Food Allergies, Pain, Or Something Else? Any Advice...

blacksakura6

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I have already posted a lot about my sweetheart Graysan in the "Ringworm Plague" thread (He is free and clear!  YAY!) so I will try to keep it as short as I can in this post.

October 2015 we adopted Graysan.  A stray cat that would not leave our porch for almost three months and was estimated to be 8 months old when we took him in.  We were in the middle of house renovations and could not bring him in sooner especially with our other 2 cats who were already confined a lot to one bedroom.   Once the reno was completed we decided to adopt him.

When he came in he was covered in scabs and his Vet said it was flea dermatitis.  He terrible ear mites but other than that he was relatively healthy.  He received his shots within two days, was neutered in a week and all was well.  We began integrating him with Sho and Yong-Gi and was successful.  By November we were a happy family.  

Then Sho began violently attacking Graysan the beginning of Dec. 2015 (another thread) and we moved Sho next door to my mother's home temporarily since he is friends with our other family cat Tsen who is now 16 years old.  We went to the Vet.  Graysan had an ear infection possibly from the left over mite debris though the mites were gone and we began treatment. It cleared.  

Dec. 30, 2015 BOTH Yong-Gi and Graysan broke out with ringworm.  (We now believe they may have picked it up at the Vet since they were both in the same appointment)   Sho was seen earlier and given something for stress he did not contract ringworm.  Sho and my mother's cat Tsen were fine. Graysan had an allergic reaction to the Lime-Sulfur dip, received an injection of Convenia for a sore that appeared infected,  a daily antifungal and was bathed twice a week,  He has been free of ringworm since May 2015.

NOW with that history out the way we head to the topic at hand.  Around April of 2015 Graysan began over grooming.  His Vet (different one than his original but same hospital) said it could have been from the ringworm but it progressed to the point that he was tearing sores into his skin.  We placed him on Prednisolone and began flea treatments.  After a few weeks we began to wean him off and the over grooming started again,  After a lot of back and forth we decided to go to a dermatologist.  

She placed him on a food trial (we used Nature's Variety LID Rabbit because I felt there were too many ingredients in the prescription diet).  She also suggested a different flea treatment  (Advantage...  We were using Revolution) and to increase it to every two weeks for a 12 week period.  (We botched a bit with that and it was more like every three weeks).  By October he seemed as if he was doing well and we proceeded to take him off of the prednisolone.  Once he was down to 0.15 ml every two days he started tearing himself to shreds again.  

So we have been on the prednisolone rollercoaster ever since taking the dose up and down to control whatever is going on.  We tried the Venison Prescription diet and he still was over grooming. We tried some Lamb LID and he over groomed.   Both are proteins he has never had so we are sticking with the Rabbit LID.  But I am suspecting that it may not be dietary at all.

What is weird is that he will seem fine for 5-6 days, grooming normally, and then he starts going crazy on his left side and the middle of his back.  So far no real damage, just frayed hair because I catch it, cone him, and spray with hot spot spray or Banixx.    The doctors have no idea what is going on either.  I have had him scraped twice for mites... Negative.   Three negative ringworm test (two from his main doctor and one from his dermatologist).  He has not had the flea treatment for a month so he is due but he still over grooms even when we use it.  I vacuum once or twice a week on our two throw rugs and dust our linoleum floors every other day.  We use perfume free detergents.   I am at a loss.  

The doctor and I talked about adding oils to his diet and the possibility of hyperesthesia.   I am scared of Atopica because Graysan does not have the toxoplasmosis tithers and if he contracts toxoplasmosis it could kill him if he is on it so that is out.   We are now talking about skin test in April or May at the height of allergy season.  We even wonder if he has back pain but he does play and run through the house.  He also has stomatitis but it seems to be under control with the use of  daily

Oratene antiseptic.  

And unfortunately, Sho is still at my mother's after a year.  It is killing me and I want him home but with all that is going on with Graysan I fear that he will start attacking him again.  Yong-Gi and Graysan get along beautifully....  

Has anyone else gone through something like?  His case is not especially bad but it came out of nowhere.  He seems fine for a few days, then over grooming, then fine, then over grooming.  I wrote both of his doctors (they are wonderful) for advice but I wanted to know if anyone here has any advice or has had something similar happen.  A nutritionist that  I spoke to said his immune system is probably compromised and to change his diet to raw, get pro-biotics and enzymes in his system and see if that helps.  The doctors are saying to get this under control before changing foods and adding more to his diet.  

We are at a loss.....   Any suggestions???  
 
 

missmimz

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It seems like perhaps this over grooming is behavioral? Seems like you've done all the right things with the diet, without change, so perhaps it's just stress or anxiety. I feed raw and give probiotics and support that fully. I think that would be a great idea as well. Have you tried the feliway plug ins? There is mixed opinions on whether they work, but I have two alpha females, one that overgrooms from stress and anxiety, and they help a LOT with the fighting and grooming. 

https://www.chewy.com/feliway-multicat-30-day-starter-kit/dp/121802
 
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blacksakura6

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Thank you for your reply missmimz!

