Itchy cat

[Snuugel]

Hello! I have a problem with my 1 year old male oriental cat. He is acting normally, eating, drinking, using the litterbox, playing and so on. Few weeks ago I noticed he was missing fur from his chest. I noticed he was washing himself a lot from his chest and biting and pulling his hair out. We went to the vet last wednesday and she did not take any tests or anything. She just said that it's propably allergy and gave me some salve to help with the itching. I don't really know which kind of allergy scince his diet has not changed. (He eats raw food made especially for cats, chicken hearts and raw chicken and turkey... mush? Meatballs? What's the word ?) Well, the salve has not helped the situation. He is no longer itchy from the chest, it has healed but now the itch has moved to his front legs, his stomach and his hips. He is missing fur from his hips and his front legs look real bad. The skin is red and scabbed from all the biting and licking and he is missing a lot of fur from the legs. He also has scabs behind his ears from scratching. Parasites are out of question because he is indoor cat/my other cats have no symptoms/vet did not find any parasites. I doubt it's stress because nothing has changed. I'm calling the vet tomorrow and try to get a new appoitment. While waiting for new vet visit I decided to come ask here for help. Is there anything I could do to make him feel better?

 

[StefanZ]

I would try with another vet if there is one... especielly as there are nowadays tests for what allergy it is... in my time we had to change food and try out. But since several years there are tests... ps goats milk is good, so its the easiest way to try something else...

 

[FeebysOwner]

While not necessarily likely, a cat can develop an allergy to foods they have been eating for some time. If not the chicken or turkey itself, maybe something has changed about the supplement you add to his food to make it nutritionally complete, or it could even be an ingredient in the supplement that he has developed an allergy to. They can test specifically for a chicken and/or turkey allergy but it would be harder to do so with the many ingredients in the supplement.

This could also be some sort of environmental allergy - pollen, dust, mold, new cleaning products, new litter, perfumes/scented candles, and so on. So, you might want to take these types of things into consideration as well.

Some sort of antihistamine might help, but it would be best to check with the vet about this option. They might also suggest a steroid to give him some relief, but this isn't really a permanent solution unless it were to be a seasonal allergy that would go away in time.

I don't know of anything to offer to help him in the meantime because the itchiness/scratching/scabbing is so widespread.

 

[Snuugel]

Thank you both from answering! Now that I think about it, I did change their litter from clay made litter to wood chip kind of litter. Could he be allergic to wood dust? Another thing that comes to my mind is that it is spring here, so there is lot's of pollen in the air.
The meat balls are made for cats and they are nutritionally complete, though I still give him some vitamin paste every now and then. I will ask the vet to take allergy tests at least for chicken and turkey.

 

[FeebysOwner]

You might go back to the clay litter, just to see. If the vet can check for chicken/turkey, ask if testing for pollen is an option too. I know they can do certain testing; I just don't know how extensive it has become.

 

[Snuugel]

Thank you for answering! I called the vet yesterday. She told me allergy tests are unreliable and not needed? She told me to get some corticone from pharmacy for him. Not sure if it's very smart to give it to him when we are not even 100% if it is allergy. I will try to change the litter.

 

[FeebysOwner]

The vet may be thinking seasonal allergies? Not sure what she means by cortisone, but if the litter change doesn't work, you could ask her about an antihistamine.