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Cat stuck in "cone of shame"
- Thread starter coastiecat
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Shelby was doing really good up until her last follow up appointment. A few days after her follow up appointment, she started itching right by her ears and her neck like crazy again. I was so confused, until I realized that the anti diarrhea medicine the vet gave her was CHICKEN flavored (which I assume has chicken of some sort in it), which is what we think she is ALLERGIC to. I feel stupid for not realizing this in the first place, but now I'm kind of wondering if maybe I should switch vets. But I stopped giving her the anti diarrhea medicine and she seems to be much less itchy. I was so close to being able to take the cone off, and was so frustrated when she started itching again. At least I know now that for sure she can't have chicken 
We started introducing Scott to Fancy Feast classic canned food. At first he would just lick it, but now he is starting to eat it. It's so weird to me that Fancy Feast classic canned is healthier than top of the line dry food. I'm so glad I found this website, I have learned so much. Thank you all for all of the advice and great info
We started introducing Scott to Fancy Feast classic canned food. At first he would just lick it, but now he is starting to eat it. It's so weird to me that Fancy Feast classic canned is healthier than top of the line dry food. I'm so glad I found this website, I have learned so much. Thank you all for all of the advice and great info
I'm glad you made the connection! Also, stress could have something to do with it, just aggravating everything.
I have a chihuahua and if she even gets one treat with chicken in it she starts itching like crazy, yet she can eat all the raw chicken in the world without problems.
Good for you to figure that out! People think I'm crazy for over-analyzing ingredients, but this is a great example of why it's good to do so. Welcome to the Ingredient Over-Analyzer Club.
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So Shelby is still in her cone Lately I've been putting socks on her back feet to give her a break from the cone, and that helps minimize the scratching, but if she doesn't have socks on or a cone, she will scratch away until she bleeds.
She doesn't have cat acne anymore, which is AWESOME. But she still has reoccurring ear infections She is STILL on tresaderm after one of her ears cleared up, and I just looked at it today and it is all waxy and gunky again so now she is getting drops in BOTH ears twice a day, AGAIN.
I'm starting to wonder if this science diet ZD is not working for her. She seems less itchy, but you would think she would be able to be out of her cone by now with both a hypoallergenic food and atopica. I cannot afford to keep taking her to the vet every month, or science diet zd or atopica. We have spent so much on the vet appointments and food and medicine that I'm afraid to actually know how much it's all cost. I'm guessing at least one thousand since last July, probably more like 2 thousand, but what else am I supposed to do?
I'm going to Alaska for 6 months to visit family while my husband is in school for the military, and I'm really hoping that the environment there will be better for her and she won't have allergies there. I feel so bad for her that part of me WANTS her to not have allergies there and just give her to my parents so she doesn't have to live in a cone for the rest of her life
I have a month until I move to Alaska. I want to try raw while I"m there, but I don't know how feasible it is going to be until I get there. In the mean time, should I stick with science diet ZD or try another limited ingredient food again?
Lately I've been putting socks on her back feet to give her a break from the cone, and that helps minimize the scratching, but if she doesn't have socks on or a cone, she will scratch away until she bleeds. She doesn't have cat acne anymore, which is AWESOME. But she still has reoccurring ear infections
She is STILL on tresaderm after one of her ears cleared up, and I just looked at it today and it is all waxy and gunky again so now she is getting drops in BOTH ears twice a day, AGAIN. I'm starting to wonder if this science diet ZD is not working for her. She seems less itchy, but you would think she would be able to be out of her cone by now with both a hypoallergenic food and atopica. I cannot afford to keep taking her to the vet every month, or science diet zd or atopica. We have spent so much on the vet appointments and food and medicine that I'm afraid to actually know how much it's all cost. I'm guessing at least one thousand since last July, probably more like 2 thousand, but what else am I supposed to do?
