Chronic ear infection

[scoutandmaxine]

FYI Orijen's incorporates a lot of various proteins into their kibble. I use the Tundra myself. This is not considered using one food. So if you're trying to do a limited or novel diet it's not going to work plus, you're also feeding yet another type of food.

Your cat could potentially be allergic to several proteins in all these foods. You need to stick with1 protein and feed that for minimum 6 weeks, preferably one the cat has not eaten before. We've used alligator and kangaroo for instance. And you have to read labels because many foods labeled as a single protein such as "rabbit" have other proteins in them; used to make the broth for instance.

You could try a hydrolyzed diet and see if that works. The body won't recognize the proteins in them due to the way it's made. Unfortunately many are not palatable so that's always a problem.

Also your cat can have outdoor allergies even if an indoor cat. We have that with one of ours. Pollen gets in - there's no way to for it not to even if you keep windows closed. It comes in with your shoes and clothing though one can minimize the amount by using good quality air purifiers. Or they can be allergic to dander from you or other pets, mites, etc.

My suggestion is to do real allergy testing and see how that goes. I'm glad we did it - Luna has been on sublingual allergy drops for about 4 months now (still at the building up to the final lifetime dosage) and we already see a big improvement in her itching and constant yeast infections of her ear.

Last cortisone can have some bad effects - it can cause diabetes in some cats (had that happen to one of ours) so using it judiciously is recommended.

I tried several of the limited ingredient ingredient foods and she refused to eat them and since she had not been eating very much, I had to stop trying and just keep her on something that she'd actually eat for some time. I'd rather risk it than have her starve herself. The vet recommended the Orijen. And I have no idea if food is even the issue. The vet said since her ear infection is only bacterial at this point, food allergy is not as likely. I just thought bc her overgrooming seemed worse after eating, that it could be food related.. She did have a yeast infection in her ear before but that seems to have cleared up and its the bacterial one we've been fighting lately. The baytril otic has been helpful in that case. But in regards to her overgrooming, I just don't know. I do think pollen is also likely. I remember her having thinning hair on her arms last year around this time of year but I hadn't noticed the overgrooming yet.. And now that I've noticed, I can't stop noticing lol.
What kind of allergy testing did you do for your kitty? I've read that there is some allergy testing that isn't very reliable. But if it could give me some actual answers, that'd be great. Thankfully, her overgrooming isn't very severe, but it definitely drives ME nuts sometimes lol. I feel bad bc she seems like she's biting and grooming so excessively, yet her hair only seems to be very slightly thinning in some spots, otherwise it's barely noticeable. I just worry that it could get worse.
What is sublingual allergy drops? That sounds very promising. Is that for food allergy or environmental? How bad were Lunas symptoms?
Sorry for all the questions lol, I just really appreciate the insight!

 

[GeoDjay]

would the scan even be necessary or show anything?

If anything, it has the potential to show inflammation, but it is not necessary for diagnosing allergies.

 

[GeoDjay]

Unfortunately many are not palatable so that's always a problem.

My cat is on a hydrolyzed protein diet, but he does not enjoy it at all. I'm considering switching him to a LID. Unfortunately, there is no return policy or refunds where I bought it. :/

Last cortisone can have some bad effects - it can cause diabetes in some cats (had that happen to one of ours) so using it judiciously is recommended.

Chronic cortisone use can lead to diabetes. How long was your cat on cortisone? We gave my cat a small dose for less than a week just to alleviate his symptoms.

 

[sivyaleah]

scoutandmaxine There are 2 ways to test for allergies. First is "patch" skin test which is common for humans. I had this done a few years ago and it was enlightening to see how many things I was allergic to. The pin prick the skin with something like 20 of the most common allergens and you wait to see if welts appear. I started welting nearly immediately from some of them. Once they are done they wipe you down with something that counter acts the allergy response. You also can get a response but that doesn't always indicate you show symptoms to the allergen in daily life so a personal history is taken to help see if there's a pattern to symptoms and the test results.

With cats, it's not so easy to administer without sedation as you can imagine. The cat also must be shaved down nearly entirely on one side of it's abdomen. So this testing is can wind up being costly since it requires so many steps to accomplish and to analyze results plus is done by a feline allergy specialist. Most regular vets are not familiar with how to administer this testing.

