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- May 14, 2008
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I was wondering if anyone else has had this experience and if there might be any other treatment options... here's the scoop:
My youngest cat, Theodore, has developed an allergy to something (we don't know what) and it presents as crusty, itchy skin on his back. No other symptoms, really, just the scaly skin thing. He went through all varieties of testing to rule out any kind of infection (and the fact that our other 2 cats don't have this also supports that it's not an infectious disease) and finally arrived at the conclusion that he's allergic to "something". I've switched to a sensitive skin formula of food (Purina Pro Plan) which hasn't really made any difference, and I realize it's not the most natural of foods, but Theodore also has a very sensitive stomach and ProPlan is one of the few brands he can tollerate.
So... as a treatment for his allergy, we take him to the vet about once a month for a steroid shot (depo-medrol). It works pretty well... but not long enough. The vet says it should last at LEAST a month, but we're lucky if he gets 3 itch-free weeks out of a shot. We really don't want to inject him more frequently - steroids have potential negative side-effects, especially when used long-term. Not to mention the fact that these shots aren't cheap. I plan on calling the vet today to discuss this, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem with one of their cats and if there was a treatment that worked well/better. I would love to be able to eliminate the allergen, but we have no idea what it is - the vet said it could be something in his food, something in the air, something around our house, who knows? And allergy testing in cats is apparently useless so there's no good way of figuring it out.
Would love to hear others' experiences with cat allergies...
My youngest cat, Theodore, has developed an allergy to something (we don't know what) and it presents as crusty, itchy skin on his back. No other symptoms, really, just the scaly skin thing. He went through all varieties of testing to rule out any kind of infection (and the fact that our other 2 cats don't have this also supports that it's not an infectious disease) and finally arrived at the conclusion that he's allergic to "something". I've switched to a sensitive skin formula of food (Purina Pro Plan) which hasn't really made any difference, and I realize it's not the most natural of foods, but Theodore also has a very sensitive stomach and ProPlan is one of the few brands he can tollerate.
So... as a treatment for his allergy, we take him to the vet about once a month for a steroid shot (depo-medrol). It works pretty well... but not long enough. The vet says it should last at LEAST a month, but we're lucky if he gets 3 itch-free weeks out of a shot. We really don't want to inject him more frequently - steroids have potential negative side-effects, especially when used long-term. Not to mention the fact that these shots aren't cheap. I plan on calling the vet today to discuss this, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem with one of their cats and if there was a treatment that worked well/better. I would love to be able to eliminate the allergen, but we have no idea what it is - the vet said it could be something in his food, something in the air, something around our house, who knows? And allergy testing in cats is apparently useless so there's no good way of figuring it out.
Would love to hear others' experiences with cat allergies...