I'm going to Alaska for 6 months to visit family while my husband is in school for the military, and I'm really hoping that the environment there will be better for her and she won't have allergies there. I feel so bad for her that part of me WANTS her to not have allergies there and just give her to my parents so she doesn't have to live in a cone for the rest of her life
I have a month until I move to Alaska. I want to try raw while I"m there, but I don't know how feasible it is going to be until I get there. In the mean time, should I stick with science diet ZD or try another limited ingredient food again?
Hey Coastie, I found this site browsing the web, and came across your thread here. I used to work at a locally owned pet store where we took in about 50 stray cats. Your Shelby is almost identical to one kitty we had named Frannie, who was always in a cone because she'd always be scratching at herself no matter what we fed her. It took many years, but it turned out she had a chicken allergy. Its hard to avoid chicken in foods since its used as a filler frequently in most cat foods. I would suggest trying a grain free food free of any kind if meat she's had before, so something with rabbit or venison might work well. Evangers and Natures variety both have a huge variety of meats available in cans, though I know you mentioned wanting to stay away from them. I do have to mention though that evangers was loved by a lot of customers who fed raw diets to their pets. They're very cheap but have no unnecessary fillers. I would also try to avoid corn, Hills/Science Diet is always full of corn and its a super common allergy in both cats and dogs due to how much its used as a filler, even more so than chicken. Actually thinking about it, I think Natures Variety has a dry food line called Instinct that's grain free and has just rabbit or venison. Definitely look into that for your Shelby. I hope things look up for her soon!
I'm sorry that Shelby is still having trouble. I can't remember...is she on Hill's z/d dry, wet, or both?
Also, it's also good to look beyond food to such things as medications and supplements that the cat gets daily since they can have allergic reactions and dermatologic sensitivities to those, as well.
Also, it's also good to look beyond food to such things as medications and supplements that the cat gets daily since they can have allergic reactions and dermatologic sensitivities to those, as well.
Hi Coastie Cat, I see your post is now over two years old, so I'm not sure if I'm going to be of any help. I do hope all is well. But anyway, I just had to write.
I am not a vet. However I feel pretty darned confident that Shelby's problem was a fungal infection. Here are the reasons I think so:
In 2014, I discovered I had mold in my home. (It's a long story, but basically, the tenant in my basement apartment, who lived in my house for 6 years, was kind of a compulsive carpet steam-cleaner. She steam-cleaned her carpets about every 3-4 weeks. The carpet would dry out, but the carpet pad stayed moist, and over time, a terrible mold problem developed.
Prior to discovering the mold, we started to have a mildew smell that came out of the duct registers whenever the air conditioner came on. Then the health problems started. Me, my tenant's dog, and my and my sweet, funny and unforgettable kitty, Polly.
Polly's nose looked just like Shelby's nose. At the bottom of this post are two pix, the 2nd one was just a few weeks before she passed away at the age of 9. (That was in September, 2013).
A month after Polly died, my tenant's dog also suddenly died. Both of the deaths were traumatic. Polly had a sudden and very painful stroke (saddle thrombu). Leading up to the dog's death (I'm not using the dog's name, in order to protect my former tenant's anonymity), he had had a 2-year history of terrible itching, and dark grey spots on his undersides. Then suddenly, his feet started turning under him (neurological), and he could not catch his breath, he panted consistently for ays on end. After 10 day of this, my tenant was forced to put him to sleep because he could no longer walk (he was an 185 lb dog), and he was so uncomfortable and terrified by his inability to breathe.
Blood clots, itching, skin leisons or spots, neurological problems and respiratory problems have all turned up in my reading about ASPERGILLOSIS. The mold tests showed that the levels of aspergillus in my house were three times the maximum healthy limit.
