New to allergies

LeiLana80

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I have 6 cats. My black cat Shadow is about 7 now. This year in January he suddenly started having mega itchy skin, huge thick scales flaking off his skin, and major hair loss. And so much scratching and licking he'll bleed. He wound up almost dying from sudden acute Pancreatitis at the end of January, and that's when we noticed his very first itchy spot. And it's just been getting worse and worse ever since. All this out of the blue.
We have had him on Prednisone (which helps quite a bit) while I try to figure out what the heck is going on. I though it was the litter- we had *just* changed cat litters, so I though maybe that was it. Well, it doesn't seem to be, we switched to an unscented and it hasn't helped. So we started grain free food only (we were doing grain free and a sensitive stomach formula, so I just dropped the latter).
We are nearing the end of this round of Prednisone and it's only been two days and he's already itching more again. So it's not the grain free thing.
Nothing has else changed.
So I think either the food changed quality and/or suddenly he has developed a chicken allergy (apparently a common thing), OR he has something like Hypothyroidism (which my vet said "cats don't get that" :hmmm:), but he literally has all the symptoms. We already checked him for diabetes and it was negative, however he did show two markers for kidney disease. :(

With ALL that said...
Talk to me about raw diets. Specifically venison. We have a freezer full of deer meat.
Could that be a viable option for his diet? Is there a recipe? I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm barely a cook for my own human children.

I have 3 kids I personally school plus 6 cats and I absolutely cannot afford expensive food... I have to figure something out.
Thanks for any input! I am so worried for his future.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi
Are you going to stay with the unscented litter? It's a better option in any case, especially if it isn't dusty.

Back to the food, it can feel like there's a lot to plough through. Things to consider might include commercial raw foods, dehydrated food or commercial additives such as EZComplete where all you do is add the meat.

Food Fur Life - EZ Homemade raw food for pets!

The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Pet Food I don't know the prices here

Homemade & Raw Food For Cats – A Collection of Guides – TheCatSite Articles

This website may also have additional information - if you scroll way (way) down on the page you'll get to the information you're probably looking for as opposed to the rest of the text, and also on the right hand side of the page there are links that could be useful;
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats.
 

LTS3

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Venison is fine to feed to cats. The easiest way to turn the meat into a complete diet for cats is to use a pre-mix such as EZComplete or Alnutrin. There are other brands of pre-mixes available. I think most are listed here: Raw Feeding Resources The Better In the Raw link is broken but here is the link to the new product: Buy Homemade Cat Food

Pre-mixes are super easy to use. Cut / chop the meat into cat-sized pieces or grind if you have a grinder. Add the pre-mix. Add water. Mix to combine. Portion the batch into serving sizes, either individual meal portions or a daily portion. Freeze. Take out and let thaw in the fridge overnight as needed.

Not all cats will take to raw meat right away. Some pre-mixes can be used with plain cooked meat which may be more appealing to cats.

Cats can get HYPOthyroidisim but it's not as common as HYPERthroidism. Here's some info: Disorders of the Thyroid Gland in Cats - Cat Owners - Merck Veterinary Manual If you don't feel that the vet is fully addressing your cat's issues or your questions and concerns, seek out another vet for a second opinion.
 
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LeiLana80

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Thank you all for the information! I am going to read through and figure something out.
Yes, I am switching vets. I was waiting to see how this food/litter switch went, but now I see this is progressively getting worse, so a new vet is in order.
 
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LeiLana80

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An update.
So we have been seeing the new vet, it's one of the best (and most expensive) in the area. They were wonderful with him. Totally understanding, ran a BUNCH of tests, offered all kinds of options. It's not mites, it's not fungal. They did skin scrapings and checked. They did bloodwork and he has elevated white blood cells (no surprise) and his kidneys are showing beginning signs of kidney disease.

For the past month he's been on Hills z/d food sensitivities and .5ml of Atopica. At first, I thought there was a difference. But as the weeks have gone by, honestly, I don't see hardly any change. His skin is still scaling all over his whole body, he's lost a good 65% of his fur, and he still licks and itches all the time. We cannot pet him, even though he begs for love, he can't stand to be touched. It hurts him, and it's absolutely breaking my heart.
He did better when he was on Prednizone, honestly. Can't he just be on that for the rest of his life? My mom had a cat who did that when I was a kid. I will be calling the vet tomorrow to ask. He can't keep going like this.

Side note, they did suggest seeing a special Dermatologist (for cats), to run tests to see if it's something in our house. At this point I have spend a good $1,000 on him and I am tapped out (I have three kids on one income!) I hate hate hate this.

Basically nothing has changed. We still haven't made any progress.
 
