What To Do About A Semi-feral With Food Allergies

lprad

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I take care of 11 cats, some more tame than others. All but one is less than three years old. About a month and a half ago one of the more wild cats showed up, after a two day absence, with sores on the sides of her face. Over the next week she proceeded to show up with more sores on her body. She will go off for days at a time, usually no more than 3 at a time and only shows up when really hungry. She will let me pet her on occasion so I managed to treat her with PetArmor plus thinking she either had a flea problem that she has become allergic to or a mite problem which the PA plus is supposed to handle. Unfortunately this didn't begin to help. I tried to catch her to take her into the vet and she broke away and I hadn't seen her again for almost three weeks. I had reached the conclusion that she had passed. Three days ago she showed back up and all of the sores on her were cleared up. Today she is showing signs of scratching and a couple of the places on her neck are getting raw again. I've come to the conclusion that she has a food allergy. I feed them Purina Naturals dry and Friskies moist, she seems partial to the moist, although she will eat some of the dry too.

Unfortunately I am on a very limited budget and can't afford to feed all these cats a grain free diet. It would be impossible to separate her to just feed her a special diet. Any suggestions on what to do or some solutions to feed her? I truly hate to see her suffer.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Linda
 

Kieka

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If you have a tractor supply near you they have a house brand food that is reasonably priced. I am not sure how much help it could be but sometimes just a different formula can help a cat who is sensitive to specific food.
 
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lprad

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Thanks Kieka, I was looking at that after I posted and thought maybe I'd try the moist in the TS brand for awhile and keep the Naturals dry since she eats mostly moist. I've got to go in to town tomorrow and plan to pick some up.
I'm also working harder to get her to let me pick her up. Ya know how you just cost along until something comes up. This made me realize that maybe I should try to get them to let me handle them more.
 

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Since you can pet her, is there a way to trap her and get her to the vet? Is there a way you could keep her inside then? Who knows what she is allergic to. It could be fleas, ringworm, food, outside allergens.

I would look to trap her again and keep her inside. It would be much easier to isolate what is wrong.
 
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lprad

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Unfortunately, it would be an impossible task for me to keep her inside. I've got three indoor cats already and really no where to keep them separated. As well as my husband grumbles about them and absolutely would not go for another one in the house. I've thought about trying to rehome her but she is not around often enough to tame her down any more. At this point she runs from everyone but me. And yes I can pet her at times, but she won't go into a trap, been there, tried that. Some of the others will but if she is around when they get caught that just scares her more. As I said in my original post I tried to catch her about three weeks ago and that was the last I saw of her until Saturday morning. I truly thought she was dead and was basically amazed she was still alive. And since she was almost totally healed when she came back and then started scratching again after eating the food I put out, I think it's safe to say it's something she is eating here.
 
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lprad

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I am working on trying to get her to be more relaxed around me. Sometimes she will go on my morning walks through the woods and that is when she is the most relaxed around me. I'm trying to get her to accept me putting my hands around her stomach and hopefully be able to pick her up at some point and put her in a carrier. Of course I'd need to be able to pick her up near the house, she is very leery of me up here, or take the carrier down into the woods. Until I can catch her, I'm trying to come up with solutions to avoid making her worse.
 

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My cats hated the Tractor Supply canned food, I tried every flavor. What Purina Naturals dry food are you feeding? Is it the Indoor one?
 

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Oh, and what Pet Armor did you use? Is it the Frontline knockoff? That's the one I use.
 
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lprad

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Hi maggiedemi,

Well I'm going to try the Tractor Supply food and see what happens. I feed the Purina Naturals regular food, not the indoor. Although I will feed the indoor to them if the regular is out at the store. I had an old guy that passed away last September at the age of 22 and that was what he ate, so everybody got it. And why change after he passed.

I used Pet Armor Plus on these guys, it's a generic for Frontline according to their website. It is supposed to treat biting mites that cause mange as well as the fleas and ticks. That's why I went with it. Although her condition didn't look like mange I wanted to cover as many bases as I could in one shot, considering the little contact I have with this cat. I really thought it was a flea allergy at first and was very upset when the PA didn't help.

A very interesting update, I fed her some Fancy Feast moist I had here for the indoor cats, they eat very little moist and like it so I can actually afford to feed it to them on occasion, anyway I fed Callie some last night and this morning the sores on her neck didn't have any blood on them, so I'm thinking that she had a pretty good night.