I have used the Feliway spray twice a day throughout the house for the past few months to try to keep his stress down.  We would have a hard time with the plug-ins because our sockets are in odd places.  I have asked the doctor if it was behavioural and she said that she doubted it because he responded to the prednisolone....   But I have not ruled that out. just yet.

Our house is very quiet and there are no children or frequent visitors so there is little to upset him.  He gets along splendidly with Yong-Gi.  Sho unfortunately has been out of the environment for a year and still resides at my mother's... :(  

I just received an e-mail from his dermatologist and she agreed that I should try an Omega 3 to see if it helps his skin.  I asked about a probiotic and she was on the fence about it.   I told her that I would like to try one to strengthen his immune system.  And feeding raw is high on my list.  (You know she is not for that...)  I am seriously looking into it despite reading many people that say it may not help.  

Graysan loved the Turkey Freeze Dried Primal Nuggets that I started giving him last year but the dermatologist recommended that we pull him off because there were too many ingredients that could possibly trigger an allergic response.  So I know he is open to raw foods!  I will just have to make my own and keep it minimal.

Thank you again!  Any advice is super helpful!  (=^_^=)
 
 

missmimz

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Thank you for your reply missmimz!

I have used the Feliway spray twice a day throughout the house for the past few months to try to keep his stress down.  We would have a hard time with the plug-ins because our sockets are in odd places.  I have asked the doctor if it was behavioural and she said that she doubted it because he responded to the prednisolone....   But I have not ruled that out. just yet.

Our house is very quiet and there are no children or frequent visitors so there is little to upset him.  He gets along splendidly with Yong-Gi.  Sho unfortunately has been out of the environment for a year and still resides at my mother's... :(  

I just received an e-mail from his dermatologist and she agreed that I should try an Omega 3 to see if it helps his skin.  I asked about a probiotic and she was on the fence about it.   I told her that I would like to try one to strengthen his immune system.  And feeding raw is high on my list.  (You know she is not for that...)  I am seriously looking into it despite reading many people that say it may not help.  

Graysan loved the Turkey Freeze Dried Primal Nuggets that I started giving him last year but the dermatologist recommended that we pull him off because there were too many ingredients that could possibly trigger an allergic response.  So I know he is open to raw foods!  I will just have to make my own and keep it minimal.

Thank you again!  Any advice is super helpful!  (=^_^=)
 
I've found that the plug-ins work much, much better than the sprays, but yes you don't want them behind a couch or big piece of furniture. Omega's are really great for cats so that is a good suggestion. There aren't a lot of vet's that believe or support probiotics just yet, but they are very safe as long as you use one that's recommended for cats. There are lots of human grade ones that are good for cats too. I've seen raw make a huge difference in allergy and digestive issues. If you have a store that sells Rad Cat near you, that's a really great raw food to start out using. Primal is okay, but it does have a lot of veggies that could be irritating. Rad Cat doesn't have any veggies in it, which makes it great for cats with allergy issues. 
 
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blacksakura6

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Thank you so much missmimz!

I really appreciate your advice!  I just looked up Rad Cat and the pet shop that I order my Nature's Variety is listed as one of the places to purchase it!   I don't have a problem making raw food from scratch but if there is a  brand that is ready to feed and nutritionally balanced I would love to try it.  The most difficult thing that I have run into are the extra ingredients in many of the foods!  I will look into this brand and see if he can eat it!  

A vet tech that frequents on this site recommended Nutramax Proviable DC Capsules to another person for their cat with allergies.  I asked his dermatologist about it and she said that she has actually used that brand in her practice and that I could try it.  Of course she added that she does not think it would hurt but not sure how much it would help.  I believe in probiotics and use them myself with a lot of great results.  Hopefully the Proviable Caps will help Graysan as well.  

We may try a plug-in or two but they will not be in the main rooms...  Maybe it will help as they pass through from room to room....

I am going to immediately call my pet shop and ask about the food!  Thank you again!!   

 
 

guindle

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I second the comfortzone/feliaway plug ins. I used the multi-cat one they came out with and it seems to work better. I have been using the plug ins for 8 years I believe. I know they work because when they run out, they become anxious and unruly. I use the spray when they have to go the vet and lightly spray the blanket in their carrier 20 minutes before they need to go in. I also will mist it lightly in the room they are in if there is an anxious situation. 

Goat used to lick her belly pink, for years and the steroids helped it but it came back plus the shots were not good for her. I changed her dry diet to a limited ingredient like you are saying and really increased her wet foods intake to low phosphorus wet foods because of her kidneys, coincidentally they are the much higher quality brands. I don't really know what stopped her belly grooming but I do know once I kept the comfort zone in the house in a couple of rooms 24/7, her hair grew back and she stopped now for years. I think it is worth a shot. I order them online as they are much less expensive. 
 
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