eosinophilic granuloma complex

Hi all,

I have a fur baby that is 10 months old. He developed allergies fairly soon after he was born, about 6 weeks. They started as dermatitis and evolved into eosinophilic granuloma complex  on his paws. He had a few rodent ulcers as well. Basically, swollen lesions on his paws that he would bite and lick at. Our vet tried numerous things, and we settled on Depo steroid shots which cleared them up, and now we are on 6 months of Atopica daily. He has gained a ton of weight, is on special hypoallergenic food but I am nervous about reading about all the risks with Atopica.He is too young to be on medication for life.

Help!!

I assume you have read about the possible side effects of Atopica (cyclosporine) so you can watch for them and tell your vet immediately if you see any of these.  I have had cats on depo-medrol for years with no obvious side effects to date, so you may want to go back to that if he has any trouble tolerating the Atopica.  Just write down the possible side effects and what to look for and see how it goes.  Also, investigate the hypoallergenic food he is on because some of those still contain common allergens.  Knowledge is growing daily, so you may want to discuss the food with people in the Nutrition Forum here because they know the latest developments, sometimes more than the vets know unless they are specialists in that area.  Good luck with your little guy.  I'm glad he's doing well right now.

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/lookup.cfm?setid=47f70173-a1d9-4156-9a7f-0f296e5dd64b