Hey Cat Site People! I am finally posting after lurking on this website for a few months reading. I have grown to really appreciate the amount of knowledge many posters have and I use this site as a learning tool for dealing with my special needs cat.
I am asking for help with this issue that I have dealt with for many months. Please forgive the detail but I want to give the most information possible.
Carter was adopted from an animal shelter in South Carolina on 10.06.11. I picked him from two kittens, and his brother was noticeably larger than Carter was. We were told they were found under a house without their mother. The night we adopted him, the vet was giving them an antibiotic for an upper respiratory infection. Everything was very good for the first couple of weeks, and then we began to notice that he was losing his hair on his ears. We took him to veterinarian #1, who said the hairloss on his ears was because of ringworm. They gave us a prescription and told us to put cortisone cream on his ears. It went away and then we had no further health problems for a couple of months.
During this time we fed him the shelter recommended food ( precise brand ) for the first two or three weeks. Carter stopped eating the precise brand when he was about 10 weeks old so we switched him to Solid Gold flaked tuna wet food and dry food. He would also eat friskies appetizers occasionally and LOVED fish.
Around Christmas of 2011 I noticed black spots in the fur under Carter's chin. I took him to veterinarian #1 and they said it was cat chin acne, nothing to worry about, and I should dab his chin with acne pads and get rid of plastic bowls, and keep them very clean. I followed all of these directions, but his condition started to worsen and he began to have a LOT of black gunk in his ears. I took him back to the vet, they cleaned his ears thoroughly and gave us cortisone ear drops. He then began to worsen with his chin acne and began to rub the skin around his eyes until it was raw and bleeding. We continued to go back and forth to this vet and they did a full workup of all upper respiratory illnesses and he came back with no issues whatsoever.
In the Spring of 2012 this began to really worsen as he started to kick at his chin with his back feet furiously. It is so severe that I come home to blood spattered all over the walls, blood all over his white paws, all over my bed, the floor, etc. This was completely terrifying and as a college student, I didn't have much money to spend on his care. A friend suggested we put an e-collar on him so in May we started putting this on him all the time. He would find ways around his e collar and rub his face on the corners of tables, walls, etc. I read about food allergies and decided maybe he needed a better quality of food, and decided on Orijen. I foolishly changed to the fish formula, as I now believe the fish cause his allergies. He continued to wear the e collar until July. I took him to vet #2 in July and they recognized this as a food allergy immediately. They switched him to royal canin rabbit and pea formula and we took him off the food. I did not see an immediate improvement with the new food, and the vet #2 also told us to use chlorephramine for inflammation and that helped relieve him. It is also important to note that by this time Carter's entire face and neck were raw, scabbed and bleeding every single day. At the end of the 8 week food trial vet #2 referred us to a specialty dermatology veterinarian.
This is currently who we are seeing. The first visit she checked his tissue for any signs of an autoimmune issue and that was negative. She did say she found bacteria and that we had not been previously prescribed the right amount of antibiotic for his needs. She gave us an antibiotic, told us to try salmon oil, and to continue the chlorephramine. She also gave him a steroid shot in her office that day. We came home, ran the course of antibiotics, found that Carter HATES salmon oil, and saw very little in the way of results. The steroid shot did offer him quite a bit of relief in the first couple of days. We went back to her office and she gave him another shot. Still, it was not enough to completely heal him. Her theory was that he had such deep wounds from the months of kicking and his face that he was still doing it because the scabs were painful to him. The third time I requested a steroid shot she gave him another shot, and gave him an oral steroid to take everyday for ten days and then every other day for ten more doses. He is currently still in this course of medicine and it has helped him tremendously.
He was completely healed up while on the steroids two weeks ago, and we got to enjoy two weeks of no wounds. But, he recently ripped into my roommate's dog treats and now his neck is worse than ever. Now, we have secured all other foods and are being strict about his diet and pill regimen, and trying to get him back to two weeks ago.
My questions to everyone is, what else can I try for him? Is there anything I can do that I am not already doing? I am going to continue on the royal canin as we think it is a food allergy with severe wounds. I am open to trying anything.
