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- Apr 6, 2020
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I adopted my cat Rowan about a year ago. She's roughly 1 year and 4 months old now. She scratches at her head between her eyes and her ears, and around her mouth, to the point of bleeding. After going through all the obvious things (ear mites, infection, parasites, fungus) the vet determined she's allergic to something and recommended me to a dermatologist (which is very expensive...).
She's been on allergy prescription foods exclusively since mid-August 2019. I was given prednisolone to help her with the itch. I've been through almost every kind of prescription allergy food to no avail. I started on the Royal Canin Ultamino and then switched to Hill's Z/D for my own reasons. After 12 weeks and tapering the prednisolone, she started scratching again. The dermatologist said that sometimes if very sensitive, the trace amounts of chicken in the hydrolyzed chicken foods can still trigger allergies, so they switched me to Blue HF (hydrolyzed fish). After 12 weeks of that, again tapering the prednisolone, she was scratching again. So we did an environmental allergen blood test and I was given Atopica. Atopica isn't supposed to be as bad for her as prednisolone so I was supposed to switch her over, but after a week of Atopica she had uncontrollable liquid diarrhea for a week straight. The dermatologist suggested going back on it at a half dose after she recovered, but I can't deal with that again.The environmental allergen test came back NEGATIVE during that period of time.
The last suggestion was to try Blue NP (alligator). For roughly 2 weeks she's been eating that, is off prednisolone, and I found out that 5mgs of Zyrtec can be used on cats with little to no side effects so I've been giving her it daily. The Zyrtec doesn't seem to help and she's getting bad again. I'm going to have no choice but to use the prednisolone again, which I know is bad for her, but I don't know what else to do since the vet dermatologist has proven to be about as useful as human dermatologists - not at all - and I don't think I'm going back. All that said, I can't be sure of anything with the Blue NP right now because my folks visited with their dogs the weekend before I switched to it. They left the dog food out (despite being told that can't happen and knowing about this whole ordeal) before going for a walk while I was still asleep, which Rowan quickly found. So, yeah, another 10 weeks before certainty.
Does anyone have any advice as to what I could try next? The allergy foods have been no help, and they are supposed to be free of all the typical allergens. If it's not a protein triggering her, both the Blue HF and Blue NP have almost the same supplementary ingredients. The only remaining allergy food to try is Purina HA (hydrolyzed soy). I have no reason to think it isn't food related. The only thing I can think to do next is make her food myself, but any kind of food trial takes 8-12 weeks, prednisolone will suppress the symptoms until I taper off, I have no idea what to mix with meat to keep her diet healthy, and quite frankly that might be more work than I'm up for...
First post here, sorry it's so long. Thanks in advance.
She's been on allergy prescription foods exclusively since mid-August 2019. I was given prednisolone to help her with the itch. I've been through almost every kind of prescription allergy food to no avail. I started on the Royal Canin Ultamino and then switched to Hill's Z/D for my own reasons. After 12 weeks and tapering the prednisolone, she started scratching again. The dermatologist said that sometimes if very sensitive, the trace amounts of chicken in the hydrolyzed chicken foods can still trigger allergies, so they switched me to Blue HF (hydrolyzed fish). After 12 weeks of that, again tapering the prednisolone, she was scratching again. So we did an environmental allergen blood test and I was given Atopica. Atopica isn't supposed to be as bad for her as prednisolone so I was supposed to switch her over, but after a week of Atopica she had uncontrollable liquid diarrhea for a week straight. The dermatologist suggested going back on it at a half dose after she recovered, but I can't deal with that again.The environmental allergen test came back NEGATIVE during that period of time.
The last suggestion was to try Blue NP (alligator). For roughly 2 weeks she's been eating that, is off prednisolone, and I found out that 5mgs of Zyrtec can be used on cats with little to no side effects so I've been giving her it daily. The Zyrtec doesn't seem to help and she's getting bad again. I'm going to have no choice but to use the prednisolone again, which I know is bad for her, but I don't know what else to do since the vet dermatologist has proven to be about as useful as human dermatologists - not at all - and I don't think I'm going back. All that said, I can't be sure of anything with the Blue NP right now because my folks visited with their dogs the weekend before I switched to it. They left the dog food out (despite being told that can't happen and knowing about this whole ordeal) before going for a walk while I was still asleep, which Rowan quickly found. So, yeah, another 10 weeks before certainty.
Does anyone have any advice as to what I could try next? The allergy foods have been no help, and they are supposed to be free of all the typical allergens. If it's not a protein triggering her, both the Blue HF and Blue NP have almost the same supplementary ingredients. The only remaining allergy food to try is Purina HA (hydrolyzed soy). I have no reason to think it isn't food related. The only thing I can think to do next is make her food myself, but any kind of food trial takes 8-12 weeks, prednisolone will suppress the symptoms until I taper off, I have no idea what to mix with meat to keep her diet healthy, and quite frankly that might be more work than I'm up for...
First post here, sorry it's so long. Thanks in advance.