We opted to do blood testing instead which was quick and relatively easier (YMMV depending on how well a cat tolerates having blood drawn). I'm not going to go into all the details (easy enough to search on line) but can be less costly since a regular vet is able to draw the blood and send off to the lab. Our vet worked with the specialist, we were lucky they knew each other and were willing to coordinate Luna's care remotely so that we didn't have to drag Luna up to see the specialist again which is more than 1/2 hour drive from home; Luna not being the best in cars.

The caveat to all of this is blood testing can not detect food allergies. Your vet would be the best one to determine what route is appropriate for testing. And again, keep in mind regular vets most likely will refer you to a specialist. I think there may be a new method available now but I'm not familiar enough to discuss it.

In our case, we were almost certain it was due to environmental issues because it started to happen late spring and tended to ease up in winter. We did try to do a food elimination diet first but that didn't work out well at all as Luna isn't the most robust eater to begin with. We also did check for polyps - she was scoped by both vets and neither saw anything. Many rounds of medication didn't keep her problems away; constant yeast infections in her ears, dandruff, fur thinning and lots of scratching though not to the point of hair loss.

FYI there are stronger meds available to treat ear infections of all types in dogs, but they have not been tested long enough on cats and can potentially cause some bad side effects for them. We were offered to try one of them but opted not to take the chance.

Anyway, once it was confirmed from the RAST test (blood) that Luna was allergic to many outdoor and indoor allergens they company then creates a formula specifically targeted for the cats unique allergy profile. This can be administered either by injection, which we did feel comfortable with but weren't so sure Luna would tolerate, or sublingual allergy drops which seemed much easier overall to us.

The drops are given on a tapered schedule, each bottle (3 of them) increases dosage of the allergens which enables the cat to geet used to it in their body little by little. Bottle A - for Luna was given 1x a day for 14 days, then 2x a day for 14 days, then 3x a day for 14 days and finally 4x a day until the bottle was finished. We just started bottle B which is more concentrated with the same schedule and once that is done the maintenance bottle (C) will be started. This is most likely for life but certainly at minimum for a few years. Some cats will grow out of their allergies so it's possible at some point we will be able to taper down a little (every other day perhaps) if she's well controlled.

The bottle has a little "hook" dispenser and you pump the formula under the tongue or side of mouth. Cat should not eat at least 10 minutes before and after. The liquid is palatable to most pets but getting it in the mouth may be a challenge for some if the cat isn't cooperative. Luckily, it's been rather easy for us even though she isn't thrilled with us putting that into her mouth.

She has been on this for 4 months now and we do see a change. Last 2 times she had her ears cleaned out at the vet they tested for yeast and nothing showed up. Her scratching is gone way down, and the little she does is probably unrelated to allergies - just your basic cat having a scratch LOL. Her fur looks a LOT better too. The cost isn't low but not out of bounds either for us. Runs around $50 a month but is well worth it seeing how much happier she is now.

In the past we had another cat who used to throw up a lot after eating. With him, we suspected it was food related due to the timing of his throwing up. We put him on a strict novel diet (the aforementioned alligator) which thankfully he enjoyed (he was a good eater anyway). Within a few days he stopped vomiting so we knew for sure it was food related. Kept him on the novel diets for many weeks and slowly started to add back other proteins waiting to do chicken last since we knew it was the highest potential culprit. Once we had other food for him to eat (pork, rabbit and other fowl such as duck and quail were well tolerated) we reintroduced chicken and sure enough, he threw up immediately. So that was solved and resolved but it did take commitment on our parts for sure!

I'm sure I've forgotten to mention a few aspects of all of this, it's a lot to relate. And I kept the description of the blood vs skin test less medical related for the sake of a little brevity since it's easy to look up specifics online.

Oh and one last thing. If it is allergies, the earlier you start treatment the better the results. Cats that are less than 2 years old tend to do better with treatment than older cats who have been dealing with the allergy for many years. Luna started treatment before she turned 2 and the symptoms really didn't show up until she was at least a year old, which could be part of the reason she's showing good improvement already.