Please, anyone who has a cat with food allergies, help!!
I am asking for help with this issue that I have dealt with for many months. Please forgive the detail but I want to give the most information possible.
Carter was adopted from an animal shelter in South Carolina on 10.06.11. I picked him from two kittens, and his brother was noticeably larger than Carter was. We were told they were found under a house without their mother. The night we adopted him, the vet was giving them an antibiotic for an upper respiratory infection. Everything was very good for the first couple of weeks, and then we began to notice that he was losing his hair on his ears. We took him to veterinarian #1, who said the hairloss on his ears was because of ringworm. They gave us a prescription and told us to put cortisone cream on his ears. It went away and then we had no further health problems for a couple of months.
During this time we fed him the shelter recommended food ( precise brand ) for the first two or three weeks. Carter stopped eating the precise brand when he was about 10 weeks old so we switched him to Solid Gold flaked tuna wet food and dry food. He would also eat friskies appetizers occasionally and LOVED fish.
Around Christmas of 2011 I noticed black spots in the fur under Carter's chin. I took him to veterinarian #1 and they said it was cat chin acne, nothing to worry about, and I should dab his chin with acne pads and get rid of plastic bowls, and keep them very clean. I followed all of these directions, but his condition started to worsen and he began to have a LOT of black gunk in his ears. I took him back to the vet, they cleaned his ears thoroughly and gave us cortisone ear drops. He then began to worsen with his chin acne and began to rub the skin around his eyes until it was raw and bleeding. We continued to go back and forth to this vet and they did a full workup of all upper respiratory illnesses and he came back with no issues whatsoever.
In the Spring of 2012 this began to really worsen as he started to kick at his chin with his back feet furiously. It is so severe that I come home to blood spattered all over the walls, blood all over his white paws, all over my bed, the floor, etc. This was completely terrifying and as a college student, I didn't have much money to spend on his care. A friend suggested we put an e-collar on him so in May we started putting this on him all the time. He would find ways around his e collar and rub his face on the corners of tables, walls, etc. I read about food allergies and decided maybe he needed a better quality of food, and decided on Orijen. I foolishly changed to the fish formula, as I now believe the fish cause his allergies. He continued to wear the e collar until July. I took him to vet #2 in July and they recognized this as a food allergy immediately. They switched him to royal canin rabbit and pea formula and we took him off the food. I did not see an immediate improvement with the new food, and the vet #2 also told us to use chlorephramine for inflammation and that helped relieve him. It is also important to note that by this time Carter's entire face and neck were raw, scabbed and bleeding every single day. At the end of the 8 week food trial vet #2 referred us to a specialty dermatology veterinarian.
This is currently who we are seeing. The first visit she checked his tissue for any signs of an autoimmune issue and that was negative. She did say she found bacteria and that we had not been previously prescribed the right amount of antibiotic for his needs. She gave us an antibiotic, told us to try salmon oil, and to continue the chlorephramine. She also gave him a steroid shot in her office that day. We came home, ran the course of antibiotics, found that Carter HATES salmon oil, and saw very little in the way of results. The steroid shot did offer him quite a bit of relief in the first couple of days. We went back to her office and she gave him another shot. Still, it was not enough to completely heal him. Her theory was that he had such deep wounds from the months of kicking and his face that he was still doing it because the scabs were painful to him. The third time I requested a steroid shot she gave him another shot, and gave him an oral steroid to take everyday for ten days and then every other day for ten more doses. He is currently still in this course of medicine and it has helped him tremendously.
He was completely healed up while on the steroids two weeks ago, and we got to enjoy two weeks of no wounds. But, he recently ripped into my roommate's dog treats and now his neck is worse than ever. Now, we have secured all other foods and are being strict about his diet and pill regimen, and trying to get him back to two weeks ago.
My questions to everyone is, what else can I try for him? Is there anything I can do that I am not already doing? I am going to continue on the royal canin as we think it is a food allergy with severe wounds. I am open to trying anything.
Please, anyone who has a cat with food allergies, help!!