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To those of you with cats that have environmental allergies, what are their symptoms and how do you treat them?
Lilly has always displayed (on and off) allergy symptoms since we adopted her three years ago.
She overgrooms - mostly her belly. At first we thought allergies for this and did limited ingredient (2 different ones) as well as hydrolyzed protein (vet prescribed) diets, as well as probiotics for a time. None of that helped. We then after more investigation treated her as anxiety (calming food and zylkene from the vet) and it got better...but now it's gotten worse again and our previous efforts didn't work this time, so now I'm back to thinking allergy and it was just timing that it got better treating it as anxiety the first time.???? But perhaps it's not a food allergy but more an environmental allergy instead Thankfully her licking isn't as bad as it has been in the past the fur is more like short fuzz on her belly and it has not amounted to sores. The thing is...her licking still shows signs of anxiety as well...so it could have two reasons.
She has dirty ears and they do bother her. They are not mites. I do clean them with stuff from the vet and it helps a little.
She has had chin acne on and off. Has never amounted to pustules, infections or sores. Just a dirty chin.
She has also experienced an inflamed bottom lip. At first I thought it was just because she is always licking something and it was irritated but just found out it can be due to allergies as well.
She used to have diarrhea all the time, but with our current food her poops are good, sometimes a little soft. She also doesn't fart as much as she used to either.
She scratches, I feel, a lot. Her ears definitely too much, the rest of her not as much but still more than I think is normal.
After three years with her now, I have seen that her symptoms are much worse in the spring. With added runny nose and sneezing that tends to start when the snow has melted and continues thru the summer but not as bad.
I will fully admit that my housekeeping was not optimal for a while, so dust mites could also be a significant issue, but I have been doing a lot of deep cleaning this summer and will continue to maintain it now that my health has improved.
We do have air purifiers that we run, no carpets and I do wash linens/fabric items regularly.
We've seen the vet about this before hence the changes in food, that I know it's not ear mites, anxiety treatment, proper ear cleaning solution, etc...but now I'm looking for experience from others.
Soooo....what cha got for me?
Lilly has always displayed (on and off) allergy symptoms since we adopted her three years ago.
She overgrooms - mostly her belly. At first we thought allergies for this and did limited ingredient (2 different ones) as well as hydrolyzed protein (vet prescribed) diets, as well as probiotics for a time. None of that helped. We then after more investigation treated her as anxiety (calming food and zylkene from the vet) and it got better...but now it's gotten worse again and our previous efforts didn't work this time, so now I'm back to thinking allergy and it was just timing that it got better treating it as anxiety the first time.???? But perhaps it's not a food allergy but more an environmental allergy instead Thankfully her licking isn't as bad as it has been in the past the fur is more like short fuzz on her belly and it has not amounted to sores. The thing is...her licking still shows signs of anxiety as well...so it could have two reasons.
She has dirty ears and they do bother her. They are not mites. I do clean them with stuff from the vet and it helps a little.
She has had chin acne on and off. Has never amounted to pustules, infections or sores. Just a dirty chin.
She has also experienced an inflamed bottom lip. At first I thought it was just because she is always licking something and it was irritated but just found out it can be due to allergies as well.
She used to have diarrhea all the time, but with our current food her poops are good, sometimes a little soft. She also doesn't fart as much as she used to either.
She scratches, I feel, a lot. Her ears definitely too much, the rest of her not as much but still more than I think is normal.
After three years with her now, I have seen that her symptoms are much worse in the spring. With added runny nose and sneezing that tends to start when the snow has melted and continues thru the summer but not as bad.
I will fully admit that my housekeeping was not optimal for a while, so dust mites could also be a significant issue, but I have been doing a lot of deep cleaning this summer and will continue to maintain it now that my health has improved.
We do have air purifiers that we run, no carpets and I do wash linens/fabric items regularly.
We've seen the vet about this before hence the changes in food, that I know it's not ear mites, anxiety treatment, proper ear cleaning solution, etc...but now I'm looking for experience from others.
Soooo....what cha got for me?