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LeiLana80

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Good gourd as I reread what I typed, it hit me.
I'm an idiot.
I have been giving him .05ml.
It's supposed to be .5ml.
I am so irritated and angry and frustrated with myself right now. No wonder.
I just gave him his CORRECT dose. I hope it helps him asap.
 

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Hang in there, breath, try and give yourself a break if you can. Bless your soul, if you hadn't typed us the update you might not have caught that. :vibes::heartshape::hugs::bouquet:
 

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Allergies and sensitivities can be horribly tricky and take (seemingly) forever to figure out. One of our cats has had an on-and-off barfing problem this year and it's been extremely frustrating to go through iteration after iteration of food changes... only to realize, from a random thought/memory, that it's quite possible that the food I thought couldn't possibly be the problem was probably the problem! (Lamb... apparently a common problem for cats.) I also realized that stress, particularly noises, could be a big factor for her: our cats are rescues and noises (even coughs and sneezes!) really annoy them. This has been a stressful year for us humans, too, and I'm sure the cats have picked up on that. Just realizing that has helped all of us!

I write that not to hijack your thread but because I sympathize with what you're going through! Your mention of Shadow's situation breaking your heart is all too familiar. Sometimes these problems feel absolutely impossible to resolve. And, our experience with Edwina, sometimes it's dumb luck that resolves them. A few thoughts:

What was Shadow eating back when he first started to have the itching problem? Was there something in that food that's a common allergen? (Maybe chicken? Or fish?)

Does Shadow have any other symptoms, like vomiting or diarrhea?

A related question: Does Shadow show any signs of stress? Sometimes licking is caused by stress. Edwina barfs when she's stressed; she also hides a little (that's not always a bad thing for her, she's a shy cat, but she does it more when she's stresed), doesn't pay as much attention to her meals (and she's an eater!), and looks a little lost and just, well, stressed/anxous. She seems to get stressed when she's a bit bored, like on days she can't go on her screen porch or when she wants more attention. Her sister is another source of her stress; they have a rivalry and Edwina is definitely not the alpha. Ireland sometimes punches her. Spraying cat bedding with Feliway seems to calm the cats a bit and I just gave Edwina her first Composure (calming) treat a little while ago.

Have you tried any other allergy medicines? Our non-vomiting cat has a 2x/day allergy cream that I rub in her ear. She licked one hip bare a year or two ago and also has an allergy that makes her sneeze and cough. (She's asthmatic and very high-strung!) It works very well for her. (As an allergic human, I can say that not all allergy pills work for me so I wonder if cats may be similar in that sense.) Edit: an additional benefit of this particular cream is that it has a mild sedative effect, which helps calm Ireland.

I realize these things probably won't solve Shadow's problem but maybe something here will help ease it? Although Edwina has had other food issues in the past, this year's has been especially difficult to resolve and the situation has really shown me how important it is to think more holistically, not just about diet but about the cats' -- and humans' -- habits, too, since everything fits together.
 
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LeiLana80

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So the cats have been on the same food for like 3 years. I wondered if the quality/ingredients changed during the last 6 months (everything in stores has been cheapened).

I am still wondering if it's a poultry allergy. The food he's now on is the super fancy Hills allergy food where all the proteins have been broken down, but it makes me wonder, there's still poultry in it, what if that's the issue? I want to go with a venison grain free diet, honestly.
As far as stress- Shadow is our most chilled out cat. He is calm, kind, and sweet. Even at the vet he was his usually sweet friendly self (cautious, but friendly). He didn't like being held down for bloodwork, but who does? lol (they didn't want to stress him so they had me give him Gabepentin for the next appointment, just for the blood taking). But he is my cat who is very chilled. He loves the other cats, he LOVES my kids, and frequently lays on his back in the middle of the room and sleeps there, because he knows he's safe.

He never vomits! He did have some occasional diarrhea on his old food, but his new fancy food has taken care of that completely. He was always our cat who didn't really groom himself much other than face and arms, but had really thick fur, so I'd comb him like twice a week. He loved it. Now his skin is so scaly and his fur is so thin it just rips his skin off with the fur if you try (I don't).
I did try an oral allergy medicine for a few weeks, but it didn't do anything.

It's just so bizarre, he had 6 years of perfect health and then BAM suddenly his skin is falling off and he's SO ITCHY and sore. We hadn't changed foods, products (other than litter, which we are now using a different unscented brand), we don't use fragrances or oils, chemicals, etc. I already very much limit that kind of thing for ourselves anyway.
The only thing I can think of is they changed the quality of his original food and it suddenly triggered a crazy auto immune disorder??
I just can't figure it out.
Either way, I am SO GLAD I figured out I was screwing up the dosing. :frustrated: I hope he shows improvement QUICK.
 
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