Itchy, Inflammation In Ears

KATEJOHNSON

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My 2 1/2 year old cat has a long history of problems with his ears. He has been consistently seeing 2 different vets since he was a kitten, with no official diagnosis. One vet suggested he may possibly have an autoimmune disease, the other suggested allergy related. He’s had lots of blood work done and tested negative for FIV, Feline Leukemia, and every other major cat disease. He’s never had ear mites.
The inside of his ears get really inflamed and gooey looking. He scratches and scratches until his ears are raw, bloody, scabby messes.
By vets recommendation, we tried testing for food allergies by changing his diet for nearly a whole year, to no avail. They said he could have an allergy to something as impossibly manageable as dust. It’s not seasonal, as he gets these breakouts all throughout the year in all seasons. There has been no pattern or rhyme or reason to the breakouts. Antibiotics don’t help. The only thing that has worked to clear it up, is a slow release steroid shot. He was getting this shot every few months and it caused him to gain a ton of weight and he just laid around all day. I’ve read a lot of articles about long term use of steroids causing tumors and cancers in cats. My hope is to find a way to manage the itching right off the bat, WITHOUT steroids. That way maybe he can hopefully fight off the inflammation on his own and not scratch his ears raw! Has anyone experienced anything similar to this? Or have any personal testimonies as to what helped in their situation? (The insides of his ears look about the same as the outside)
 

huxleysmom

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Oh I am so sorry for your poor kitty. This must be so painful! My Huxley suffers from severe and multiple food and environmental allergies. It took me a whole year to figure it out (I still don’t know what his environmental allergy is for sure though). As far as food is concerned, I only figured iut the missing piece of the puzzle recently: fish oil. Huxley is allergic to fish oil, which explains why during the whole year of elimination diets, nothing really worked as he continued to have nausea, vomit and chew his paws. I was only able to figure this out once I transitioned him to a homecooked diet and basically removed everything (and I mean everything) from his diet besides a single protein (right now pork). The commercial supplement I was buying had egg in it, and he still had allergy synotoms, so i removed that too and made my own vitamin supplements. All symptoms dissapeared. I wanted him to get omega 3 so I added fish oil.... and bam! Within 3 days, the symptoms were coming back. The mystery was finally solved. All the time he was trying commercial food, he was reacting to it, regardless if he was allergic to the other ingredients in the food or not, he had allergy symptoms because all food has some sort of fish oil in them.
What I mean is allergies are a real 5000 piece puzzle to solve. So don’t give up on trying. You just have to be very thorough and give it 6-8 weeks each time. If you can feed him home-cooked (at least long enough to figure out his allergens) that would help tremendously.
I thought Huxley had some serious GI issues, but now that i have figured it out after a very long year, he is a happy, healthy and playful cat. Good luck, and let me know if I can help in any way!
 

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Perhaps a drop or two of cocoa nut oil, coldpressed organic style? Its supposed to soothe minor irritations and inflammations....
I suppose raw goats milk could work too to the same purpose.

But THAT much scratched... Oh MY, I prefer to look somewhere otherwise...
 
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KATEJOHNSON

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Oh I am so sorry for your poor kitty. This must be so painful! My Huxley suffers from severe and multiple food and environmental allergies. It took me a whole year to figure it out (I still don’t know what his environmental allergy is for sure though). As far as food is concerned, I only figured iut the missing piece of the puzzle recently: fish oil. Huxley is allergic to fish oil, which explains why during the whole year of elimination diets, nothing really worked as he continued to have nausea, vomit and chew his paws. I was only able to figure this out once I transitioned him to a homecooked diet and basically removed everything (and I mean everything) from his diet besides a single protein (right now pork). The commercial supplement I was buying had egg in it, and he still had allergy synotoms, so i removed that too and made my own vitamin supplements. All symptoms dissapeared. I wanted him to get omega 3 so I added fish oil.... and bam! Within 3 days, the symptoms were coming back. The mystery was finally solved. All the time he was trying commercial food, he was reacting to it, regardless if he was allergic to the other ingredients in the food or not, he had allergy symptoms because all food has some sort of fish oil in them.
What I mean is allergies are a real 5000 piece puzzle to solve. So don’t give up on trying. You just have to be very thorough and give it 6-8 weeks each time. If you can feed him home-cooked (at least long enough to figure out his allergens) that would help tremendously.
I thought Huxley had some serious GI issues, but now that i have figured it out after a very long year, he is a happy, healthy and playful cat. Good luck, and let me know if I can help in any way!
Thank you! We tried the elimination diets for over a year and none of them seemed to help:( The vet felt it was maybe environmental, possibly even dust! He had this break out over the summer and escaped his crate in the parking lot at the vets office BEFORE he could be treated. He was lost for 4 months before somebody found him! But he came home with clear ears and no issues...until he was home for a couple weeks! It’s problematic because he is an indoor only cat and declawed so he can’t be left outside away from his allergens!
 
