eosiniphilic granuloma complex (plaque) in cats - any experiences?

history: we have a one year old male cat with ECG plaque on his right hind thigh.  he's been on a LID diet since september, and the plaque has gotten better but not entirely disappeared.

should we be expecting the granulomas to disappear entirely, or will they likely remain?  are we missing an allergy?  he sometimes coughs, but we're not sure if it's a hairball or allergies.

currently feeding: natural balance LID duck and green pea, nature's variety LID duck, venison, lamb (going to add rabbit).  so, no chicken, turkey, fish/fish oil, or beef.

also, any food recommendations?  we're thinking about trying some of the LID diets that have duck and turkey in them.

max and i would love to hear about any of your experiences with EGC

Sometimes the plaques will go away sometimes they won't. My dad has a cat who has it on his lip it never goes away. Steroids minimize it but it ddoesn't go away completely ever.

Have you discussed your concerns and likely outcomes for your cat with a vet? They will probably be able to give you a better idea that we can about your specific cat, since as cprcheeta correctly notes, it can vary what happens from cat to cat.  A vet will also be best able to help you determine if a cogh is hairballs, allergies, or something more serious.

Good luck!

I don't know much about it, but I know TCS member @Nekochan has cats with ECG.

One of my parents' cats has EGC that is tied to a food allergy (pork.) So long as pork stays out of his system, no EGC.

What was the first LID diet he was on, and how long before adding in new proteins?
Perhaps he has an allergy to duck, venison or turkey?

maxysmama said:

 
currently feeding: natural balance LID duck and green pea, nature's variety LID duck, venison, lamb (going to add rabbit).  so, no chicken, turkey, fish/fish oil, or beef.

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Those are good food choices, I think, but I'd try going raw. If you don't want to go through the hassle of making it yourself, they sell frozen raw patties at Petco. Nature's Variety is the brand I use. They definitely have rabbit. Think they may even have duck. Worth a try anyway?

My cats have allergies and eosinophilic granuloma complex. It shows in different ways. Harley mostly gets lip ulcers, Mr Grey gets sores on his ankles and between his paw pads, and Spot has eosinophilic lesions/plaques on his thighs and stomach. So far the only things that have helped are steroids or Atopica, and the Atopica has helped the most... For Spot the steroids haven't been very effective and so far nothing has made the lesions on his thighs/stomach go away except surgery. However, now that he is on Atopica I've seen  improvement in the lesions, although they are not gone they are getting smaller finally (knock on wood!!)

Switching foods did reduce Mr Grey's symptoms when he first started having issues, but did not completely get rid of them. We tried different foods but they are so picky they wouldn't eat most of them so I ended up using Royal Canin Rabbit allergy formula. I've been switching them to the Instinct LID rabbit though now that they have that one available. I'm planning to try a different food though because I am afraid they may have developed an allergy to something in their limited ingredient food (the rabbit or pea, maybe) now that they've been on it a longer time. However my vet and I both feel my cats probably have both food and environmental allergies.