Cat With Allergies: Need Advice

Hi everyone,

I search on this site for advice often, but I don't usually post. But my cat Thomas is having some problems and I would appreciate any insight any of you have. Thomas is a little over a year old, and I've had him since October 2017. He has an ongoing itchy ear problem and I don't know what to do next.

Upfront apology: Ah this post got so long! The short version is: my cat his itchy, gunky ears. Tried z/d food, upset his stomach, not sure what to do now. Might have also caused urinary problem. Ears inflamed again. Seeing vet again soon.

Long version: Thomas's ears (mostly his left one, but also his right) are gunky and itchy. The vet has ruled out ear mites. We've been treating the ears for a while. Here's an abridged timeline:

• December 2017/January 2018 I switched him to Merrick limited ingredient turkey and eliminated all treats.
• January 2018 vet recommended ear cleanings + Animax. We did that for about three weeks, saw improvement for a short time.
• March 2018 vet recommended allergen food trial. Prescribed Hill's z/d for 8-12 weeks, plus a twice daily antihistamine. For the first three weeks, vet also prescribed an ear cleaning + animax routine to try to get all the gunkiness out and get Thomas on a clean slate.
• For a while, Thomas's ears looked much better. Less gunk, less redness, less itching.
  
• About six weeks into the food/antihistamine trial (so end of April 2018), Thomas developed soft stool and then diarrhea. I've read this is a common problem with the z/d food. I called the vet twice to ask what to do, got no answer (still frustrated about this), so took Thomas off the z/d food. His stool went back to normal within about two days.
• I stopped the antihistamine at the same time, because the vet had originally recommended 8-12 weeks of the pill and food, then stopping them both at the time same and "testing" by feeding him his previous food again. So this is what I did: End of April, stopped z/d and stopped antihistamine, went back to Merrick limited ingredient turkey.

So here we are, about a week and a half later. Thomas's right ear is super gunky again and he's getting itchy. I have no idea if this is because (1) it's a food allergy and z/d was helping, (2) the antihistamine was really helping, or (3) the progress we saw from the 3 weeks of animax + cleaning was wearing off again.

On top of this, Thomas is showing signs of a urinary problem. I blame this on the z/d food, based solely on timing and the fact that it's a nasty, suspicious food. He's crying when he uses the litterbox sometimes. I thought this was from the diarrhea, but noticed yesterday that he's actually doing it while urinating. Thomas has another vet appointment to address these problems, but I want to be prepared to ask questions.

What would you do next? My current plan is to (1) treat Thomas's urinary problem and (2) switch him to Instinct limited ingredient duck. My reasoning: if this is a food allergy, we need to figure out something that works, and clearly z/d doesn't work longterm for him. As far as I know he hasn't eaten duck before. Any other advice? Any experience with a cat with persistent ear infections? Any favorite foods in this situation? Thanks in advance for any help!

Poor Thomas! I agree with treating his urinary problems ASAP as you definitely don't want them to get worse.
As for his ears, could this be yeast? Maybe an antifungal would work. I'm not really sure about that, just offering an opinion.

If you want to find out if food is the problem the best way is to start on a novel protein diet, i.e. something he's never had before. Something like a food made only from Kangeroo, or rabbit is a more easily available meat as cats rarely have a problem with it, then after a few weeks reintroduce foods and see what causes a reaction.

winstonisacat said:

Hi everyone,

I search on this site for advice often, but I don't usually post. But my cat Thomas is having some problems and I would appreciate any insight any of you have. .... Thomas has another vet appointment to address these problems, but I want to be prepared to ask questions.

What would you do next? My current plan is to (1) treat Thomas's urinary problem and (2) switch him to Instinct limited ingredient duck. My reasoning: if this is a food allergy, we need to figure out something that works, and clearly z/d doesn't work longterm for him. As far as I know he hasn't eaten duck before. Any other advice? Any experience with a cat with persistent ear infections? Any favorite foods in this situation? Thanks in advance for any help!

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Poor Thomas! I hope he gets better soon!

In regards to his ears, what would I do? I would have the vet test for either/both bacterial and fungal/yeast infections in his ears -- just to make sure. He could even still have a few mites in there, but if there are only a few, they'd be harder to locate... and sometimes mites can also create additional bacterial or fungal infections. That's what happened with my kitty in her first year. Sometimes you have to go by Occam's Razor and not move right away to suspecting food allergies -- instead just make sure to find out if there are deeper infections in his ears that are simply not being addressed by Animax. If so, he could need a different antibiotic or anti-fungal.

For my cat, she had a bad case of ear mites in both ears as a kitten. With using Revolution, the ear mites got better, basically, but her left ear continued to have bad problems (similar to your Thomas). Turns out, via a 2nd vet's testing and opinion, she had developed a yeast infection in and near her left ear.
Adopted Cat Has Skin Problems, Can I Get Some Input?

One of our cats is prone to yeasty buildup and fungal ear infections due to a food allergy (as well as gunk around his nails and paw pads). It got much better once we eliminated chicken from his diet, but we still have to use Tresaderm or Zymox drops every so often to keep the ear gunk/infections at bay while we try to get the rest of his food allergies sorted out.

Buddy also has a history of urinary tract problems, and the prescription diet that the vet recommended didn't work out for us at all, as Buddy kept relapsing every three months. Then we accidentally stumbled upon catinfo.org, and Buddy hasn't had any more flare-ups in over three years since we switched him over to a low-carb wet food only diet, and stopped feeding him anything that contains fish.

We weren't sure if we needed to eliminate other poultry/fowl from Buddy's diet, but decided to go ahead and do so once we realized that turkey made him puke. That pretty much left us with lamb, pork, rabbit, venison, kangaroo, and some beef every once in a while.

If some specific brands and flavors might be helpful to you, just let me know, and I'll scrounge up my list for you.

I rexerece went through a round of allergy problems with my cat. She had a gunky ear, chin acne, and scratched her face raw. The vet prescribed some antibiotics, antihistamines, and topical omega 3 oil. In addition to switching foods, the vet also suggested switching to a glass/ceramic bowl, since some cats are allergic to stainless steel.

The meds worked great, and I switched both food and bowl and the same time, which in hind sight wasn't a good idea since I didn't know what caused the allergy. Anyways I had a feeling it wasn't the food that was causing the allergies so I switched back to the stainless steel bowl and she started scratching her face raw again.

So now I've switched to using a glass feeding bowl for a week now and she's doing much better. No more ear gunk and chin acne has almost completely cleared. I think the topical omega 3 oil helped too. It's a weekly treatment and my vet prescribed 8 weeks worth. I'm currently on week 4 and there's been no scratching.

HungryPandaCat said:

I rexerece went through a round of allergy problems with my cat. She had a gunky ear, chin acne, and scratched her face raw. The vet prescribed some antibiotics, antihistamines, and topical omega 3 oil.

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Just curious about the topical omega-3 oil.

How exactly does that work? I'd love to ask our vet about it, since Buddy flat out refuses to let us sneak any omega 3 oils into his food.

You apply it to the back of the neck like flea treatment. It makes my cat smell like pizza herbs for a few days I read some reviews on Amazon that say their cats reacted negatively to this, though I think they might be licking it. I always make sure to apply it on that special unreachable spot behind the neck and so far haven't noticed any side effects.