Another significant thing was that Polly, my other two cats and I also developed mildew body odors. And the smell wasn't just sticking on our skin from the mildewey house. Our poop also smelled mildewey, which told me that the spores had taken up residence inside our bodies. With the dog, it was his fur - an awful mildewey smell (not a normal dog smell). The three cats also had mildew-smelling saliva, breath and poop. I had the smell on my scalp, inside my ears, in my sweat, and in my poop as well. I and my remaining two cats still have these smells. I have other symptoms as well - slight shortness of breath, heavy sweating, and severe gas. Before I knew I had mold in the house, I sought treatment with antifungals but it didn't help because I was still being exposed to it. Now that I have remediated my house, I am endeavoring again to beat the fungal infection, but the doctor does not want me to take any more prescription antifungals since there is a risk to the organs, so I'm working on doing it naturally. I am also trying to figure out how to help my cats. They are more or less healthy, except that these smells are still there, and I do have some other minor health issues with all of them.
One other thing is that both Polly and one of my other cats had slow-growing lymphoma. Aspergillus also highly carcinogenic, especially in animals. Could be a coincidence - but the mildew smells and other symptoms have convinced me that the pets all had some variety of aspergillosis. Also, Polly had congestive heart failure which also can be implicated in aspergillosis.
Also, another of my cats had recurrent chin acne and cat rodent ulcer, always in August, which is the most humid time of year in my area. That is always when the mildew smell from the ducts was the strongest.
My regular vet who is really sharp was out on maternity leave when Polly died. The other vet I saw blew off the nose spots as Polly getting her nose dirty when she ate. I didn't think that was the case, and I watched her after that and never once saw her get her nose dirty when eating. I'd wipe the stuff off her nose and it would slowly start coming back. Polly was also rapidly losing weight. The vet attributed that to all the health problems she'd had before. (She had been diabetic for 2 years, but I had gotten her into remission from that by switching her to a grain-free diet.)
When my trusted vet came back, after Polly had passed, I ran it all by her. She told me that we know very little about mold and fungal infections both in humans an in animals. All I can say is, boy is that the truth.
All that I went through was very traumatic, but if I can help anybody out there with my story, it will be a tribute to Polly and the puppy dog's deaths.
If you get this message Coastie Cat, please let me know how you and Shelby are. If would be happy to talk to you on the phone too if you have any questions.
By the way, does your name Coastie Cat mean that you are on the coast somewhere? Homes on the coasts often have mold problems. I really hope you don't. :-)
Happy New Year to you and all the other kitty people on this forum!
Barbara
I am not a vet. However I feel pretty darned confident that Shelby's problem was a fungal infection. Here are the reasons I think so:
In 2014, I discovered I had mold in my home. (It's a long story, but basically, the tenant in my basement apartment, who lived in my house for 6 years, was kind of a compulsive carpet steam-cleaner. She steam-cleaned her carpets about every 3-4 weeks. The carpet would dry out, but the carpet pad stayed moist, and over time, a terrible mold problem developed.
Prior to discovering the mold, we started to have a mildew smell that came out of the duct registers whenever the air conditioner came on. Then the health problems started. Me, my tenant's dog, and my and my sweet, funny and unforgettable kitty, Polly.
Polly's nose looked just like Shelby's nose. At the bottom of this post are two pix, the 2nd one was just a few weeks before she passed away at the age of 9. (That was in September, 2013).
A month after Polly died, my tenant's dog also suddenly died. Both of the deaths were traumatic. Polly had a sudden and very painful stroke (saddle thrombu). Leading up to the dog's death (I'm not using the dog's name, in order to protect my former tenant's anonymity), he had had a 2-year history of terrible itching, and dark grey spots on his undersides. Then suddenly, his feet started turning under him (neurological), and he could not catch his breath, he panted consistently for ays on end. After 10 day of this, my tenant was forced to put him to sleep because he could no longer walk (he was an 185 lb dog), and he was so uncomfortable and terrified by his inability to breathe.
Blood clots, itching, skin leisons or spots, neurological problems and respiratory problems have all turned up in my reading about ASPERGILLOSIS. The mold tests showed that the levels of aspergillus in my house were three times the maximum healthy limit.
