Possible food allergy and giving ear drops

Coolgram

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Hi Everyone,

Gracie has been scratching both ears recently and occasionally shaking her head, so I took her to the vet today and she has an ear infection so the vet gave me ointment to put into both ears twice a day using a syringe. She's thinking her problems may be coming from some sort of allergy, possibly food. For the next 2 weeks she wants me to feed her nothing but chicken and she wants to see her again in 2 weeks. I'd like to know any of your experiences and advice with putting medication in your cat's ears. I haven't started it yet, but I will be tonight and not sure what to expect. I'm thinking if I can catch her while she's on her cat tree that would be a good time but I'm afraid after I get the first drop in she'll take off. And my other thought is, I'm wondering if she could possibly be allergic to her litter. I've used the same litter since I got her 2 years ago, but I've noticed recently that it seems so much more dusty than it used to be, the dust just floats all over the place. Anyone have any thoughts?
 

Babypinkweeb

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I just finished ear drops for my 2nd cat. He's not super fidgety unless you hold him, so I just pet him a bit and then gently kneel with my legs on either side of him, with my upper body leaned over his back. This way he doesn't have any place to go but forward which I can control. I gently hold and open his ear flap and drop it close to the opening as possible as he has lots of ear hair. He will pull away and shake his head between the drops but I just let him do it, making sure he doesn't run, and continue. If you have a more fiesty cat you can try wrapping them up in a towel, which I have to do to clip my older one's nails.
 

LTS3

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For the next 2 weeks she wants me to feed her nothing but chicken and she wants to see her again in 2 weeks.
When the vet said to not feed anything but chicken, did the vet mean any cat food that doesn't contain chicken or just plain cooked or raw chicken? Plain cooked or raw chicken is not a complete diet on it's own.

Chicken is a common culprit of food sensitivities in cats. I'd be avoiding that and feed a novel non-poultry protein instead such as rabbit. A food trial has to be done for at least 13 weeks or so to determine if the novel protein is helping or not. There are lots of limited ingredient brands of commercial cat food you can buy:

100% Rendered Free Cat Food | RAWZ
BLUE Basics® Limited Ingredient Cat Food | Blue Buffalo
Limited Ingredient Diet - Grain Free Cat | Merrick Pet Care
Cat Food - Limited Ingredient Diet - Kohapet
Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet | Instinct Pet Food
Grain Free Wet Recipes - NutriSource Pet Foods (not exactly an LID food but some of the canned are novel protein)

Dusty cat litter can cause itchy skin and other allergic reactions in cats. You can try switching to a less dusty litter and run air filters in the home to keep allergens down.
 

Mamanyt1953

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The one time that I had to put drops in my VERY fussy girl's ears, I had better luck if I spent a little time giving her "ear loves" first, rubbing and massaging the area around the ears. I found that I could sneak the drops in with minimal fuss. Not "no" fuss, but minimal.
 
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Coolgram

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When the vet said to not feed anything but chicken, did the vet mean any cat food that doesn't contain chicken or just plain cooked or raw chicken? Plain cooked or raw chicken is not a complete diet on it's own.

Chicken is a common culprit of food sensitivities in cats. I'd be avoiding that and feed a novel non-poultry protein instead such as rabbit. A food trial has to be done for at least 13 weeks or so to determine if the novel protein is helping or not. There are lots of limited ingredient brands of commercial cat food you can buy:

100% Rendered Free Cat Food | RAWZ
BLUE Basics® Limited Ingredient Cat Food | Blue Buffalo
Limited Ingredient Diet - Grain Free Cat | Merrick Pet Care
Cat Food - Limited Ingredient Diet - Kohapet
Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet | Instinct Pet Food
Grain Free Wet Recipes - NutriSource Pet Foods (not exactly an LID food but some of the canned are novel protein)

Dusty cat litter can cause itchy skin and other allergic reactions in cats. You can try switching to a less dusty litter and run air filters in the home to keep allergens down.
The vet meant to feed her regular chicken only cat food with no other flavors mixed in - like liver. She wants to see her back in 2 weeks. My thinking is that since she's using the antibiotic ointment, won't her ears get better even if she is allergic to chicken? I would think the time to test for a food allergy would be when she's off the medication and her ears are cleared up first. Am I looking at this right?
 

Mamanyt1953

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I am so sorry I've been gone. Hospital. Let's see now...yes, the ears would get "better" from the antibiotic ointment, but not "well." The ointment would prevent/clear secondary infections from scratching, but not stop the allergic reaction. Again, I apologize for the late response!
 
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