 

[sivyaleah]

My cat is on a hydrolyzed protein diet, but he does not enjoy it at all. I'm considering switching him to a LID. Unfortunately, there is no return policy or refunds where I bought it. :/
Chronic cortisone use can lead to diabetes. How long was your cat on cortisone? We gave my cat a small dose for less than a week just to alleviate his symptoms.

Yea, those diets usually are not well tolerated. Same as all other prescription diets.

As for the cortisone, it was long ago but I remember it only being one shot but don't remember for what (the cat has long passed). He developed diabetes shortly after the steroid was used and our vet felt it was related. It's more common for this to happen with senior cats.

The good thing is cats are the only animal capable of going into remission from diabetes on their own, which is what happened with our boy.

We had to administer insulin to him for about 6 months or so if I remember right. Then one day he was behaving very poorly and we took him to the ER where we found out he had gone into remission and by us giving him insulin that day it spiked him into a hyperglycemic state.

Once we found that out we stopped the insulin and he never had a problem with diabetes after that

 

[GeoDjay]

It's more common for this to happen with senior cats.

Interesting to know!

The good thing is cats are the only animal capable of going into remission from diabetes on their own, which is what happened with our boy.

It is an amazing thing and I hope that we could achieve this in humans someday.

 

[scoutandmaxine]

scoutandmaxine There are 2 ways to test for allergies. First is "patch" skin test which is common for humans. I had this done a few years ago and it was enlightening to see how many things I was allergic to. The pin prick the skin with something like 20 of the most common allergens and you wait to see if welts appear. I started welting nearly immediately from some of them. Once they are done they wipe you down with something that counter acts the allergy response. You also can get a response but that doesn't always indicate you show symptoms to the allergen in daily life so a personal history is taken to help see if there's a pattern to symptoms and the test results.

With cats, it's not so easy to administer without sedation as you can imagine. The cat also must be shaved down nearly entirely on one side of it's abdomen. So this testing is can wind up being costly since it requires so many steps to accomplish and to analyze results plus is done by a feline allergy specialist. Most regular vets are not familiar with how to administer this testing.

We opted to do blood testing instead which was quick and relatively easier (YMMV depending on how well a cat tolerates having blood drawn). I'm not going to go into all the details (easy enough to search on line) but can be less costly since a regular vet is able to draw the blood and send off to the lab. Our vet worked with the specialist, we were lucky they knew each other and were willing to coordinate Luna's care remotely so that we didn't have to drag Luna up to see the specialist again which is more than 1/2 hour drive from home; Luna not being the best in cars.

The caveat to all of this is blood testing can not detect food allergies. Your vet would be the best one to determine what route is appropriate for testing. And again, keep in mind regular vets most likely will refer you to a specialist. I think there may be a new method available now but I'm not familiar enough to discuss it.

In our case, we were almost certain it was due to environmental issues because it started to happen late spring and tended to ease up in winter. We did try to do a food elimination diet first but that didn't work out well at all as Luna isn't the most robust eater to begin with. We also did check for polyps - she was scoped by both vets and neither saw anything. Many rounds of medication didn't keep her problems away; constant yeast infections in her ears, dandruff, fur thinning and lots of scratching though not to the point of hair loss.

FYI there are stronger meds available to treat ear infections of all types in dogs, but they have not been tested long enough on cats and can potentially cause some bad side effects for them. We were offered to try one of them but opted not to take the chance.

Anyway, once it was confirmed from the RAST test (blood) that Luna was allergic to many outdoor and indoor allergens they company then creates a formula specifically targeted for the cats unique allergy profile. This can be administered either by injection, which we did feel comfortable with but weren't so sure Luna would tolerate, or sublingual allergy drops which seemed much easier overall to us.

The drops are given on a tapered schedule, each bottle (3 of them) increases dosage of the allergens which enables the cat to geet used to it in their body little by little. Bottle A - for Luna was given 1x a day for 14 days, then 2x a day for 14 days, then 3x a day for 14 days and finally 4x a day until the bottle was finished. We just started bottle B which is more concentrated with the same schedule and once that is done the maintenance bottle (C) will be started. This is most likely for life but certainly at minimum for a few years. Some cats will grow out of their allergies so it's possible at some point we will be able to taper down a little (every other day perhaps) if she's well controlled.

