From mites-->secondary infection--> hair loss--> new pet owner, LONG STORY. help!

Hello all, I am new to the cat site and a young college student who adopted a cat from a shelter the first week of January. I am a first time pet owner by myself. I desperately need some guidance and advice on what's going on with Norah. My mother has had to help me with vet bills as I was flushed of money quite rapidly. We our down to our last visit that will be around next week. If it doesn't work out then I am being forced to take her back to the shelter.

I know these are common problems it seems, so I'm hoping someone here can be of help so I don't have to take her back. So thank you for reading. Let me start from the beginning:

When I got her I took her to the vet because her head was shaking: ear mites.

He prescribed me with tobramycin and I used it twice a day for 7 days. The shaking and itching never really stopped and she had been sneezing and had watery eyes (herpes virus?) the following week and lost her appetite and stopped drinking (This was fixed as I switched to 50/50 wet/dry food). She was also starting to scratch behind her ear and lose hair.

She also had tapeworms, which we had her take the pill and was gone. No other worms were detected.

I took her in again, to my surprise it was a different vet at the same clinic.

They gave her the shot of convenia for a bacterial skin infection, it did not work. They said either a yeast/bacterial infection? I was not clarified by the team.

I was prescribed dermalone ointment to use twice a day for 7 days and on the 5th day, frustrated with no improvement, I went to a different vet. By this time her third eyelid on the same side of her ear had been swelling and red.

(the very first vet noticed a scar-like attribute on her eye and said it was from a past respiratory infection, so this eye has been an issue before)

I also started at this time giving her 250-500mg of lysine a day depending on her symptoms.

 I went to a different clinic because my last experience was unsettling, and so the current clinic suggested tests and everything, I was already out of money.

My mother, took it upon her to give her stuff that yes, was human prescribed. Although she's a nurse anesthetist, I felt and still feel very uncomfortable with it. Everything I've read has said not to do it, but it became out of my hands.

I gave her one drop of predisolone acetate ophthalmic solution 1% a day for 4 days. The swelling of her eye went down.

I then got tobradex ophthalmic ointment, and gave that to her twice a day for 5 days. The redness improved, but it hasn't completely gone away and the discharge from that eye is still occurring.

I cleaned her ears with 21st century essential pet cleansing liquid, although i don't know if I wasn't doing it well enough or if her ears weren't responding well to it because I stopped out of inflammation and continued scratching.

All while this is happening, her eye has improved but is not completely healed, and her ear situation persists and the

area keeps getting larger. Once in awhile I've put bag balm on the spot to help with the dryness. The apartment is quite dry at the moment.

Any of you that have had similar experience, or can point me to clearer articles or posts, I would really appreciate it.

Her ear is what we are addressing the different vet.

She is spayed, and has never been vaccinated. We didn't vaccinate her yet because we didn't know if it was okay to do that while she's not completely healthy.

Currently she is eating and drinking fine and her activity level is good. She is about 2 years old and weighs 8.5 lbs. She has not vomited throughout this whole process and has diarrhea only a couple of times since January. I'm feeding her purina one, which is what the shelter was feeding her before and her wet food is sheba pate.

I'm just looking for any advice before going back to the vet in the meantime, since the next vet visit will be the last. We do plan to vaccinate her as well.

*For those who are against going to tractor supply co or pet supplies, I'm sorry if this is not what you would do at all, but these are my limited options*

I'm not a vet but I have a few suggestions you can try.

I suspect allergies as that often causes itching around the face and itchy eyes. Bacterial and fungal skin infections come with allergies. A simple test is to try treating with 5 mg prednisolone oral, not prednisone. But you need a script and if your cat has herpes, the herpes will get worse!

Another option is to treat with antihistamines such as 1/4th of claritin. Antihistamines are not very effective and may not help much. Do not give antihistamines with prednisolone.

For skin infections, buy chlorhexidine skin cleaner. They also sell chlorhexidine combined with ketoconazole in case it is fungal. You can buy that from jeffers. But it requires being able to give your cat a bath. My cats were started as kittens and won't rip me apart for giving them a bath. Most cats aren't that nice. Another option is to apply with a damp rag, but I would use an E Collar as the antifungal stuff is toxic if swallowed. Chlorhexidine is safe if swallowed. They use it in dog and cat mouth rinses as swallowing some is non toxic.

