I know many of our cats have allergies of one kind or the other, and it's often very difficult to figure out the cause. I thought I would share this anecdote in case it can help other kitties.
My 17-year-old sisters, Iris and Lily, have had allergies for many years. They started when they were about nine or 10 and got progressively worse. Lily would scratch her neck constantly, day and night; it was always covered with sores and scabs. She also obsessively licked the end of her tail. Iris didn't scratch quite as much, but she scratched her face below her eye so much over time that she has permanently scarred her sweet little calico face. I tried everything: consultation with more than one traditional vet; consultation with an alternative medicine vet; pills and potions and food elimination trials; all of the many suggestions here on TCS. Nothing helped.
Early this year, I was diagnosed with adult onset asthma. It's not that bad, but when our terrible smoky air came this summer (because of the many wildfires in California and Oregon), I decided to keep the house closed up all the time and I invested in two air purifiers for our large kitchen/family room combo room and one for the bedroom. I run them 24/7. Two weeks ago, I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen the girls scratching. I should have noticed sooner, but when they do something so often, you kind of stop noticing. I ran my fingers through the fur on Lily's neck (she's long haired) and discovered that she has not one single scab for the first time in years. Iris still is scarred, sadly, but the scratches are healed. It has to be the air purifiers and keeping the doors and windows closed. Nothing else has changed.
Eureka!!
I'm so happy that my kits are no longer constantly scratching. The unrelieved itching must have been so awful. So if you've tried everything else without success, this might be yet one more step to try to relieve your kitties' misery.
My 17-year-old sisters, Iris and Lily, have had allergies for many years. They started when they were about nine or 10 and got progressively worse. Lily would scratch her neck constantly, day and night; it was always covered with sores and scabs. She also obsessively licked the end of her tail. Iris didn't scratch quite as much, but she scratched her face below her eye so much over time that she has permanently scarred her sweet little calico face. I tried everything: consultation with more than one traditional vet; consultation with an alternative medicine vet; pills and potions and food elimination trials; all of the many suggestions here on TCS. Nothing helped.
Early this year, I was diagnosed with adult onset asthma. It's not that bad, but when our terrible smoky air came this summer (because of the many wildfires in California and Oregon), I decided to keep the house closed up all the time and I invested in two air purifiers for our large kitchen/family room combo room and one for the bedroom. I run them 24/7. Two weeks ago, I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen the girls scratching. I should have noticed sooner, but when they do something so often, you kind of stop noticing. I ran my fingers through the fur on Lily's neck (she's long haired) and discovered that she has not one single scab for the first time in years. Iris still is scarred, sadly, but the scratches are healed. It has to be the air purifiers and keeping the doors and windows closed. Nothing else has changed.
Eureka!!
I'm so happy that my kits are no longer constantly scratching. The unrelieved itching must have been so awful. So if you've tried everything else without success, this might be yet one more step to try to relieve your kitties' misery.
