Skin Issues From Allergies

[fleshflowers]

Murphy is now on prednisolone once a day for 5 days then every other day for 10 doses as well as amoxicillin. I had to take her in to the vet because she had hot spots all over her neck and started developing a rodent ulcer on her mouth, she's also been losing fur for awhile. I've been doing the food trial since a little before Christmas but for some reason her skin seems to be getting worse. I'm feeding her Stella&Chewy freeze dried rabbit with Nature's Instinct LID Rabbit dry, wet and meal topper. I don't know if it's an ingredient in one of those or if it's not even food related? She does share a water dish with 5 other cats who aren't on her diet as well as being groomed by two of them a couple times a day. She has been so itchy and licks and scratches herself all day long. The vet said the grooming from the other cats shouldn't be an issue flaring up her allergies if it's food related.

Every once in awhile she might sneak a lick of a lid or a tiny bite of wet food off another cats plate if we turn around but never a large amount and not a daily thing. She's a bit underweight at 5.6lbs at 6 months.

They took a felv/fiv/heartworm test just to be sure too. I don't know if it all came back well or not yet. I just want her to be okay and for her not to suffer anymore! We also started her on revolution plus just incase she's super sensitive to any bites. As far as I'm aware we don't have any issues with fleas (I haven't seen any!) but do have some ear mites that we are working on getting rid of from the other 2 we rescued recently.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
You're sure the other cats aren't coming into contact with the Revolution when they lick her?

Can you contain her apart from the other cats for a while so she's not being licked by anyone and so she's using only her own filtered water and her own food dish?

Also, this isn't a cure but it can help to ease her discomfort;

Unflavored chamomile tea, or raw coconut oil are safe if ingested, and are anti bacterial and anti fungal, --the oil is anti microbial. Also, colloidal silver could be helpful.

 

[fleshflowers]

Hi
You're sure the other cats aren't coming into contact with the Revolution when they lick her?

Can you contain her apart from the other cats for a while so she's not being licked by anyone and so she's using only her own filtered water and her own food dish?

Also, this isn't a cure but it can help her discomfort;

Unflavored chamomile tea, or raw coconut oil are safe if ingested, and are anti bacterial and anti fungel, The oil is anti microbial. Also, colloidal silver could be helpful.

She just had revolution for the first time yesterday and hasn't been groomed much since I applied it. I unfortunately don't have an extra room to keep her in. I have 7 cats and one already lives in our spare bedroom. I'm all out of spare bedrooms!

 

[Furballsmom]

How about your bedroom ?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

The Instinct LID Rabbit has peas in it, and some cats have sensitivities to peas. I have never quite understood why they put peas in limited ingredient foods . Additionally, their rabbit topper includes pork!

So, is there any way you could try just feeding her the Stella and Chewy (or other freeze or frozen brands) rabbit for several weeks to see if that helps with the problem. They also sell it in frozen form which when thawed would replicate canned pate. For toppers you could simply take a piece of freeze dried rabbit and crumble it on top.

 

[Alldara]

Ugh the peas in all the LIDs. Yeah I would have to agree with the above.

Did they do a swab or sample of the rash area to check for parasites or infection? Milary can cause bumps and crusts on the rash like that. Not sure how contagious it is.

Re: the allergy, Magnus has an allergic flare if a human touches him with the remnants of cheese. So it's possible that it could be contact from the other cats but I don't think that's what her reaction is.

 

[Furballsmom]

Just in case this is helpful for you or other readers;

Pet Wellness Life Stress Scan

 

[fleshflowers]

Ok I'm going to try and reply all in one comment! Lol

So putting her in the bedroom with me would work for maybe a day. My cats are all super dependent on me and they all curl up in my bed at night so locking them out of the room for weeks would be sad and stressful for everyone. Also Murphy would hate being locked up in my room, and Leo would tear down my door trying to get in! So I don't think it's really a great option for us.

I will definitely go look for some of the frozen Stella&Chewy. I know it's only sold at local pet shops here and usually has to be pre-ordered so I'll see what I can find! The only thing that I'm wondering about Stella&Chewy's is that it doesn't say anywhere about having omegas. Should I supplement her with the Iceland Pure Anchovy&Sardine oil if she will eat it? I will eliminate the Nature's Instinct LID and see how she does. I wish there were more options for her.

The vet did say her low weight could be because she is not on a kitten food. I don't know how true that is or what could actually be causing her not to gain much. Before we got her about 2 months ago they suspected she had ringworm so were treating her for a few weeks and it just never really resolved but would get better and then come back and we've determined that it's most likely not ringworm anymore and now with the rodent ulcer and hair falling out etc it's a suspected allergy. As far as I can tell none of the food she was eating before I got her had peas in it, so I don't know if that's a new allergy or not.

We didn't do a skin test/culture at her appointment since it was a Friday and they aren't able to send out cultures over the weekend.

 

[fleshflowers]

Just in case this is helpful for you or other readers;

Pet Wellness Life Stress Scan

Is this reliable?