For diarrhea or intestinal parasites, I would treat with Fenbendazole. That will eliminate any parasites you have missed.

I would switch cat food to evo 95 percent as that is the most limited ingredient food out there. She could have food allergies with the itching and diarrhea.

Ear infections are also caused by allergies.

The scabs on her ears look like phemphigus possibly. It is a skin autoimmune disease that looks similar to allergies. Treatment is with prednisolone.

Probably the cheapest course of action is to try the prednisolone. But I would wait until she stops sneezing and coughing before trying that!

Have the ear mites cleared up or are they infected? If she still has mites that could explain the itch. If her ears are infected than it is probably allergies.

Allergies are very difficult to treat. My boy is on allergy shots, antihistamines, and gets a antibacterial bath weekly. Sometimes he needs antibiotics too. It is around $400 and up to test for allergies and start shots.

Sarah Ann said:

I'm not a vet but I have a few suggestions you can try.

I suspect allergies as that often causes itching around the face and itchy eyes. Bacterial and fungal skin infections come with allergies. A simple test is to try treating with 5 mg prednisolone oral, not prednisone. But you need a script and if your cat has herpes, the herpes will get worse!

Another option is to treat with antihistamines such as 1/4th of claritin. Antihistamines are not very effective and may not help much. Do not give antihistamines with prednisolone.

For skin infections, buy chlorhexidine skin cleaner. They also sell chlorhexidine combined with ketoconazole in case it is fungal. You can buy that from jeffers. But it requires being able to give your cat a bath. My cats were started as kittens and won't rip me apart for giving them a bath. Most cats aren't that nice. Another option is to apply with a damp rag, but I would use an E Collar as the antifungal stuff is toxic if swallowed. Chlorhexidine is safe if swallowed. They use it in dog and cat mouth rinses as swallowing some is non toxic.

For diarrhea or intestinal parasites, I would treat with Fenbendazole. That will eliminate any parasites you have missed.

I would switch cat food to evo 95 percent as that is the most limited ingredient food out there. She could have food allergies with the itching and diarrhea.

Ear infections are also caused by allergies.

The scabs on her ears look like phemphigus possibly. It is a skin autoimmune disease that looks similar to allergies. Treatment is with prednisolone.

Probably the cheapest course of action is to try the prednisolone. But I would wait until she stops sneezing and coughing before trying that!

Have the ear mites cleared up or are they infected? If she still has mites that could explain the itch. If her ears are infected than it is probably allergies.

Allergies are very difficult to treat. My boy is on allergy shots, antihistamines, and gets a antibacterial bath weekly. Sometimes he needs antibiotics too. It is around $400 and up to test for allergies and start shots.

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Thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate it a ton! 

We pondered the idea of her having a food allergy, not to the dry food because that's what she's had for a long time, but the wet food. Mind you, when I got her from the shelter, she had nothing visibly wrong with her. It was until about a week after having her that all of these problems surfaced

I will definitely try another type of food.

The vets didn't suggest allergies of her ears due to them having an ear mite infection at first. Honestly, to answer your question, I don't know if the mites are cleared up. The second vet at the first clinic didn't tell me anything! They just hinted at a bacterial/yeast infection but didn't say anything about the mites.

She has only had diarrhea maybe 3-4 times since I've had her at the beginning of January. The times she did was when I was giving her wet food and broths because she was dehydrated for a week.

Would a prednisolone shot be sufficient?

The pills are cheaper than getting the shot. The shot is linked to side effects such as diabetes. You can get 100 tablets for $5 at vet depo.com for the 5 mg strength. The shot is $30 at my vet and only lasts for a month.

The dosage for tablets is half a tablet every other day so 100 tablets should last 400 days.

The vet should really swab the ears and take a look under the microscope to see if the ear mites are gone. Cats with ear mites tend to have dirty-looking black stuff in their ears; does your cat have this? My cat had mites and was treated with Frontline. That took care of it.

Thank you for helping a needy animal!