Protein Allergy? Or something else?

agreeneyedwolf

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I have 4 cats.

I've had Midnight and Nala since 2009-2010 when they were young kittens. They lived on my huge screened porch until 2012, when we moved and then they were fully inside cats. They usually ate Purina Indoor Formula dry food.

We got Severe as a kitten as well, in 2012. He ate the same food they did.

In 2014 Nala became an outside cat. She lost weight, but otherwise was still healthy.

In early 2015, Midnight started getting scabby bumps on her back down her spine, with some hair loss near the base of her tail.

In October of 2015 we moved to a new house (a double wide trailer... we had always lived in brick or wood frame houses until then). When we moved, Nala came back to being a screened porch cat and Severe and Midnight stayed inside.

A couple of weeks after we moved in, our son dragged home another kitten we named Stache who had clearly been an outside cat but who is now a porch cat with Nala.

About a month after we moved in, Severe began to get scabby bumps & hair loss like Midnight... except his scabs and bumps were all over his body, including down his spine, near his tail base, all over his underside and belly, and even on his neck and head. His belly is pink and irritated and covered in bumps and he has hair loss on his belly and the inside of his back legs. He also started puking up partially digested food at least once a day.

The vet looked at Severe, noting he had no fleas and that the underside of his chin was dark and icky looking and said he had a protein allergy. We started him and Midnight on Hills Prescription Diet z/d with hydrolyzed proteins, plus antibiotics for his skin infection and steroids. They also had me change the cats from free feeding to about a littke over a cup of food a day each.

After they finished 1 and a half 4 pound bags there was no appreciable change except the puking slowed to maybe once a week or so instead of daily.

I spoke to the vet's office and did online research and learned sometimes the allergy isn't ALL proteins but could be SPECIFIC proteins that are in most pet foods like beef, fish, chicken and lamb. I tried a new diet (Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck) for Midnight and Severe... mixing it 50/50 with the other half of the z/d food for the last 17 days. The puking stopped for the first 15 days and then returned yesterday... but still no change in their skin or fur.

Meanwhile, for the last 2 weeks, Nala the porch cat, who has been eating cheaper stuff with Stache like Purina cat chow, suddenly has hair loss all over her sides, belly and back legs... but she has NO bumps, NO scabs, NO dark patch under her chin and NO vomiting.

Stache continues to be completely unaffected by anything and still has thick, luxurious fur with no scabs, bumps, or hair loss at all.

I immediately thought fleas, but the vet couldn't find a single flea or any flea dirt at all - and we not only have the house treated every 6 months for fleas and other pests (this is Florida after all), but all 4 cats are on Advantage II topical for flea control, my mom's dog who is staying with us temporarily is on Comfortis, and my dogs are both on topical flea control as well.

Everyone is fixed except Stache. None of them has had any change in personality, eating or drinking habits, or behavior, all are still active, and there have been no changes in litter box activity. 

I tried to get some photos of what is going on:




As you can see (I hope - sorry the pics are not of better quality, the cats were being very squirmy) Nala's issue is NOT exactly like Midnight's and Severe's - she has NO bumps or spots, just hair loss in patches.

Anyone else ever seen this? Anyone else had success treating cats in this condition for a protein allergy or anything else and seen them make a great recovery?
 

mrpurrrfectcat

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Hi,

I'm sorry that your cats are unwell.

My cat is allergic to flea bites and he had been treated for fleas with the usual product.

I changed the flea treatment but it may be that your vet will have to treat them all.

I treated the house too.

I hope they get better soon.
 
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agreeneyedwolf

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I assumed flea allergy as well - where the cat is allergic to the flea saliva and a single bite can irritate the cat for months or even years - but my vet assured me the darkening under the chin on Severe indicates a food allergy... I'm not convinced it is a PROTEIN allergy, though - if it was, it seems it would only affect ONE cat not three out of four... and it seems to me that changing to a different protein and to hydrolyzed proteins would have changed the reactions by now... I'm stumped... no idea what else this could be :-(
 

potters

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I live in California, my cat is an indoor he is 17 yr.s old, last year he got exactly what u r describing, scabby sores, chewing ripping out his hair, gnawing horriblely, i took him to the dr.he got shots like 5 different kind, skin scraping, the dr. Said it miliary dermatitis, i have changed litter, food, u name it i have done everything, untill i read about feline hyperesthesia,my cat probably has a mild case, the med.s they use to help control this, is anti depressants, i dont want my cat on that stuff, i use sovereign silver, and a few drops of feline cat skin soother, and it helps alot, i feed him tiki cat, it says on the can we humans can eat tiki cat,for him it works, i have used cats claw non alcholic in the past, it helps also
 
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