Been dealing with a food/environmental allergy for over a year!

Hi, everyone,

My name is Meg and my cat's name is Paisley. She's about 4 now, and when a friend rescued her from a derelict house, she was about 8 months. She's a domestic short-hair and looks like a Snowshoe.

History:

About 2 years ago, my sister found a cut on Paisley. The vet looked at it and we thought it was from Paisley getting her hair caught on something or just scratching a bit too hard. The cut went away and about a quiet year later the crazy, the obsessive scratching began and Paisley created a huge, infected cut on her neck. I went to the vet about every 3 weeks and struggled to find a cone to keep her from getting at her neck. After finding negative results for parasites on a skin scrape, the vet had me give Paisley Benedryl and put her on the Z/D Diet ... to no avail. (Previously, Paisley was eating Blue Buffalo Wilderness dry and wet foods.) Eventually, the vet referred us to a veterinary dermatologist at a Referral Clinic. The dermatologist gave me a topical steroid to help heal the cut and switched Paisley to the Royal Canin Hypoallergenic diet (Venison & Pea). The biggest struggle was just getting the cut to heal. We tried normal e-collars, inflatable collars (she popped 2), a solid, flexible collar (which was too long for her nose), and finally I found a flexible, see-through e-collar from iseespot.com. It was heartbreaking when I put it on her because she struggled like crazy and I just couldn't take it off of her. 

Currently:

Now, after about 3 months since seeing the dermatologist, Paisley's cut on her neck has healed and her scratching has stopped about 50%. About 2 weeks ago, Paisley was at a place where I felt comfortable keeping her cone off while not at home (she has a non-stick bandage around her neck still) and, by wearing Soft Paws, she really wasn't doing any damage to herself. This lasted about two days, when I found a large cut on her back (about the size of a quarter). I was stumped - could she even reach there with her claws? I figured she had caught it on something. A day later, I found a similar cut and realized she was licking these cuts. I am not sure if she originally scratched herself and then the licking made them worse, or if she over-licked and caused these wounds. 

And, that's not all! My family and I had visited my aunt who (unbeknownst to me) was struggling with a flea problem between her cat and dog. I had a suspicion that these recent wounds may have been caused from fleas. Paisley's back was also trembling very often, which was uncharacteristic of her. About a week ago, I discovered small bugs on my desk at work - one of which bit me. After learning more than I ever wanted to know about small, biting bugs, I believed the bugs were some sort of mite (I often hear scurrying in the ceiling above my desk). An exterminator came to spray and take the sample I'd caught. I'm hoping tomorrow we'll know more. I am 99.9% sure that there are no more mites in my home after repeated vacuuming, washing everything I own, freezing "contaminated" clothes, dousing myself in tea tree oil, flea-combing Paisley, making my mom check my head for bugs, and applying Frontline to Paisley. I did not find any bugs on Paisley and her back is not trembling so I believe if anything was there, it's gone. Her cuts are almost healed by now.

I will not be working in my office until this situation is under control and plan to change as soon as I get home and place my clothes in the freezer before washing them. I will also be vacuuming every-other-day. 

Next Steps:

Anyway... once I feel 100% confident that Paisley is bug-free, I have to decide what to do about her food situation. The dermatologist and I have been communicating over e-mail and she's been really helpful. If Paisley's scratching/licking behavior continues, our next step will be to switch to a homemade pork diet or Rayne's kangaroo wet food (which I really can't afford). We've decided that if the pork doesn't work, she's just going to treat Paisley as if she has environmental allergies, forgoing the $300-$700 blood tests. Then we'll see if that helps.

Financial/Family Issues:

I have Trupanion for Paisley, but because I signed up AFTER Paisley had that original cut, her condition is considered pre-existing. Thus, I am paying for everything out of pocket. At the moment, I live with my parents and am applying to grad schools. My mother gets extremely nervous about Paisley's condition and this does nothing to relax my own nerves. I am doing everything I can, and it's just not working. 

Help:

This post was to let you all know my story, to rant a bit, and to ask if anyone has dealt with a similar situation. What worked/didn't? Any tips/tricks?

Thanks so much for reading our story. I know it was a bit long and wordy, but that's how I roll...

Meg

Meg, welcome to TCS. I'm so sorry that it's a problem like this that brings you. Poor Paisley!

