Hi all,
I wanted to rule out the possibility of a food allergy in my cat, and I'm not sure what tests to get done and what kind of vet to go to. My general vet recommended a dermatologist in the area. But I'm not sure if I should go because the symptoms that I'm worried about are not primarily skin related?
Symptoms from the past year that I have noticed, but never been able to pinpoint the cause of:
- overproduction of ear wax, history of ear infections ranging from mild to a little severe. She came to us with ear infection in both ears (ear mites ruled out). Vet gave ear drops. At recheck, it seemed to have gotten a bit better, but persisted in left ear. Lots of ear wax still present to this day (I clean it and it comes back within a week). She does scratch at the ear/neck area a few times a day, but not to an obsessive point (i.e. she is not hurting herself trying to scratch it). At her most recent vet visit a few weeks ago, I asked for a recheck of the ear. He said it could be a mild infection, but it had not spread to the inner ear, so he gave a medicated ear wash solution to clean her ears with once a week.
-In April/May, bouts of diarrhea + vomiting. This was quite concerning, it happened about once a week for a month. No cause was suggested. She'd been with us about 5 months before these symptoms presented themselves. It resolved once she was put on a prescription digestive diet (+ probiotic for a short duration). Fine.. but still confused what caused it.
- Vet asked me a few months ago whether she sneezes a lot... I said no not really, I only really notice it when she's eating sometimes... They said it was because food particles might be irritating her nose.. This persisted, but she still tried to eat her food on a regular basis so I thought oh ok makes sense. She usually eats thru the little sneezes. HOWEVER, yesterday I was observing her and I noticed it was quite severe. As soon as she put her face near the food, she would be uncontrollably sneezing.. This bout went on long enough that I grew concerned and tried a few things (moistening the food so it's not just dry kibble, cleaning the bowl, trying different bowls). Nothing worked.. I'm going to order a small bag of the food to see if something went wrong with that particular bag (it's almost finished so it's been around a couple months).
And then I started to wonder, could these things be explained by a food allergy? When these things were happening it seemed like problem after problem and I couldn't figure out why or how to prevent things. I didn't get any clear explanation or diagnosis either.. I was beginning to become resigned.. I wasn't sure I would ever figure out the root of her problems. We're almost certain she has feline herpes virus because of her recurring eye ulcers, but that never explained ALL these other things going wrong. And I could never figure out the "stress factor" that caused the herpes flareups (as I take care to make her environment calm) but could a food allergy explain that as well? she doesn't have the obsessive compulsive itching, but do these symptoms match up? What type of testing should I get request? Should I take her to a dermatologist, or a different type of vet?
I wanted to rule out the possibility of a food allergy in my cat, and I'm not sure what tests to get done and what kind of vet to go to. My general vet recommended a dermatologist in the area. But I'm not sure if I should go because the symptoms that I'm worried about are not primarily skin related?
Symptoms from the past year that I have noticed, but never been able to pinpoint the cause of:
- overproduction of ear wax, history of ear infections ranging from mild to a little severe. She came to us with ear infection in both ears (ear mites ruled out). Vet gave ear drops. At recheck, it seemed to have gotten a bit better, but persisted in left ear. Lots of ear wax still present to this day (I clean it and it comes back within a week). She does scratch at the ear/neck area a few times a day, but not to an obsessive point (i.e. she is not hurting herself trying to scratch it). At her most recent vet visit a few weeks ago, I asked for a recheck of the ear. He said it could be a mild infection, but it had not spread to the inner ear, so he gave a medicated ear wash solution to clean her ears with once a week.
-In April/May, bouts of diarrhea + vomiting. This was quite concerning, it happened about once a week for a month. No cause was suggested. She'd been with us about 5 months before these symptoms presented themselves. It resolved once she was put on a prescription digestive diet (+ probiotic for a short duration). Fine.. but still confused what caused it.
- Vet asked me a few months ago whether she sneezes a lot... I said no not really, I only really notice it when she's eating sometimes... They said it was because food particles might be irritating her nose.. This persisted, but she still tried to eat her food on a regular basis so I thought oh ok makes sense. She usually eats thru the little sneezes. HOWEVER, yesterday I was observing her and I noticed it was quite severe. As soon as she put her face near the food, she would be uncontrollably sneezing.. This bout went on long enough that I grew concerned and tried a few things (moistening the food so it's not just dry kibble, cleaning the bowl, trying different bowls). Nothing worked.. I'm going to order a small bag of the food to see if something went wrong with that particular bag (it's almost finished so it's been around a couple months).
And then I started to wonder, could these things be explained by a food allergy? When these things were happening it seemed like problem after problem and I couldn't figure out why or how to prevent things. I didn't get any clear explanation or diagnosis either.. I was beginning to become resigned.. I wasn't sure I would ever figure out the root of her problems. We're almost certain she has feline herpes virus because of her recurring eye ulcers, but that never explained ALL these other things going wrong. And I could never figure out the "stress factor" that caused the herpes flareups (as I take care to make her environment calm) but could a food allergy explain that as well? she doesn't have the obsessive compulsive itching, but do these symptoms match up? What type of testing should I get request? Should I take her to a dermatologist, or a different type of vet?