Another significant thing was that Polly, my other two cats and I also developed mildew body odors. And the smell wasn't just sticking on our skin from the mildewey house. Our poop also smelled mildewey, which told me that the spores had taken up residence inside our bodies. With the dog, it was his fur - an awful mildewey smell (not a normal dog smell). The three cats also had mildew-smelling saliva, breath and poop. I had the smell on my scalp, inside my ears, in my sweat, and in my poop as well. I and my remaining two cats still have these smells. I have other symptoms as well - slight shortness of breath, heavy sweating, and severe gas. Before I knew I had mold in the house, I sought treatment with antifungals but it didn't help because I was still being exposed to it. Now that I have remediated my house, I am endeavoring again to beat the fungal infection, but the doctor does not want me to take any more prescription antifungals since there is a risk to the organs, so I'm working on doing it naturally. I am also trying to figure out how to help my cats. They are more or less healthy, except that these smells are still there, and I do have some other minor health issues with all of them.
One other thing is that both Polly and one of my other cats had slow-growing lymphoma. Aspergillus also highly carcinogenic, especially in animals. Could be a coincidence - but the mildew smells and other symptoms have convinced me that the pets all had some variety of aspergillosis. Also, Polly had congestive heart failure which also can be implicated in aspergillosis.
Also, another of my cats had recurrent chin acne and cat rodent ulcer, always in August, which is the most humid time of year in my area. That is always when the mildew smell from the ducts was the strongest.
My regular vet who is really sharp was out on maternity leave when Polly died. The other vet I saw blew off the nose spots as Polly getting her nose dirty when she ate. I didn't think that was the case, and I watched her after that and never once saw her get her nose dirty when eating. I'd wipe the stuff off her nose and it would slowly start coming back. Polly was also rapidly losing weight. The vet attributed that to all the health problems she'd had before. (She had been diabetic for 2 years, but I had gotten her into remission from that by switching her to a grain-free diet.)
When my trusted vet came back, after Polly had passed, I ran it all by her. She told me that we know very little about mold and fungal infections both in humans an in animals. All I can say is, boy is that the truth.
All that I went through was very traumatic, but if I can help anybody out there with my story, it will be a tribute to Polly and the puppy dog's deaths.
If you get this message Coastie Cat, please let me know how you and Shelby are. If would be happy to talk to you on the phone too if you have any questions.
By the way, does your name Coastie Cat mean that you are on the coast somewhere? Homes on the coasts often have mold problems. I really hope you don't. :-)
Happy New Year to you and all the other kitty people on this forum!
Barbara
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Thank you for the reply,
Unfortunately we had to put Shelby down two weeks ago today.
We lived in three different places while we owned Shelby, and she had problems at each place. I know she often had yeast infections in her ears and feet. Mold might have been contributing to her allergies, but I think it went a bit deeper than that.
Shelby's allergy case was the most extreme any of the four vets she had been to had ever seen. We tried literally everything. Grain free food, novel protein, raw, science diet cd, unscented cat litter, walnut cat litter, homemade cleaning products with no chemicals, Zyrtec, Benadryl, atopica, topical sprays, enzyme treatments, probiotics, antibiotics, antifungals, steroids, apple cider vinegar, flea control, glass and stainless steel dishes, non scented detergent, frequent vacuuming, literally everything we could think of. She tested negative for feline leukemia and other autoimmune diseases.
Some of the treatments would help Shelby for a while, then she would get sick again. It got to the point where she was in her cone more often than not because she was so itchy and would mutilate her face and body if it was off. The main things that seemed to help for a while until they stopped working was science diet zd and atopica, and a raw food diet with atopica. The antibiotics and steroids and antifungals helped, but became increasingly less effective every time she had a flare up.
It got to the point where Shelby was depressed and sleeping in her litterbox and under the couch, and peeing in places she hadn't before, like her water bowl. We tried to give her steroids, antibiotics, and an antifungal, and it helped get her almost back to her normal self. But at her check up, she still wasn't completely cleared, so we tried another round, and she started to get worse.
