OT: Anyone ever have a cat with allergies?
 

Since a lot of us here seem to have cats, I thought I'd try asking here.

I took in a cat last fall that was a stray, had it doctored up. I initially noticed that he had trouble eating as though his teeth were sore. The doctor thought it was a result of poor nutrition. I fed him lots of wet food and before long he was eating some dry food too. After 3 months his skin started to break out and he was constantly licking and scratching. I took him to the vet and they said he has some sort of allergies. He's been wearing this cone on his head for a month now. The latest round of antibiotics seem to have him feeling better. They showed me his gums and said it is a result of some sort of allergies.

Anyone ever had this problem? I hate this. I bought all stainless steel bowls - they said it could be plastic or ceramic allergies. I bought allergy prescription cat food.

I just took my girl Ethel in for allergies due to local pollen this week and she's all better now but I've never had anything like you have.

I've always found lots of info for my pets by searching the internet. Good luck to you!

Hi, and so sorry that you are having this problem and poor kitty.
did the doctor mention anything about granuloma, or rodent pumps? it is a form of allergy, or sometimes a parasite, and it is treated with prednasalone, primarily.
your cat may benefit from a grain free food. there are some good ones at pet stores, like wellness grain free, with duck. some cats get relief when they go off grains.

you might get him to a specialist, for it may be cheaper in the long run. often, your everyday vets are not specialized in things like this, and you may spend tons on things that are just guesses on the vets part. and your kitty will feel bad in the mean time, and you will be too.

my best wishes for you and kitty,
chicory

My oldest boy has severe chronic gingivitis. It was treated for years using steroids until he developed diabetes from it. He's also on regular doses of antibiotics. Then I forked out a lot more cash for experimental drugs - one of which made things worse - and lots of viral testing Then I found this site: Feline chronic lymphocytic plasmacytic gingivostomatitis and bought the ebook. Why am I telling you this? Well, I've switched to a different wet cat food and cut down on the amount of dry food he gets and I think it has made such a difference. An allergy to his food seems to have aggravated it so much! He's still on an anti-inflammatory painkiller and antibiotics but his mouth is starting to heal. I'm at the stage where the next course of action would be to have all his teeth removed - a major, major couple of operations on a 14 yr old cat with no guarantee it would cure it.

Hope this helps a little!

Yes!

I had a male manx
that was probably just a LITTLE too 'bred'
(meaning he had some kinks in his
skwishy little telephone chord of life)

he did exactly the same thing -
slobbering, raw gums his coat went all dull
(which is really ODD for a bladk cat)

turned out
he was allergic to fish!
Anything with fish product!

THen -
he was also reactive to Science Diet.
He could only eat the 'crap' cat food.
You know - the two dollar for five pound stuff.

FINALLY -
when we got it all cleard up...
the neighbor put out poison for mice.
He started doing it all over again.
And it was because he was catching poisoned mice.

So -

there's three things to check for ya.

The vet said something about how in some cases it comes to that. I couldn't believe it! I've had cats all my life and haven't gone through this.

I did recently change their litter from the wheatscoop to this cheaper sawdust stuff at the grocery store. I'm vacuuming around the house up all the little dusties and going to change it back to wheatscoop to see if that might be it.

Food is the number one place to start.
You can try homemade, too. There is lots of info online about it.
Good luck!
peace