I posted several weeks back about finding a bunch of little bumps on my cat's chin, chest, and belly. Eventually we determined that it was an allergy. We knew she had a flea allergy and some food allergies, but her food has been the same for a few years, so we decided it was probably a minor case of fleas and treated her accordingly. We started her on Advantage and got her a dose of antibiotics to help her skin start healing.
Two weeks later, as the ABs wore off, the skin irritation started again, so we took her back to the vet. She got another dose of ABs, and at that point we were moving to a different location where fleas weren't going to be an issue (we'd been staying with someone with a dog), so we figured it would clear up. The vet considered a low dose of steroids, but this cat has a history of developing feline herpes on steroids, so we wanted to avoid it.
A few more weeks go by and the skin irritation starts getting worse again. At this point we realized that the recipe for her food had changed about a year ago, and although none of the ingredient changes involved common allergens, we decided to put her on a food for sensitive skin and see if that helped. We are quite sure at this point that she has no exposure to fleas.
The skin issues continued, so back she went to the vet! This time she got another AB shot, a special hypoallergenic food (Science Diet, which I'm not thrilled about, but we're just trying to get her skin under control at this point), and the vet suggested starting her on a low dose of steroids finally. After a few days she looked loads better! Skin healthier, fur shiny again, and she was clearly much happier. After close to a week, though, she started sneezing, so we stopped the steroids.
So here we are a day later and she's sneezing and sniffling and hiding all day and will probably need to see the vet for her URI. It also seems like she's starting to chew on herself again, though we'll have to wait another day or two and see what happens. We have no idea what could be causing the skin irritation! We moved from a different state a few months ago, so it could be something environmental, I suppose, but what would we even do about that?
Any suggestions on a next step? The vet who's taking care of her is fantastic, but I feel like we're running out of steps on the differential diagnosis at this point. And it really sucks that we can't even give her a low steroid dose. This poor cat has felt some degree of miserable for about two months now, and I feel really bad for her.
Two weeks later, as the ABs wore off, the skin irritation started again, so we took her back to the vet. She got another dose of ABs, and at that point we were moving to a different location where fleas weren't going to be an issue (we'd been staying with someone with a dog), so we figured it would clear up. The vet considered a low dose of steroids, but this cat has a history of developing feline herpes on steroids, so we wanted to avoid it.
A few more weeks go by and the skin irritation starts getting worse again. At this point we realized that the recipe for her food had changed about a year ago, and although none of the ingredient changes involved common allergens, we decided to put her on a food for sensitive skin and see if that helped. We are quite sure at this point that she has no exposure to fleas.
The skin issues continued, so back she went to the vet! This time she got another AB shot, a special hypoallergenic food (Science Diet, which I'm not thrilled about, but we're just trying to get her skin under control at this point), and the vet suggested starting her on a low dose of steroids finally. After a few days she looked loads better! Skin healthier, fur shiny again, and she was clearly much happier. After close to a week, though, she started sneezing, so we stopped the steroids.
So here we are a day later and she's sneezing and sniffling and hiding all day and will probably need to see the vet for her URI. It also seems like she's starting to chew on herself again, though we'll have to wait another day or two and see what happens. We have no idea what could be causing the skin irritation! We moved from a different state a few months ago, so it could be something environmental, I suppose, but what would we even do about that?
Any suggestions on a next step? The vet who's taking care of her is fantastic, but I feel like we're running out of steps on the differential diagnosis at this point. And it really sucks that we can't even give her a low steroid dose. This poor cat has felt some degree of miserable for about two months now, and I feel really bad for her.
