Skin Allergies to natural cat litters?

midnightbride

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
May 15, 2001
Messages
95
Purraise
2
Location
Farmingdale, New York
I have been using corn based cat litter for about six months and one of my cats is extremely itchy all the time and chewing one of his paws raw. The vet thought it was some type of allergy but we can't seem to figure it out and get it to heal. Has anyone ever heard of this from corn based litter? I haven't switched back yet because I didn't really think that was the cause (and neither did the vet), but now I'm starting to wonder.

Has anyone else had a cat with similar allergy-like skin symptoms? What was the cause??

Thanks!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

midnightbride

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
May 15, 2001
Messages
95
Purraise
2
Location
Farmingdale, New York
IAMS dry food and a little bit of Fancy Feast. I had switched to Science Diet dry around the time it started and thought that might be it. I switched back to what he had been eating all along and he's still SO itchy all the time. The other cat is fine and they do not have any fleas.
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
you decribe a common issue with a food allergy

Common cat food alleregies

Wheat

Corn

Fish

Soy
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
possible but food is more likely and he may be allergic to corn as he would lick it off his paws from the box
 

beandip

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Messages
2,322
Purraise
2
Location
under a pile of cats
I would agree with Sharky that food is more likely. Although...

Beandip suddenly started licking himself silly (all over his body) when I switched to corn litter. It was drastic, sudden...obvious in his case. I ditched the corn and he was back to normal a couple days later.

FWIW, He used to eat very corny cat food (from birth to Jan 07) and didn't have a problem with it.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

midnightbride

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
May 15, 2001
Messages
95
Purraise
2
Location
Farmingdale, New York
Wow. That is interesting! I would say it's very likely he is ingesting some of it. Yikes. I think I am going to dump the box out and go back to the old cat litter tonight. He does have another vet appointment on Friday. I'll see what happens when I switch back to the old litter.
 

ms.blackie

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
246
Purraise
1
Location
Wadsworth, OH
FYI, I also had switched to corn litter,
World's best cat litter and within exactly 2 weeks, my cat
developed a rodent lip (silly name) a fat swollen lip.
I called vets office as well, they said sounds like she's
allegeric to something. She apparently was
doing a ton of licking herself. Yep I know what it is, its that cat
litter. I ditched the corn litter and went back to old brands.
The swollen lip went back to normal in about 2 weeks without
treatment. So I think some cats are allergic to corn litter.
Brenda
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

midnightbride

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
May 15, 2001
Messages
95
Purraise
2
Location
Farmingdale, New York
OH thank you! That's the litter I'm using now!! I was using another corn one and then the store was out, so I bought something similar (idiot).... I liked it because it was flushable. So not worth it. I'll put another post if it solves the problem. I can't believe it's been going on this long and I didn't know what it was. Poor cat!

How long did it take before you saw any improvement? Did your cat seem itchy all over too?
 
Top