Has anyone else dealt with this before?

[Freddieandchip]

My cat has been dealing with skin issues for about 7 months now. He is about a year old. In March, I noticed some redness under his bottom lip and I originally thought it was just a pimple. Then his lip started to swell up and he got bald spots on his ears. I took him to the vet and they gave me a list of things to remove from his diet/environment, one at a time, until I figure out what it is. So far I have removed plastic, beef, chicken, I got him a metal water fountain and bowls, put him on a flea preventative, and I only use natural cleaning products and I vacuum a lot to try to reduce irritants and allergens. I also give him fish oil in his food as recommended. The first time he went to the vet and the other 2 times I just spoke with my vet over the phone for guidance. Nothing has worked. The issues aren’t constant but they happen in clusters, he will have no signs at all for a month or two then suddenly he has a bunch of issues. Right now his lip is slightly swollen again and he has a bald spot forming on his ear. When this happens he has no other symptoms at all, he is very active and happy and he has a great appetite. His litter box habits are also completely normal. I took him to the vet 2 weeks ago because I was concerned that he had a urinary blockage, he ended up being fine all tests came back normal and he went back to urinating normally before he even started on medication so I think he may have just been stressed or something. I found a cat allergy specialist in my area and I’m planning on taking him there as soon as I can but I will need to wait another month or 2 before I can afford it after his last vet visit. This vet has great reviews but is very expensive since it’s a specialist. I’m not sure what else I can remove from his environment at this point but if anyone has any ideas I would really appreciate it, I feel so bad that he is always dealing with this. I have some pictures of his skin issues over this last year. The pictures where his lip was very big are from the first time it happened, it is nowhere near as bad now and I was able to get him some medication for it so he is being treated

 

[LTS3]

Ask your vet to consult with the cat allergy vet or other veterinary dermatologist and come up with a treatment plan until your cat can be seen by the allergy vet.

What brand of food are you feeding? Protein isn't the only thing that can cause skin issues in cats. Gums, certain types of oils, and other ingredients can trigger a skin issue. One of my cats gets bald spots from goat milk.

 

[Freddieandchip]

Ask your vet to consult with the cat allergy vet or other veterinary dermatologist and come up with a treatment plan until your cat can be seen by the allergy vet.

What brand of food are you feeding? Protein isn't the only thing that can cause skin issues in cats. Gums, certain types of oils, and other ingredients can trigger a skin issue. One of my cats gets bald spots from goat milk.

Right now I feed him the tiki cat seafood pate, I have tried some limited ingredient foods but he didn’t eat the ones I tried. I’m going to buy some more this weekend

 

[FeebysOwner]

You said this is off and on, correct? Unless you change foods off and on and can chart what you feed to compare to when he has issues, it seems like it might be more along the lines of environmental - some routine cleaning you do in the house, or any other similar things that aren't all the time, but periodic. I'd look at that aspect as well to see if you can find a trend.

 

[Freddieandchip]

Yes, this is his first issue in a while and the lip thing hasn’t happened since March, I think that’s why it’s so hard to treat because nothing will h happen for so long so I think it’s fixed then suddenly theres an issue again.

 

[FeebysOwner]

For sure, look into the environmental possibilities. Aside from that, this could be flare ups from sort of virus he has in his body. Flare ups can be triggered by stress as well.

 

[Lulu&Finn]

Could he be allergic to fish?