We rescued a kitty with a lot of health problems in the spring of 2010. He had explosive diarrhea, obsessive itching/grooming, mowed his abdomen clean of hair and licked spots on his front legs clean.

I don't know where you're located, but the vets around here don't recommend testing for food allergies - they say the expense isn't worth the results, because they're not accurate enough.

In our kitty, we couldn't use prednisone (a typical treatment for allergies) because he's got FIV, and it's contraindicated. We tried the z/d diet. I don't know if you're using only the canned, or both the canned and dry, but the dry has brewer's rice in it (the dry is NOT marketed as hypoallergenic, it is marketed as LOW allergan), and that brewer's rice can be a trigger. In the canned food, a kitty on TCS turned out to be allergic to the corn starch in it. So just FYI on that.

In the end, we found a holistic vet (a D.V.M. trained in chinese medicine, nutrition, and western herbs). She was able to get his diarrhea resolved inside of four days - where the traditional vets we work with (and they're excellent vets!) were unable to help him over a six-month period. It was clear her treatment for his allergies was working inside of two weeks, though it took about a month for his obsessive grooming to stop, and a few months for all his hair to grow back in.

My experience - and from what I see here over and over again on TCS, is that traditionally trained vets are wonderful with pretty much everything EXCEPT immune-related problems.

I don't know where you're located, but you might want to google to see if there are any holistic vets you can get to. We were lucky to find one 45 minutes away. If you're in the U.S., you can search for one at http://www.ahvma.org I suspect you're in Australia because of the mention of Kangaroo....

Now - for some cats, even a single flea bite can trigger all kinds of problems that are difficult to resolve. If you're SURE there are no fleas and mites, and the problem continues, even though allergies are typically related to the environment and not the food, the food we feed them can help that hyper immune system. :nod: Cats are obligate carnivores: their bodies are designed to eat a high protein, very low carb diet. Their bodies aren't designed to get their nutrition from vegetables and grains and carbohydrates, and it takes a toll on their systems. For some cats, their immune systems go wonky. So switching them to limited ingredient foods, single source proteins, and a high protein, grain-free, low carb diet can really help them. Chumley's holistic vet wanted us to take him off kibble altogether (we did), and put him on a raw diet (we didn't at first). It took me about a year to get comfortable with the idea of a raw diet ( :anon: ), but once he was on it? We were able to take him off ALL meds and supplements. So we never figured out what the source of his problem was, and we don't know if it was food or if it's environmental or what. But with what he's eating now, it doesn't matter.

Also, many people who switch to a raw diet find that if their kitty was allergic to, let's say chicken, if they provide raw chicken, their cat isn't allergic to it. :dk: In the end, it may not be the proteins themselves, but the way their processed - or something else in the food that we just don't know what it is - and it can be darn hard to pin down.

Just wanted to share our experience, and send you and Paisley many vibes you can get this figured out for her health and comfort!

Ldg,

Thanks so much for your response.

Actually, I'm located in MA, which is probably why a kangaroo diet is so expensive, lol. In my "new to the site" post, I wrote that even if we lived in Australia, i couldn't see Paisley mauling a kangaroo (or even a kiwi bird, for that matter). Haha. Even now, she's eating venison, and it just doesn't make sense to me.

My derm. vet agreed that the results of food allergy tests weren't worth the cost, either.

Paisley's diet has always been a mix of wet and dry foods. Even with the Royal Canin, she has dry, though there's no grain that I could find. I'll check the wet for corn starch. Paisley is my first cat and when I started with her, she was on Iams and Fancy Feast. After her first year, she'd put on a bit of weight, so I researched protein-rich foods and cat diets. People thought I was crazy for giving her such "expensive" food, like Blue Buffalo.

I had researched raw diets and while it's logical to me as far as a diet, I'm not sure if it's practical at the moment. I need to research a bit more again.

I did recognize that several peopke had success with holistic vets, and I'll see if there are any in my area (there must be somewhere in MA). Thanks for the link.

I'm glad that your kitty is doing really well!

Thanks again,
Meg

Oh! To help you find high protein, low carb foods your Paisley might like, Dr. Pierson of http://www.catinfo.org just recently updated a list. You'll have to research ingredients, because the list doesn't indicate quality of food at all. But you can use the Dry Matter Basis columns (the middle one) to identify foods that are high protein, low carb.

