Lily, 14, has always scratched quite a bit, but it has gotten so much worse since last fall. She scratches her neck constantly and occasionally her ears until they bleed. So what have I tried?
I'd like to use Alnutrin for Meat and Bone to simplify the cat-food-making process but it has egg yolk powder in it. Should I not use it during Lily's trial just to be safe?
If her scratching doesn't decrease on a rabbit-only diet, my next step is to find an alternative to the fish oil I'm using to see if she's allergic to that.
Iris, Lily's littermate, has always scratched, too. Instead of her neck, she scratched under one of her eyes, so much so that she has scarred her sweet little face. Oddly, though, her scratching has almost stopped over the past year.
- I switched litter in case she was allergic to the dust (from Dr. Elsey’s clumping clay to Smart Cat clumping grass) with no improvement.
- I’ve done some limited food trials: 1) at traditional vet's suggestion, tried chicken and turkey only for eight weeks; 2) at holistic vet's suggestion, cut out chicken for eight weeks because he said it had more inflammatory properties than many proteins...but he said it was okay to continue to feed other feathered proteins (turkey and duck) as well as pork. No improvement.
- I thought it might be stress because of the introduction of a new adult cat last fall. It seemed to really increase about that time. And in addition to her scratching, she was overgrooming the end of her tail. Plugged Feliway Classic and Multicat all over the house which seemed to help her a bit. Her mood was better, she was less aggressive to Mocha, she didn't overgroom as much, and her inappropriate peeing and pooping outside the box hasn't happened recently. But she still scratches.
- I realized that I had introduced probiotics when I adopted Mocha in October and began feeding raw in December. I discontinued that and actually, her scratching lessened just a bit. But she still scratches and has scabs on her neck from healing scratches.
I'd like to use Alnutrin for Meat and Bone to simplify the cat-food-making process but it has egg yolk powder in it. Should I not use it during Lily's trial just to be safe?
If her scratching doesn't decrease on a rabbit-only diet, my next step is to find an alternative to the fish oil I'm using to see if she's allergic to that.
Iris, Lily's littermate, has always scratched, too. Instead of her neck, she scratched under one of her eyes, so much so that she has scarred her sweet little face. Oddly, though, her scratching has almost stopped over the past year.