The bottle has a little "hook" dispenser and you pump the formula under the tongue or side of mouth. Cat should not eat at least 10 minutes before and after. The liquid is palatable to most pets but getting it in the mouth may be a challenge for some if the cat isn't cooperative. Luckily, it's been rather easy for us even though she isn't thrilled with us putting that into her mouth.

She has been on this for 4 months now and we do see a change. Last 2 times she had her ears cleaned out at the vet they tested for yeast and nothing showed up. Her scratching is gone way down, and the little she does is probably unrelated to allergies - just your basic cat having a scratch LOL. Her fur looks a LOT better too. The cost isn't low but not out of bounds either for us. Runs around $50 a month but is well worth it seeing how much happier she is now.

In the past we had another cat who used to throw up a lot after eating. With him, we suspected it was food related due to the timing of his throwing up. We put him on a strict novel diet (the aforementioned alligator) which thankfully he enjoyed (he was a good eater anyway). Within a few days he stopped vomiting so we knew for sure it was food related. Kept him on the novel diets for many weeks and slowly started to add back other proteins waiting to do chicken last since we knew it was the highest potential culprit. Once we had other food for him to eat (pork, rabbit and other fowl such as duck and quail were well tolerated) we reintroduced chicken and sure enough, he threw up immediately. So that was solved and resolved but it did take commitment on our parts for sure!

I'm sure I've forgotten to mention a few aspects of all of this, it's a lot to relate. And I kept the description of the blood vs skin test less medical related for the sake of a little brevity since it's easy to look up specifics online.

Oh and one last thing. If it is allergies, the earlier you start treatment the better the results. Cats that are less than 2 years old tend to do better with treatment than older cats who have been dealing with the allergy for many years. Luna started treatment before she turned 2 and the symptoms really didn't show up until she was at least a year old, which could be part of the reason she's showing good improvement already.

This is all very good information and I will definitely be asking the vet about it. Thank you so much!

 

[scoutandmaxine]

Unfortunately I am back with the same old story about Maxine... Her ear infection is simply not going away.
I got the ct scan done, which showed there was something there but the vet couldn't specify exactly what it was. They did a thorough cleaning of her ear while she was sedated for the scan and the smell went away, thankfully. But the vet wanted to continue with the baytril and she also gave her a convenia shot. For a couple weeks, Max was a lot better and her ear seemed okay. But it gradually went back to how it has been and I decided to just be done with the baytril bc i don't even know how many bottles I went through and it seemed like it made things worse not better. Shes had so much junk shoved down her ear for nearly a year now and its doing the opposite of what its meant to. So I tried leaving her ear alone for as long as I could but it would start bothering her and she'd shake and I could hear the fluid in her ears. So I've just been regularly cleaning with vibrac solution and a cotton ball to get the mucus out. The smell is bad again. But she is not showing any symptoms of a balance issue or anything at all really. She just shakes her head more often if I haven't cleaned her ear in more than a couple days.
So the vets solution is a ventral bulla osteotomy. Which is incredibly expensive. I can't afford it. Not to mention it is a very scary and invasive surgery.
What I'm wondering is if that surgery is the only way to drain the fluid out of her ear? I know that this surgery would likely solve this issue. But should I put her through that when she is not in an emergency situation really? She plays and eats and is totally normal. On one hand, If I can get the vet to be flexible with a payment plan, I'd definitely want to do this and get it over with. On the other, I'm wondering if this is something I can hold off on doing for awhile longer since she's not showing signs of being all that bothered at all. Should i just have the vet do another thorough ear cleaning for now? Or would that be pointless and that money be better used towards the surgery? I just don't know. I desperately want this over with but I also don't want to put Max through this if I don't absolutely have to at the moment.

 

[alana0011]

My cat Jasper got a recheck of his ear yesterday, and after a week of Tresaderm drop, they were clear, and he feels much better, but the vet said he still has Horner's syndrome. His eye looks much better, though. He has a polyp, and I go to a specialist in a month. The vet said they didn't want to remove the polyp there because it's so close to the ear drum. I was hoping they would. I will probably go for a second opinion before I take him to the specialist.
Good luck to you, and if you feel like taking him to another vet, I would!