Looking For Thoughts On Chinese Herbs For Itching And Over Grooming Cat

[grzina]

I've posted before but some health issues have been narrowed down so here's what is going on and what I know/what I'm trying next. I have a 13 year old cat named Boots with several issues. He itches around his neck and shoulders and has licked an inner thigh completely clean. When he is awake, he spends about 70% of his time licking and itching.

Boots started itching and over grooming a year ago. He was found to have a hyperthyroid which is being treated and subsequent blood test indicated he is back to normal on that.

Itching and over grooming continued and was found to have ear infections, which have been treated and cleared.

Itching and over grooming continued and tried Amyltriptline (no response). Have also tried Prozac since he had inappropriate peeing and pooping. The Prozac worked for that and litter box issues have been resolved and he was weaned off of Prozac, which also didn't help the itching and over grooming.

Also tried the Depo shot when Boots had several scabs. Of course this worked for several months but we don't want to keep using the shot because of side effects. At one point Convenia was given for bacterial infection of the skin. That seemed to stop the itching a little bit but he is back at it.

Was also treated with Revolution and Advantage to rule out fleas and mites.

On to food: tried putting him on a LID diet from Natural Balance. Hated the food. Also tried LID from Nature's Variety. He isn't a fan but at least tried it.

I'm working with a vet that is also certified in holistic treatments. She has not ruled out trying Atopica but would like to try Royal Canin Protein PD (hydrolized protein prescription food) along with Chinese herbs. I'm not loving the idea of doing a food trial. He is a picky cat and just got back up to his normal weight after losing a few pounds due to the out of whack thyroid. Also, I have another cat and although he can eat the prescription food, he is not a fan of canned and usually gets diarrhea if I change his food. As for the prescription food, her feeling is to try it but she is not pushing the food trial if it is going to stress him out. She feels like the herbs will help him but it takes 3-4 weeks to determine if it is helping.

Has anyone had success with Chinese herbs?

Thoughts on Atopica vs. Depo shot? Both seem to have significant side effects but the Depo was like a miracle. I really want to avoid the Atopica because I've heard bad things about the side effects. I've also heard good things and will try it if nothing else works.

Feeling really frustrated here and want some relief for Boots who up until a year ago was completely healthy and happy.

 

[cat princesses]

Hello! I'm sorry your Boots is going thru this. Since I adopted my cat a year and a half ago she was easy about licking as well. We initially just thought she was a super clean kitty however after her spray surgery her itching and licking spiraled out of control, where she was making boo boos in her knees and legs. We too tried most of the medications and flea treatments you mentioned as well as flea treatments. Nothing worked. I finally took her to the dermatologist and hey did blood work which came back as an allergy to dust mites and storage mites. I did use depo medrol once and I agree it works well however it has a ton of potential side effects including diabetes. I have a newly diagnosed diabetic cat ( adopted two cats at same time ) and dealing with a diabetic animal is a huge cost and lots to learn. I got scared off using steroids especially the depo medrol for that reason though we never used the depo in the current diabetic cat. We also used prednisoline for about two months for my allergy kitty. I am using atopica for dogs off label, the cat liquid atopica tastes horrible and is messy to administer. The dog version is a nice oval coated capsule which is super easy to coat in butter and administer orally. Atopica can take about thirty days to take full effect so we paired that with the pred. All of my cats sees have healed and she's doing much better. Our goal is to slowly reduce the atopica, we are down to skipping one day per week. I'm also going to start her in allergy injections however those are life long they aren't like human injections where we can stop after a year or two. I know certain medications can seem scary I was hesitant to use the atopica as well but I guess you have to look at quality of life and thu k about what it's like if you've ever been super itchy with a rash, it's torture and I felt my girl didn't have much peace or quality of life licking like crazy all day long to get relief. We test her blood every 3-6 months to monitor her kidneys and liver. Also on atopica you can't feed raw because they are at increased risk for toxoplasma. Google atopica for itchy cat I reasearched that way and also searched this forum using key word atopica to gather information. I tried the holistic route and it did absolutely nothing. The holistic doctor just roped me in and after three months of no improvement he tried to suck me in for additional testing which I refused to out even more money into his pocket so I went to the dermatology specialty center and so far this is the only treatment that has given my cat comfort and ease and quality of life. I would think about anything you've changed in the house, new cleaning products, candles, carpet, floor cleaners, new litter, different food or maybe manufacturer changed the formulation of a current food you feed that you're unaware of - It could be something small like that. A member on another board a member told me not to use any cleaning products ending in ol because they are irritating to animals.
I hope you can get Boots relief soon!

 

[grzina]

Thanks for your reply, it is good to know I'm not the only one! If we end up trying Atopica, I'm probably going to have to use the liquid. I've pilled many cats but have no success getting a pill into Boots. I use a transdermal med for the thyroid issue. When he was on Prozac, that was liquid, which he hated, but we managed. That would be a problem with the Atopica. I cannot think of anything different that may have happened to trigger the itching. I do know that last time this year I was not home much because I was dealing with my mom being in the hospital and then dealing with moving her. Around the same time, a neighbor cat was visiting outside. My two cats were inside, the other cat was outside. Boots was clearly afraid but my other cat was being aggressive and hissing at the visiting cat. That is right when the itching started, and the peeing outside the litter box. I figured it was all behavioral (maybe separation anxiety and some territorial issues) but then when the bloodwork showed a thyroid problem I thought maybe it was that. Cats are so odd. Who knows what triggered it.

 

[grzina]

And the update is I attempted to administer the chinese herb and cannot get enough into him to be a success. I mix it with water but there's too much liquid to easily squirt all at once. Most goes on him, me and the kitchen floor. Going to try a smaller amount of the herb because I'm able to get a smaller does of liquid meds in him. In the meantime, he has opened his skin under his chin with all the scratching so I'm taking him in later this week and we are going to start Atopica.