This is the link to the article: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods

I hope you can find the time to read through both links, they're very informative and helpful.

LDG,

Thanks for the link.

Poor Paisley has just scratched the cut at her back and it's bleeding. I can't even apply any medicine because she keeps trying to bite me. She looks so pitiful. This situation is so stressful!

Meg

Any luck finding a holistic vet? :cross:

FYI, I just did a search for "Small Animal" with "Chinese herbs" in Massachusetts. 17 turned up in my search, all of them DVMs and most of them with a lot of other training - in a wide range of cities, so I'm hopeful for you!

LDG,

Yes, I saw that there were quite a few at the AHVMA site. Should I be looking at Chinese medicine or acupuncture?

After Paisley's rather rough night last night, I have emailed her derm. vet to see if we can try out an environmental allergy medicine. I just want to see if I can get her stable before I go to a holistic vet.

Thanks so much for your continued help! Who knew a little allergy could cause so much stress?

Meg

Well, all of the holistic vets listed are also DVMs. This means they are trained in traditional treatment options. Most vets will choose the best course of treatment (in their opinion); they may use a combination of both.

But if she becomes stable on an allergy med, why bother seeing a holistic vet? If you find something that works... ?

In my experience, vets trained in Chinese Medicine are usually also trained in acupunture, but those trained in acupuncture are not necessarily trained in the broader Chinese medicine. Acupuncture is often useful for treating allergies, but unless the vet makes housecalls, it can be a lot of travel.

Chinese medicine just doesn't have a "western" lexicon. It evaluates the body and its condition from a completely different perspective: energy meridiens, energy blockages, hot/cold, dry/damp, and balance. Chumley was diagnosed as being "extremely yin deficient" (he was too "hot"), and he was diagnosed with an "extreme spleen Qi deficiency." I don't know what these mean, but what she had us give him to resolve what in the West looks like allergies, worked to stop his itching and discomfort. :dk:

So a holistic DVM would either be able to use conventional treatments (allergy meds, prednisone, etc.), or, IMO, the point would be to use the "non-conventional" treatment, and potentially fix the problem with treatments that are... more gentle on their systems. :dk:

When Lazlo was diagnosed with cancer, she suggested chemo and an oncologist. She pointed out that the if the oncologist said it wasn't treatable, she would use alternatives if we wanted to pursue them.

I suggested the holistic vet option because it sounded like western medicine has been failing your kitty, and we had a good experience trying an alternative when western medicine failed us. :heart2:

Whatever you do, I hope you find a resolution. :heart3:

First thing I would recommend is to switch to a LID wet diet, or a raw diet. Those z/d diets work for some cats, but others it does nothing for. And even if it turns out your cat Doesn't have allergies, it would still be better for her overall health. :nod:

I second trying a Holistic vet if yours has run out of ideas. I'm not quite sure I believe in the yin/yang, hot/cold stuff, but the herbs they prescribe seem to work some kind of magic.

Major vibes for Paisley

Minka said:

I second trying a Holistic vet if yours has run out of ideas. I'm not quite sure I believe in the yin/yang, hot/cold stuff, but the herbs they prescribe seem to work some kind of magic.

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The interesting thing about the "yin/yang, hot/cold" stuff is, as a blog post in Dogs Naturally Magazine points out:

"It’s very common in the pharmaceutical industry for drugs to be in vogue for a particular condition for a certain period of time to later be found as useless, ineffective, dangerous, or more useful for some other condition than for which they were created.

Ironically, we don’t have that problem with homeopathic remedies or medicinal herbs. The same ones that worked 200 years ago still work today. On the same conditions."

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/evidence-based-veterinary-medicine/

They're referring to the western use of homeopathic medicines and herbs, but when discussing Chinese Medicine, we can probably take that out to... thousands of years.

LDG said:

The interesting thing about the "yin/yang, hot/cold" stuff is, as a blog post in Dogs Naturally Magazine points out:
"It’s very common in the pharmaceutical industry for drugs to be in vogue for a particular condition for a certain period of time to later be found as useless, ineffective, dangerous, or more useful for some other condition than for which they were created.
Ironically, we don’t have that problem with homeopathic remedies or medicinal herbs. The same ones that worked 200 years ago still work today. On the same conditions."
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/evidence-based-veterinary-medicine/
They're referring to the western use of homeopathic medicines and herbs, but when discussing Chinese Medicine, we can probably take that out to... thousands of years.

