scabs and hair loss?

[nccarol]

Thanks I appreciate the advice. With a dog and 3 other cats cost wise it is hard right now my other cat just had major dental surgery and I'm on a fixed income. I talked it over with the vet and his really seems to be seasonal and inhalant. It is really hard to pinpoint the food connection. He is on Atopica which is much safer then the prednisone or some of the injections and it has been a blessing for him. He gets it every other day now, he has a antihistamine  and with his nasal problem an antibiotic a few times a year. He so far is doing really well with that. Maybe at some point I can pursue it further.

 

[nccarol]

Ideally it would be great to figure out the food allergies in the meantime have they tried Atopica its cyclosporine and the vet for my guy said it was much safer than the prednisone or depo medrol shots they tried. My guy has a heart murmur so its safer for that. I actually asked the vet about it I found it on a message board and asked to try it. Maybe it would help your guy in the meantime.

 

[sugarsandz]

Ideally it would be great to figure out the food allergies in the meantime have they tried Atopica its cyclosporine and the vet for my guy said it was much safer than the prednisone or depo medrol shots they tried. My guy has a heart murmur so its safer for that. I actually asked the vet about it I found it on a message board and asked to try it. Maybe it would help your guy in the meantime.

He is taking a course of prednisone at the moment since the scabs got really bad and so did the itching. I will bring up the Atopica on his next visit. We just started mixing in the limited ingredient food into his wet food. I know that all wet is better but the cost of the canned limited ingredient food is expensive so we are doing canned and dry of the same thing. Hopefully this will help him, he is the least picky eater I've met he gobbles it all down the same lol. Once we find the kittens a cat we took in good homes then we can get him all canned since we'll have a bit of extra money that's been going to them. That won't be for eight weeks yet though.

 

[sugarsandz]

Update on Ghost: So Ghost was doing well on the prednisone, all of the scabs went away along with the itching. Now he is on the lowest tapered dose and already the scabs are returning, he isn't itching badly though.

He's been on the limited ingredient diet for a weekish now and really loves the food, hopefully after a few weeks we will see improvement. If the scabs continue then it's back to the vet.

I'm starting to wonder if he doesn't have a problem with his immune system like I do, I hope not because it sucks managing immune system problems.

 

[goholistic]

Thanks for the update. Poor Ghost. The itching must be so annoying for him!

Just a reminder on the food - a cat can be allergic to the protein (chicken, beef, fish, etc.) or the carbohydrate (pea, potato, etc.) in the food...or both. It may take some trial and error, and it can take months to see improvement. I think the minimum amount of time that you want to do a diet trial is 3 months, at which point you can reevaluate.

Remind me again where the scabs are forming?

 

[sugarsandz]

Thanks for the update. Poor Ghost. The itching must be so annoying for him!

Just a reminder on the food - a cat can be allergic to the protein (chicken, beef, fish, etc.) or the carbohydrate (pea, potato, etc.) in the food...or both. It may take some trial and error, and it can take months to see improvement. I think the minimum amount of time that you want to do a diet trial is 3 months, at which point you can reevaluate.

Remind me again where the scabs are forming?

Sorry it took so long to get back to this thread! The scabs are on his head, neck and he gets a few on his back when it gets bad. It helps to brush him with a flea comb every few days so the loose ones come right out. I feel so bad for him but I know it's going to take some time and we just need to be patient.

 

[goholistic]

I wish you all the best and I hope Ghost responds well to a new diet. 

 

[sugarsandz]

Another update on Ghost, his issue has never been worse. I know he's got to be so itchy and he looks rough at the moment and I'm getting stressed trying to figure this out. We have just switched him to a different limited ingredient food by Natures Variety, it's the canned and dry.

I'm frustrated at myself and my family as he's put on a lot of weight do to his choice of residence and our not paying as much attention. He took a real liking to my parents large bedroom and hung out in there with my moms hermit cat Lilly for a few months after my husband and I went on vacation. My parents were free feeding all of the cats at this point still and not only was he eating Lilly's food he wasn't eating his limited ingredient stuff. This meant that we were back at square one with the food thing and now weight loss is happening along with it. Plus on another note when he was staying in my parents room my dad decided to try a new cat litter one day and Ghost started going bathroom on the floor, I was so mad because I warned him not to just up and change litter like that because of how picky some cats are. As far as that goes, I fixed the problem by coaxing him back to my room and back to his normal litter so the potty issue is back to normal and now he isn't getting access to the normal cat food either or free feeding.

His scabs are still on his neck but now he is getting them on his back and some on his inner back leg and near his butt alon with hair loss on his back where the scabs occur. I've also noticed his skin looks really flaky where the scabs form, almost like super bad dandruff or something. The vet gave me another round of prednisone to help calm it and a ointment like panalog but with a different name. I've been giving him chlorpheniramine the last few days which is stopping the itching, I also trimmed his back claws and continue to brush him every other day. In a few weeks I'm taking him for blood tests and a weigh in, I'm also going to bring up the flaky look of his skin.

The new food is a bit more expensive but I'm desperate to see if it works and he loves it so that's good.

Sorry I'm kind of ranting lol! I finally got to a breaking point with my parents turning a blind eye to the free feeding issue in the house and blew up on them. I may have in a very loud voice told them that they were wrong for allowing the cats to get fat and eat cheap food while the dogs are fed on a schedule and have better quality food to eat. I also told them how it was stressing me out to the max being the only one who wants things to change feeding wise. At first my mom just rolled her eyes at me but after weeks of nagging her and dumping Lilly's food out and giving it to her in portions she finally started taking me seriously. I put a measuring cup in the food bin and showed her like 10 times how much she could have. It's going to be hard getting all 7 cats eating on a schedule but it can be done if we all work on it!

I know all of the cats will be better off health wise once we get them all settled with a new diet. I've been getting them moving a lot more with the laser pointer and toys. Ghost is an old boy and prefers to sleep more than anything else but I do manage to get him up and around for a little bit each day with a long strip of fabric he likes to play with. Other than his allergy or what ever it is he's been doing good, now he bothers me for food even though he knows he isn't going to get any unless it's that time. He will sit by his bowl for hours waiting for me to put something in it, it's sad to see but he'll get over it eventually.

I'll update again when he goes to the vet or if this new food makes any difference.

 

[ruaryx]

Hey, just wondering how things turned out for Ghost.  I'm facing a similar problem and am wondering about other people's experiences.  Thanks. :]

 

[stewball]

Could it not be the food but mites in the house or in your bed that's causing the problem. You could try hoovering your mattress and the furniture. These mites can't be seen. They might also be a reason for your allergy.
Give it a thought.