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" ), 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.
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" ), 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.