Such good furkids I have!! I gave her the Fancy Feast on a separate plate and no one tried to butt in and eat it!

Thanks everyone, hoping I've helped my little girl without spending a fortune at the vet. Linda
 

maggiedemi

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That's the same one I use, Pet Armor Plus...I tried the Indoor version of Purina Naturals, but my cats seemed to lose too much weight on it. Maybe because it's lower in fat...My cats like Fancy Feast too, along with Sheba Cuts and Friskies Shreds. They are very picky.
 
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lprad

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Ha, my girls inside could stand to lose some weight, outside not so much. Although the mother of my insiders is a stubby legged Manx and she is a little on the portly side. She's one of the ones on the front porch and garage, and she rarely wanders very far.
I got some of the dry 4health cat food as well as a few cans of the moist. They didn't seem to mind it. The moist is gone and they are nibbling on the dry. I put their regular Naturals dry in front by the garage, the ones who eat it know it's there so if they don't like the grain free they can come around and eat it. Callie's raw spots are still scabbed over. Will see tomorrow if she's still good. It would really be nice if this would take care of her problem.
 

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I would try the food, but it's possible that even if you do some kind of a "limited" diet with a feral that is half wild, odds are she'll supplement her own diet with scraps, small animals she catches/eats, etc.
It's kind of no win sometimes, but it's cool you're helping her in any way you can!
When you spoke with your vet about her feral behavior/status, did they have any suggestions outside of seeing her besides food?
She could be reacting to food, pollen, mites, fleas, ticks, or the sores could be a result of fighting etc, or any combination of all of the above.
If the allergies are not food related and are related to the environment, that can cost well into the four digit range and is probably not going to happen with a cat that's used to doing her own thing.
It sounds hokey and probably won't work, but I wonder if sneaking some kind of probiotic or colostrum or some kind of immune helper into her food wouldn't at least lessen the symptoms, helping her out and keeping you from breaking the bank and stressing about it?
I swear sometimes this over grooming/scratching/creating sores can be stress related and what cat has a more stressful life than a feral (even if they don't believe us when we tell them)? Provide good food, water, shelter if possible and continue getting her comfortable with you. If she has a "solid" place that she's safe, fed, and talked to kindly and knows no harm will come, this may or may not help....but won't hurt!
 
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lprad

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Thanks for the input Bruce. I do ad L-Lysine and fish oil to their food. I'd stopped for awhile, not sure why, but I started back up again when she started showing signs of problems, about a month ago. Since Callie has only been back for a couple of days it hasn't had a chance to help her. Hopefully it will help. I've also go some probiotics that I was giving to my deceased old guy when he was on antibiotics. I'd forgotten about them, maybe once she is used to the food I'll sprinkle that on too if it hasn't expired. It's way early yet but so far the change in food is working.
Here are a couple of photos of Callie with the skin problems and her litter mates, GrayZ, Ugely, and Pugnacious out on one of our morning walks. The other one is of my indoor furbabies, Lily Putin, Norma Jean and Alby Lamb.
The Sabathians.jpg My Girls all lined up in a row.jpg
 
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lprad

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Oh, Bruce, I forgot to reply about the vet. They wouldn't comment without seeing her and as I've said that didn't work out too well. They were willing to see her on an emergency basis, so I wouldn't have to worry about not keeping an appointment though.
I have to tell you, my group doesn't seem too stressed, see pic above. Maybe in the winter, but I heat the enclosed deck where they stay, so they are pretty cool then too.
 

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Thanks for the input Bruce. I do ad L-Lysine and fish oil to their food. I'd stopped for awhile, not sure why, but I started back up again when she started showing signs of problems, about a month ago. Since Callie has only been back for a couple of days it hasn't had a chance to help her. Hopefully it will help. I've also go some probiotics that I was giving to my deceased old guy when he was on antibiotics. I'd forgotten about them, maybe once she is used to the food I'll sprinkle that on too if it hasn't expired. It's way early yet but so far the change in food is working.
Here are a couple of photos of Callie with the skin problems and her litter mates, GrayZ, Ugely, and Pugnacious out on one of our morning walks. The other one is of my indoor furbabies, Lily Putin, Norma Jean and Alby Lamb.
View attachment 247774 View attachment 247775
Love the pictures =)
You're not only feeding strays that no one else wants or will care for, but adding L-Lysine and fish oil to their food. In my book you're a really cool person for this alone because it's obvious you care about their tummies being full AND their well being and are doing all you can (and more) to ensure their happiness and health.
Be nice to yourself and don't feel badly that one little girl is having allergy problems. Without you, chances are she'd be much worse off!
Unless the probiotics expired years ago, I would still use them. Expiration dates on such things IME have been a case of they're just not "as potent" as usual. They should cause her no harm.
 

