But I still have soem doubts and I will have him tested again next year. Lcas also seems to have an autoimmune disease (skin lupus), so he is on prednisolone right now and Atopica. I don't think the meds have helped his allergies, only changing the food helped. But since he seems to have soemthing else it gets crazy and sometimes I don't even know what is going on with him.

I will keep your kitty in my prayers, I want him to get better soon, I know how hard it is to see them suffer with all that itching and scratching.


HUgs to you!

Tammy

The 2docs pills are totally great, plus they have vitamin C which is a great immune system booster. It definitely took Curly the full 6 weeks before I could be sure that he was responding. I could tell that he stopped itching but it wasn't until I could see his fur filling back in that I knew it was working.

Here is the response I got when I posted the question about the allergy pills to my FIV group:


Hi Barb. Welcome!

--- On Wed, 5/25/11, JohnC <carchocolatechip@yahoo.com> wrote:

"I also ordered the 2docs http://www.2docs.net/shop/scripts/default.asp allergy pills and vitamin C pills."
I checked out the ingredients, and that's actually a very good supplement for an FIV cat. Curcumin, quercetin, NAC, ALA, licorice are all the right kind of thing. FIV causes an essentially inflammatory disease, and anti-inflammatory supplements seem to be the things most indicated, particularly in asymptomatic cats. You could do worse than go right on giving it.

"and these seem to have helped Curly, altho his fur is really horrible compared to the full coat he had when he first came here."
Hmmm, seems to me if it was fine when he got to you but isn't now -- even though he is probably getting better overall care and nutrition now than he had before-- that argues pretty persuasively for a food allergy.

"Here are my questions: Can a kitty new with FIV be as active as Curly and still present with immune deficiencies such as these allergies and chin acne?"

Neither allergies nor chin acne is inherently related to immune deficiency. It does seem as if FIV+ cats may be somewhat more disposed to allergies than FIV-. No one has ever clarified why. It could be the hyperimmune activity caused by chronic infection or the elevated levels of an immunoglobulin (IgE) particularly associated with allergic responses that the virus causes. Some of "our" cats have ongoing problems with dermatitis -- but others do fine when a particular source of allergin is eliminated.

"And what else can I do to keep his immune system in optimal shape?"

To my earlier response regarding the allergy supplement I'd add an endorsement of lactoferrin as per my post [#12696] yesterday to Tina.

Joel

I just wanted to add, the site I gave in my post is no longer the .net address, this is the correct one: http://www.2docspethealth.com/blue-label-formulas.html

Awww I am sorry to hear this! I have not been back online until today. About the allergy pills suppressing the immune system, I don't have enough medical knowledge to answer that specifically. From my research and based on the positive feedback from the FIV site, I don't think they do, at least not in the way I think you might be worried about, i.e. supressing the immunity needed to combat an illness. The ingredients are homeopathic and anti-inflammatory in nature and are not steroids. I have felt this is probably the best thing for Curly. I was very excited when he still did not have itching symptoms after his initial steroid shot wore off, and he was able to thrive with just the pills.

 

And I love that they contain vitamin C, which is so very helpful for FIV cats. Here is a little article about vitamin C for cats, particularly feral kitties but this is even more true for FIV kitties. http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/HOW_TO_NUTRITION

 

It did take a while for these pills to work, they are not overnight, but they do help. .As far as finding whatever it is that is making your cat allergic, maybe read the back of the cans and bags for every item. You will see that almost every wet food contains chicken and/or salmon even if it is venison or beef cat food!

 

I still don't know exactly what Curly is allergic to. I am pretty sure he is sensitive to salmon and maybe also chicken. The only thing he has not reacted to is BG turkey, and now at the adoption center he seems to be doing ok on a small amount of Blue Buffalo turkey dry food along with his BG wet. The BG is just about the only wet food that really restricts the ingredients where you can be sure of what you are getting inside. 

Hey, just FYI, on those allergy pills, you can give your cat less pill depending on his weight. My Curly was about 11lbs so the bottle said he should get 1/2 a pill per day. I'm glad to hear he loves  them! Now I just hope they help a lot!

 

Also, I just posted a really good food allergy article I found, on the post about Lucas and his poor tummy if you are interested. It seems like there is not a lot of information to help us dig down and figure out what to do on a day to day basis.  

HI !! Glad to hear Grim is doing better and thanks for the update. It is so hard to see our furbabies suffering with food allergies. I hope he continues to do well on the Salmon/fish diet.