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KATEJOHNSON

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Perhaps a drop or two of cocoa nut oil, coldpressed organic style? Its supposed to soothe minor irritations and inflammations....
I suppose raw goats milk could work too to the same purpose.

But THAT much scratched... Oh MY, I prefer to look somewhere otherwise...
Thank you! I always have organic coconut oil on hand, I should try that! I am looking into buying an E Collar cone to keep him from scratching, but he definitely needs the relief from the itch as well!
 
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KATEJOHNSON

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The other vet suggested autoimmune disease he said the inflammation inside his ears looks like it just swells and explodes I’m not sure what can be done about that other than steroids either.
 

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There exist dust allergy. Or rather against these very small microscopic spider animals. Whom are aplenty in inside home dust. So fight against dust! clean off with wetted cloth! Vacuum with a hoover with Hepa filter, and so on.
 
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KATEJOHNSON

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There exist dust allergy. Or rather against these very small microscopic spider animals. Whom are aplenty in inside home dust. So fight against dust! clean off with wetted cloth! Vacuum with a hoover with Hepa filter, and so on.
Yes actually my toddler has dust mite allergies so we already do a lot to combat that issue!
 

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When doing an elimination diet, you have to be careful with more than jusy the protein ( meat) as he could be allergic to other things in the food such as soy, legumes, grains, or fillers.So for example you could be feeding him a rabbit wet food and he may not be allergic to the rabbit itself, but still show symptoms because of say soy or rice or in huxley’s case, tiny amounts kf fish oil. Dealing with allergies is extremely frustrating.
As far as environemntal allergies are concerned, the vet thinks Huxley has some sort of allergies (I suspect dust) because he wheezes. I have bought and use throughout the day (around 10-12 hours a day) an air purifier and vacuum the place with a HEPA vacuum once a week and it seems to help him a lot. The wheezing tends to come back if I lower the use of the air purifier or when the week is coming to an end and it’s time to vacuum again. It’s worth investigating that as an option. Have you tried Zyrtec to provide some sort of relief for him?
Thank you! I always have organic coconut oil on hand, I should try that! I am looking into buying an E Collar cone to keep him from scratching, but he definitely needs the relief from the itch as well!
Thank you! We tried the elimination diets for over a year and none of them seemed to help:( The vet felt it was maybe environmental, possibly even dust! He had this break out over the summer and escaped his crate in the parking lot at the vets office BEFORE he could be treated. He was lost for 4 months before somebody found him! But he came home with clear ears and no issues...until he was home for a couple weeks! It’s problematic because he is an indoor only cat and declawed so he can’t be left outside away from his allergens!
 

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Vitamin E oil applied topically may help as well. I first learned about this on the advice of a friend who is also a veterinarian after my gall bladder surgery, many many years ago. As the incision was healing it itched horribly, and this vet friend said that vitamin E oil was specific for it. At this point I buy it by the bottle and use it for dry skin, but it's easy enough to puncture a Vit. E gel cap and squeeze some out to give it a try. When buying it, beware any so-called Vitamin E oil that appears to be very liquid -- pure vitamin E oil is quite viscous; it moves slowly if you tip the bottle. There are a lot of bottles labeled "Moisturizing Vitamin E Oil" that are actually olive oil with a bit of Vitamin E added so they can put it on the label. The only pure vitamin E oil that isn't in a gel cap that I've found is marketed by Kroger. The UPC is 0001111035145. https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-pure-vitamin-e-body-oil/0001111035145

Vitamin E is safe for cats. It's theoretically possible for a cat to overdose on vitamin E, but it would be very hard for that to happen simply from grooming when it's been used topically, especially on an awkward spot like ears.