I was heartbroken, because I knew there was nothing else to do. Allergy testing and treatment with allergy shots was not an option financially, and I didn't want to have to put her through that. We made the very difficult decision to put her down. She was not at her worst, but we knew it would be only a matter of time, and we wanted our last memories of her to be of her being happy.
The vet believed that Shelby's body was constantly attacking itself, which explains why treatments would work and then suddenly stop working. She fell off of a balcony as a kitten and had brain swelling, so I wonder if that might have caused it, but we will never really know exactly what Was wrong with her.
I miss her so much, we was my little cuddle buddy and the best cat I have ever known. She had a kitten meow and unconditional love for me. There will never be another cat like her.
I tried for years trying to find out what was wrong with her, but I've come to the point now to accept that I'll just never know. I truly believe that her case was extremely rare and there was nothing else I could have done to save her. When antibiotics, steroids, and an antifungal are not working, there is nothing else to do.
My other cat Scott has never had any of the same issues she has, he misses her but now he gets more time to cuddle with me since Shelby isn't hogging my attention [emoji]10084[/emoji]️ I don't know how Shelby's story could help someone else. But I learned a lot about allergies so if anyone has any questions feel free to message me. I don't visit this site very much anymore so messaging me is best because I get an email notification.
Unfortunately we had to put Shelby down two weeks ago today.
We lived in three different places while we owned Shelby, and she had problems at each place. I know she often had yeast infections in her ears and feet. Mold might have been contributing to her allergies, but I think it went a bit deeper than that.
Shelby's allergy case was the most extreme any of the four vets she had been to had ever seen. We tried literally everything. Grain free food, novel protein, raw, science diet cd, unscented cat litter, walnut cat litter, homemade cleaning products with no chemicals, Zyrtec, Benadryl, atopica, topical sprays, enzyme treatments, probiotics, antibiotics, antifungals, steroids, apple cider vinegar, flea control, glass and stainless steel dishes, non scented detergent, frequent vacuuming, literally everything we could think of. She tested negative for feline leukemia and other autoimmune diseases.
Some of the treatments would help Shelby for a while, then she would get sick again. It got to the point where she was in her cone more often than not because she was so itchy and would mutilate her face and body if it was off. The main things that seemed to help for a while until they stopped working was science diet zd and atopica, and a raw food diet with atopica. The antibiotics and steroids and antifungals helped, but became increasingly less effective every time she had a flare up.
It got to the point where Shelby was depressed and sleeping in her litterbox and under the couch, and peeing in places she hadn't before, like her water bowl. We tried to give her steroids, antibiotics, and an antifungal, and it helped get her almost back to her normal self. But at her check up, she still wasn't completely cleared, so we tried another round, and she started to get worse.
I was heartbroken, because I knew there was nothing else to do. Allergy testing and treatment with allergy shots was not an option financially, and I didn't want to have to put her through that. We made the very difficult decision to put her down. She was not at her worst, but we knew it would be only a matter of time, and we wanted our last memories of her to be of her being happy.
The vet believed that Shelby's body was constantly attacking itself, which explains why treatments would work and then suddenly stop working. She fell off of a balcony as a kitten and had brain swelling, so I wonder if that might have caused it, but we will never really know exactly what Was wrong with her.
I miss her so much, we was my little cuddle buddy and the best cat I have ever known. She had a kitten meow and unconditional love for me. There will never be another cat like her.
I tried for years trying to find out what was wrong with her, but I've come to the point now to accept that I'll just never know. I truly believe that her case was extremely rare and there was nothing else I could have done to save her. When antibiotics, steroids, and an antifungal are not working, there is nothing else to do.
My other cat Scott has never had any of the same issues she has, he misses her but now he gets more time to cuddle with me since Shelby isn't hogging my attention [emoji]10084[/emoji]️ I don't know how Shelby's story could help someone else. But I learned a lot about allergies so if anyone has any questions feel free to message me. I don't visit this site very much anymore so messaging me is best because I get an email notification.