 

[Furballsmom]

Is this reliable?

I went to Glacier Peak's own website, and there the product has 352 5-star reviews.

The vet did say her low weight could be because she is not on a kitten food

I would assume he's thinking of a food that is higher protein and calories.

I personally think that you need to, for several reasons including having applied Revolution that you don't want other cats to lick, find a way to separate her for a while from the other cats.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

For the weight gain, are you letting her eat as much as she wants? As a kitten, she should be able to eat all she wants. If you are home all day, then try feeding her extra meal if you don't want to leave raw food out. You can leave the freeze dried food out for a few hours if you are feeding it dry. I actually feed one of mine funrehydrated reeze dried during the night and have no issues with bacteria, etc. I just put it out at bedtime and pick up any leftovers in the morning and toss them and thoroughly wash out that bowl. Since Murphy is currently tiny, you could probably figure out a way to put it somewhere where the bigger cats can't get to it, like behind a door that is almost shut but open enough where only she is squeeze through it?

 

[NekoM]

How are Murphy’s stress levels? Was she the established kitty before you had your two rescues? Also are they jumping all over her when she’d rather be napping or having alone time?

 

[fleshflowers]

How are Murphy’s stress levels? Was she the established kitty before you had your two rescues? Also are they jumping all over her when she’d rather be napping or having alone time?

She had the skin issues before we got her, they just thought it was ringworm and didn't do any tests. They do give her lots of space. She seems pretty happy and content from what I can tell. We have plenty of cat trees, beds, hide outs etc.

 

[NekoM]

She had the skin issues before we got her, they just thought it was ringworm and didn't do any tests. They do give her lots of space. She seems pretty happy and content from what I can tell. We have plenty of cat trees, beds, hide outs etc.

Skin allergies are incredibly hard to narrow down, I have an ongoing battle with Hiro my ten year old. There’s a medication you could ask your vet about called Atopica. It’s an immune suppressant for skin allergies and not a steroid, I used it for about 2 months to get through a bad flare up. Long term I was nervous that it could drop his immunity against common infections, though my vet said it wouldn’t.

 

[Lacey87]

My cat had this, had to have treatment twice. Didn’t get it again once changed kitty litter to the crystal kitty litter. So I think she may have been allergic to the other type of kitty litter we were using.

 

[LeiLatte]

My kitty is going to be 4 years old this year and he’s going on his third year of on and off skin allergies. The dark red spots look kind of similar, except he does not have wet spots like hotspots, and he has some more hair loss due to overgrooming.

We had done everything from antibiotics due to the wounds, prednisolone, allergy testing and allergy shots based on his specific test results, allergy drops based on his specific test results, flea meds, prescription diet change, litter change…. Nothing has permanently made it go away. Our kitty seems to have flare ups where it gets worse, then it is okay for 2-4 months, then a flare up again. Maybe it is seasonal?? He is going through another severe flare up now after almost year of minimal flare ups. I would say this time of year seems to be the worst for him. The allergy blood test results came back that he is allergic to certain types of pollens and plants, dog dander, human dander, fleas, certain molds… All of my pets are indoor only.

There was a treatment the vet mentioned last year if the allergy shots/drops didn’t work. I think it was called Atopica like another poster mentioned. But we didn’t pursue that yet and I’ve become very discouraged trying to “cure” him since that seems impossible. I get worried about the side effects of some of these meds because he is still young. I just want to get him more comfortable, plus we spend so much money on him for almost no results, and I have many other pets to take care of too.

He also has some asthma problem off and on which could also be allergy related. We spent a lot of money getting prescription inhalers from Canada which seemed to have little to no effect.

 

[Furballsmom]

I mentioned this above but in case you haven't had a chance to read the entire thread;
This isn't a cure but it can help to ease discomfort;

Unflavored chamomile tea, or raw coconut oil are safe if ingested, and are anti bacterial and anti fungal, --the oil is anti microbial. Also, colloidal silver could be helpful.

 

[LeiLatte]

I mentioned this above but in case you haven't had a chance to read the entire thread;
This isn't a cure but it can help to ease discomfort;

Unflavored chamomile tea, or raw coconut oil are safe if ingested, and are anti bacterial and anti fungal, --the oil is anti microbial. Also, colloidal silver could be helpful.

Thank you! I will try these for him… willing to try almost anything as long as safe and I prefer less medications. The bills really add up

 

[Alldara]

Another poster had good success with a low histamine probiotic: Introducing pre & probiotic - Miralax

they inspired me to do some research into probiotics. Histamines happen naturally when our bodies break down some foods and histamines can build in the body, causing or increasing inflammation.


Low histamine probiotics can help and can help the body break down histamines. For humans, the enzyme that breaks down histamines can be more helpful but I'm unsure if that's an option for cats.

 

[Furballsmom]

A member has suggested this;

My feral cat had all little red spots from licking and previous put on pred too and that didn’t work.

Chlorpheniramine | Medications: PetMD | PetMD