Margret
 
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KATEJOHNSON

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Vitamin E oil applied topically may help as well. I first learned about this on the advice of a friend who is also a veterinarian after my gall bladder surgery, many many years ago. As the incision was healing it itched horribly, and this vet friend said that vitamin E oil was specific for it. At this point I buy it by the bottle and use it for dry skin, but it's easy enough to puncture a Vit. E gel cap and squeeze some out to give it a try. When buying it, beware any so-called Vitamin E oil that appears to be very liquid -- pure vitamin E oil is quite viscous; it moves slowly if you tip the bottle. There are a lot of bottles labeled "Moisturizing Vitamin E Oil" that are actually olive oil with a bit of Vitamin E added so they can put it on the label. The only pure vitamin E oil that isn't in a gel cap that I've found is marketed by Kroger. The UPC is 0001111035145. https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-pure-vitamin-e-body-oil/0001111035145

Vitamin E is safe for cats. It's theoretically possible for a cat to overdose on vitamin E, but it would be very hard for that to happen simply from grooming when it's been used topically, especially on an awkward spot like ears.

Margret
Thank you! I’ve been looking for a genuine vitamin E oil to try actually! I’ll look into that one!
 
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KATEJOHNSON

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When doing an elimination diet, you have to be careful with more than jusy the protein ( meat) as he could be allergic to other things in the food such as soy, legumes, grains, or fillers.So for example you could be feeding him a rabbit wet food and he may not be allergic to the rabbit itself, but still show symptoms because of say soy or rice or in huxley’s case, tiny amounts kf fish oil. Dealing with allergies is extremely frustrating.
As far as environemntal allergies are concerned, the vet thinks Huxley has some sort of allergies (I suspect dust) because he wheezes. I have bought and use throughout the day (around 10-12 hours a day) an air purifier and vacuum the place with a HEPA vacuum once a week and it seems to help him a lot. The wheezing tends to come back if I lower the use of the air purifier or when the week is coming to an end and it’s time to vacuum again. It’s worth investigating that as an option. Have you tried Zyrtec to provide some sort of relief for him?
We did grain free for a long time and at one point the vet put him on a Rx diet for a while, but none of that helped. They haven’t has us try any other diets yet. It’s been assumed now that it’s probably not good related since he was on the run 4 months and was most likely eating whatever he could find during that time. I haven’t tried Zyrtec or anything yet, that’s definitely worth asking the vet about!
 

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Thank you! I’ve been looking for a genuine vitamin E oil to try actually! I’ll look into that one!
You are entirely welcome.

There may be other pure vitamin E oils available, but I've never found them. "Kroger," by the way, covers many different stores. Here in Colorado they're called "King Soopers." In the Pacific Northwest they're called "Fred Meyer." Whatever they're called where you live you should be able to find the closest one on the page I linked.

When you're actually in the store, try to bring the UPC with you. If you're having trouble finding it (it's a small bottle, after all) that will make it easy for a clerk to find it for you. I've tried asking in the pharmacy without the UPC and that did not work; they directed me to a vitamin E cream that my husband likes.

Margret
 

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I would definitely try to see what the vet says about allergy medication. I bet the inside of his ears drive him crazy and so the scratching on the outer ear. But also as the outer ear heals, it itches and so he repeats the pattern. I have eczema on my hands mostly and when that inflammation is active it is torture. I have decades of practice in refusing to scratch, but a kitty can't do that. I find that certain things make it worse. Fabric Softener, certain kinds of detergent, scented products. Softsoap is the worst. Makes me feel like I have ants crawling across my skin. All that to say that maybe there is a product like that you use for washing/drying etc that he is reacting to. Obviously these aren't things he is directly exposed to but secondarily by where he sleeps, getting petted, etc. Just an idea anyway.
 

