Allergies in my cats????

[catlover67]

Before anyone asks, I have and WILL continue to work with my vet until we find answers but he/she/ whoever happens to be on duty, haven't seemed too concerned thus far with finding an exact cause. They more or less shrug and say "allergies".

What I am trying to find out is, My cat Autumn, wheezes occassionally and will whistle through her nose when she is relaxed but not sound asleep. She has watery eyes that leave brown tear stains just like Persian cats but not as heavy. She also will make a wet, raspy, coughing noise, like a wet, hack, hack, hack, sound while she stretches out along the ground. She hasn't ever thrown up a hairball. My client has an old Siamese that makes the exact same noise and HER vet told her it was asthma combined with allergies.

Is is hard or expensive to find out why my cat has these issues? My other cat Lily also has watery eyes, but no tear stains, clear fluid in her ears sometimes, but she never has that hacking cough noise that Autumn makes.

I am curious if anyone else has cats with allergies and if so, what are they allergic to, and are the symptoms similiar to what I described? Sorry this is so long. I wanted to be detailed.

 

[greycat2]

That sounds familiar.

I have the same problem with Kuce and the vets just seem to shrug it off as allergies to "who knows what". She does seem to have allergies to the red color in some commercial cat food, such as Meow Mix and Kit 'n' Kaboodle.

Sphinx though has allergies on top of other health problems. He's allergic to dust and fish, possibly to the dyes in some of the dried food. He's on cortisone indefinately for his health problems.

So don't give up. Unfortunately it's trial and error in some cases.

Have you tried different specialty vet or homemade food on your kitties - such as IVD brand to see if its a food allergy? Its usually the easiest to figure out.

 

[woodsygirl]

My Mynx has always had allergies, to what... I don't know. He's been to the vet, had blood tests, etc, they said to give him... mmm an over-the-counter-pill but which I forget. I said I'd rather have him with watery eyes than what a pill might do to his insides. He has watery eyes, especially after eating though he's been on lots and lots of different foods and nothing seemed better than another. Some of them did make his eyes water to the point where I could see drops litterally running out of his eyes and down his face. He does the hacking that you describe as well but not often, usually when purring. I really notice it when he sits by the window and shakes his head... little dots are always on the window. He doesn't always have watery eyes... it's more like just a few times a day or every other day. He's healthy otherwise, fluffy shiny coat and is very active so I don't worry about it too much.

Mabel on the other hand... LOL has been my biggest stresser the past few months. She has something going on and I'm not sure what at the moment. She might have a food allergy, or something else. She's had blood tests too (see my explaination in my post about her having allergies in the detox, holisitic food, argh post..)

I think I might try to find a registered holisitic vet for Mabel is she continues to be itchy over the next several weeks, as I'm just a little disappointed with advice that my regular vet has given and want to see what other options might be open. I did spend about $800 on Mabel at the vet last fall, with no real diagnosis... but vets in my area are expensive.

 

[sandie]

I had a similar problem not too long ago. My vet is wonderful, and does not sleep well unless she can get to the bottom of the problem.
Most of the symptoms you describe may be related to a herpes virus. There's 2 routes you can go to weed causes out in this area. You can have a conjuntival scrape done and a nasal swab sent off to a lab to identify any bacteria or virus that may be causing problems.
With allergies/asthma there's 2 very good diagnostic tools. The first is an x ray to check the lungs. The second is an allergy test. There are labs who will identify anything a cat may be allergic to. They test a very broad range of allergens.
The cost really depends on the area and the labs available. The conjunctival scrapes are pretty pricey, the nasal swabs are around $45.00 (here). X rays really range in price, but with my vet they are $25.00. I think the allergy tests are pretty comparable since there's only a few labs. I think it's about $150.00- $200.00 for a full panel.

 

[catlover67]

Hi Sandie, Autumn was diagnosed today with probably asthma (but a slim possibility of it being heartworm). The vet also said she probably has a herpes virus from living outside as kitten? She said it isn't anything to worry about and that it is not contagious.

She has Autumn on daily prednisone tablets and will decrease to every other day in the future.

It was a VERY expensive morning between all three of my kitties and their problems:

 

[sofiecusion]

I am sorry to hear about Autumn. I'll keep her in my prayers, and send her good "vibes". Hopefully things will clear up...keep me posted!

 

[sandie]

I am really glad you got an answer from the vet. I hope everything works out well, and everything clears up

 

[vickie]

My mom's cat has exactly the same problem!

After much investigation, turns out her furbaby had the Cat Flu when he was a kitten living on the streets, and this has caused a lot of scarring in the tissues in his nose and behind his eyes. This makes it difficult for him to get oxygen hence the wheezing, and the scars put pressure on the tear ducts making his eyes weepy.

Apparently there is nothing she can do other than give him lots of love and cuddles - which of course he adores!

Vickie