Click to expand...

I see.... thus the terminology.....

Yeah... I don't understand the terminology, nor do I care for either. I do however, use natural herbs to treat myself and the cats before any drugs.... Including Chinese - currently I am using one for enviromental allergies on Bugsy that is working beautifully.
I do have a holistic vet who has given the stomatitis drops to Bugsy and guidance on his raw diet.
As far as the rest, I come from a country where it is SO common to use natural remedies.... We just do. So... I research, and discuss it with my vet (westen medicine vet) who actually knows quite a bit about natural medicine, and has an open mind. He then does his own research and gets back to me with an yey or nay. Everything he takes is on his files on his western vet, and has his approval.
To give an example, the chinese drops he is taking for allergies along with evening primerose oil are working better than pred, and don't have any side effects.
Bugsy goes to his vet every six months or more often as his stomatitis drugs (as in western drugs) have been discontinued) and he needs close monitoring.
My vet system is like a network - the western vet, the main vet guides and talks to the holistic and the dentist - they are all on the same page in treating him - I have found that this approach works the best.

Some TCM treatments have been found to be harmful when properly studied, and TCM itself can be one of those fad cures.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/04/dangers-of-chinese-medicine.html

OrientalSlave said:

Some TCM treatments have been found to be harmful when properly studied, and TCM itself can be one of those fad cures.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/04/dangers-of-chinese-medicine.html

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likewise, many western drugs present awful side effects. It's up to you and your vet or doctor, to proper analyse the ingredients in the formula prior to using it.

We can analyse the ingredients but without correct research into them that doesn't help.  That something has been used for hundreds or thousands of years doesn't make it safe and/or efficatious - and something being new doesn't make it unsafe and/or ineffective.

OrientalSlave said:

We can analyse the ingredients but without correct research into them that doesn't help.  That something has been used for hundreds or thousands of years doesn't make it safe and/or efficatious - and something being new doesn't make it unsafe and/or ineffective.

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in my book if something has been used for thousands of years showing efficacy.... Sorry... But I do consider those facts. There are plenty of herbs that are known to be safe or not safe or not safe for cats, to work or not work. It is not only traditional medicine that works. The majority of drugs come from natural products and plants anyways, the active ingredients are just synthesized and stabilized. There is plenty of research of chemistry of natural products, its safety, medical properties. You just need to look for.

To get back on topic , my cat has both food and environmental allergies. I've been through the steroid shot and prednisone routine routine, but not for years now. Abby is currently on the Royal Canin limited ingredient diet, both wet and dry. A few times a year the environmental allergies kick in, pretty much when mine are at their worst :lol3:, and at that point she gets human over the counter allergy meds per my vet's instructions. It doesn't normally last for more than a few weeks at a time. I do keep an eagle eye on her and as soon as I notice her scratching more or notice the red spots starting on her nose or in front of her ears, I have to start the allergy pill immediately to nip it in the bud. If I don't, Abby scratches herself until she is raw and bloody. She also will pull out the fur on her back.

Good luck! I hope you can get it under control.

Also, welcome from another Massachusetts member!

Has she had her blood sugar tested at all?  Have you switched litters at all or tried switching to something else

So Alright.... Back on topic - here is how I control Bugsy's issues:
He eats a raw diet, and on every meal he takes a Chinese herbal drops for allergies. In one of his meals he takes Evening Primerose. He also takes Krill Oil for Omega 3; although I give that to all my cats (I should say that all of this is approved by his vet)
It has been working great for him, without any side effects - his vet said his allergies are environmental

Whoa, didn't check the site for a few days and this thread blew up! Lol.

Thanks to everyone for their information and opinions. I really do appreciate them all.

As for my lil' buddy and I, I'm going to make an appointment for her to see the derm vet again next week because I'm concerned about the twitching. I doubt (and sincerely hope!) she doesnt have hyperesthesia, but I want to make sure she's ok.

My sister put some Calomine Lotion on the wounds and her aggravation did seem to lessen. Also, she has the cone on so she won't be ingesting anything. The wounds are healing fairly well, I just need to keep on top of them.

To catsallaround: No, I haven't had her blood sugar tested. I did change her litter for about 2 months - from pine to clay.

I'll let you guys know how the appointment goes and what the next course of action is.

Thanks for all of your support!

Meg