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Which means when he was eating a natural diet for cats, he was doing fine. To me, that could mean he is allergic to soy, starches like potato or legumes, any kind of fillers you find in wet food, all of the different kinds of gums, or even egg and fish oil. I’m not saying it’s food for sure, just that I would not eliminate that possibility just yet.
We did grain free for a long time and at one point the vet put him on a Rx diet for a while, but none of that helped. They haven’t has us try any other diets yet. It’s been assumed now that it’s probably not good related since he was on the run 4 months and was most likely eating whatever he could find during that time. I haven’t tried Zyrtec or anything yet, that’s definitely worth asking the vet about!
 

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Which means when he was eating a natural diet for cats, he was doing fine. To me, that could mean he is allergic to soy, starches like potato or legumes, any kind of fillers you find in wet food, all of the different kinds of gums, or even egg and fish oil. I’m not saying it’s food for sure, just that I would not eliminate that possibility just yet.
:yeah: For what it's worth, we have some excellent articles on homemade diets and raw diets, as well as support for people who are trying to switch their cats over to them and make sure they get all the nutrients they need. I'll find them and post the links in a bit.

Margret
 

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Okay, here you go:
First up is a general article on cat nutrition: Cat Food & Feline Nutrition With Pet Nutritionist Dr. Martha Cline

Here is the article on Homemade food: Homemade Food For Cats: Consider Your Recipe!

There are a lot of issues to consider with raw feeding, so it takes several articles:
And here is the forum on Raw and Homemade food: Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food

Now, I'm not saying that this is the route you need to take; I don't know that, and it's not as easy as we might like. I'm just saying that I think you may be considering it, and if you are here are the resources you need.

Margret
 

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Poor kitty and poor you. That looks bad. From my own experience, I glean: allergies can cause that, antibiotics don't help for allergies (but may help for secondary infection), and if steroids work then it's likely allergy or autoimmune related.

My cat had itchy skin including bloody ears so I clip his nails, treated for fleas, changed to unscented litter, and put him on a novel protein. No chicken, no seafood, no grains, no dyes, etc. We also stopped antibiotics in case it was causing hives. He is basically on a raw meat diet of venison or rabbit, which eventually helped clear up his skin. I also found a prescription dry food (rabbit). I do beleive my cat has a food allergy because he also had GI upset, and because the diet worked. He also had conjunctivitis. It could possibly be a combined allergy where he's allergic to more than one thing that triggers a response like food with medicine.

For my cat, I felt steroids was a lesser evil because he was so absolutely miserable with the hives and diarrhea. Meanwhile, I did my best to work out the food issue. I also found a better vet that was more familiar with dietary allergies becuase two former vets were going down the wrong paths. I am hoping my experience may possibly help you.
 

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I also have a very allergic kitty. We went thru a ton of things as well with her. Steriods are not good - they can cause diabetes ( I have a diabetic cat, it's not fun to manage ). I ended up taking her for full allergy testing and she too is allergic to dust mites, storage mites, and various trees. We tried zyrtec and claratin ( Never give a cat the ones with the D in them - that is toxic only regular ). Discuss dosing with vet. That can help. In our case that didn't help so we had to turn to atopica. We are using the dog version off label in the 25 mg tablet only because she is very easy to pill. We also decided to move forward with allergy shots at home which started off quite frequently but have since been tapered down to 1x per week. It's only been about 5 months - not sure if I can say there is any difference yet. I can tell you that her licking and itching has been very well controlled with the atopica. The company offers a rebate, it's currently valid thru March 2018 so when you buy 2 boxes at your vet and submit the rebate thru the atopica site, you get a $30 visa card in the mail which I just use to buy more atopica. Makes the cost more manageable that way. My poor cat suffered like you wouldn't believe. I also feed rad cat raw but also canned food as well. She wouldn't participate in the hydrolyzed food trial, hated the stuff and the dermo felt confident that her issues were more environmental than food. It can even be stupid things like what laundry soap you use, dryer sheets, room sprays - floor cleaners - all of those things can set off a sensitive allergic kitty.
 
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