very bad allergies- need ideas

My cat has very bad allergies. He is allergic to most foods as well as dust mites. We did bloodwork allergy testing and he only tested positive to dust mites.

Currently his treatment consists of:

Allergy shots (it's been a year since I started him on shots)

In the morning he gets 1/4th a pill of chlorpheniramine (antihistamine)

At night he gets 1/4th a pill of amitryptyline.

He gets medicated baths with Septiderm V.

The vet said I could bump him up to 1/2 a pill of each but I hate to think of how all those drugs make him feel. Chlorpheniramine personally puts me straight to sleep, although isn't nearly as bad as benadryl. Amitryptyline makes my ears ring like crazy and makes me feel disconnected from my body...  If those are the side effects I experience, it certainly makes me feel really bad for my cat!

I keep the house spotless. Vacuum as much as possible, dust everything, wipe the floors down, clean the counters. My house looks great! 

He can't have steroids. It makes him have accidents everywhere! As he is already prone to struvite crystals, it is not a good idea to put him on steroids.

Please share what works for your allergy cats? The vets are out of ideas and suggest I take him to a specialist which will be too expensive (at least until I get a job).

Have you tried probiotics?

http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/probiotics-a-dietary-powerhouse-for-your-cat/

I have an allergy cat, too...George. His regular vet did blood testing, and it indicated dust, mold, and several pollens as likely culprits. He's under the care of a veterinary dermatologist now, and we are also trying the allergy shots. We're six months into the shots, and have yet to see improvement.

He's been taking Atopica for about two months, and it's been a miracle drug for him. It's cleared up his skin, he's not itchy or raw, he's playful, affectionate, and incredibly happy. 

There are downsides to Atopica, though.... A) Price. We paid about $90 for an 11 week supply.  B) It's a liquid medicine that tastes absolutely VILE. We solved this by putting his dose into an empty capsule and pilling him.  C) He cannot have ANY raw food.  D) He has to be kept inside because if he were to hunt a rodent carrying toxoplasmosis (sp?), the disease would kill him. Thankfully George is a 100% indoor cat, but I still worry that a random mouse will get into the house...

Since it sounds like food is a big issue for your cat, my first thought is to try him on a raw diet. It'll eliminate fillers, various thickeners, etc. from his food. And many cats who have an allergy to a protein have no problem eating it in it's raw form. If raw isn't an option, perhaps home-cooked to at least eliminate all the nutritionally unnecessary ingredients that are in commercial cat foods.

If a raw or home-cooked diet doesn't alleviate things, then I would give the Atopica a try.

Has your cat had a biopsy on an active site to rule out things like pemphigus?  Skin scrapings for mites, fungus, etc.? On monthly flea control to keep flea-bite allergy totally out of the picture while your working to pinpoint exact allergens?  A strict food trial for 8-12 weeks?

We tried several different antihistamines for George, to no avail. When he was on chlorpheniramine his dose was 1/2 pill every 12 hours (he was almost 9 lbs at the time). It only stays in a cat's system for about 12 hours, so once a day dosing is impractical. If it is a drug that helps him, he's going "uncovered" for half the day...so you'd never know it was working. 

Some have seen benefit to adding more omega oils to an allergy cat's diet.  And some have seen improvement with cermides applied to the skin (Allerderm Spot-On).  Neither helped George. We've tried almost everything at this point....

I know how incredibly frustrating this can be. I wish I had sage words or miracle advice...but I'm looking for exactly that, too. Hang in there.

The raod to finding a solution with our allergy felines is indeed a long road. Gizmo is 6 and he has been fighting this battle sine he was 9 mo. old. I've learned that what works for one doesn't work for another.

I wish you luck in finding your solution.