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Oh, Bruce, I forgot to reply about the vet. They wouldn't comment without seeing her and as I've said that didn't work out too well. They were willing to see her on an emergency basis, so I wouldn't have to worry about not keeping an appointment though.
I have to tell you, my group doesn't seem too stressed, see pic above. Maybe in the winter, but I heat the enclosed deck where they stay, so they are pretty cool then too.
*curse word*
I understand vets can't diagnose or treat without seeing the pet, but this is not a "pet", it's a feral that can't be easily contained or examined or transported and it's a shame they can't offer suggestions based on pictures and your descriptions and what you've done for her to date.
It might be a HUGE shot in the dark, but if there are any really good cat rescues around it might be worth giving them a call and telling them your situation...this cat is feral, not easily handled, has scabs and sores or whatever and you don't wish to relinquish her but are asking for their experience and/or advice. Some places would probably help, others no, but if worse comes to worse it might be worth a shot.
 
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lprad

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This is off topic but I would like to share the story about how I wound up with these outdoor cats.
Three years ago, three cats showed up here late in the fall. The mother of my three indoor cats, Noti, CC the mother of the the four shown in the woods picture and a tom. They were all wild but I got them through the winter and as these things go I was rewarded with four kittens in the garage, Noti had snuck in and had them. The calico, CC went off somewhere to have hers and I'd not seen her again except for occasional food stops. I didn't even know she was pregnant. Well as the four in the garage got older I would let them out to play every day with me keeping an eye on them. Eventually CC would come and sit in the yard and watch me interact with those kittens. She sat there until I'd put them back into the garage and then would wonder off. One day she showed up on the back deck with five kittens of her own. They must have been about 6 weeks old, close to being weened. It was like she had figured out by watching me that I would take care of them for her and was giving them to me. You'll never convince me that cats aren't smart.

I got CC and Noti fixed and spent the next couple of months trying to get CC's kittens tamed down enough that I could catch and fix them. It wasn't until the next spring that they started to trust me enough that I could pet them.
I was able to rehome CC and one of the garage kittens, the other three garage cats wound up in my house. One of the five outdoor kittens got hit by a car, but other than Callie's recent problems everyone else is healthy and happy.
 

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This is off topic but I would like to share the story about how I wound up with these outdoor cats.
Three years ago, three cats showed up here late in the fall. The mother of my three indoor cats, Noti, CC the mother of the the four shown in the woods picture and a tom. They were all wild but I got them through the winter and as these things go I was rewarded with four kittens in the garage, Noti had snuck in and had them. The calico, CC went off somewhere to have hers and I'd not seen her again except for occasional food stops. I didn't even know she was pregnant. Well as the four in the garage got older I would let them out to play every day with me keeping an eye on them. Eventually CC would come and sit in the yard and watch me interact with those kittens. She sat there until I'd put them back into the garage and then would wonder off. One day she showed up on the back deck with five kittens of her own. They must have been about 6 weeks old, close to being weened. It was like she had figured out by watching me that I would take care of them for her and was giving them to me. You'll never convince me that cats aren't smart.

I got CC and Noti fixed and spent the next couple of months trying to get CC's kittens tamed down enough that I could catch and fix them. It wasn't until the next spring that they started to trust me enough that I could pet them.
I was able to rehome CC and one of the garage kittens, the other three garage cats wound up in my house. One of the five outdoor kittens got hit by a car, but other than Callie's recent problems everyone else is healthy and happy.
Our closest neighbors had a cat show up on their farm and have kittens.
All those kittens are still there, many years old and developed smart-sense from their Mother (all were TNR'ed).
When the kittens were 5-6 weeks old, we visited figuring they were old enough NOT to stress out the Mama cat. We sat in the stall, handled the kittens, cuddled them and at one point Mama (who was watching this) quietly walked up to me, sat about 4 inches from my leg and watched me. She wasn't aggressive, but had this attitude of "I'm watching you. I'm watching your every move with my kids, a-hole, and don't think for one second I won't shred your face if you make my kids cry." It was REALLY cool. The Mama cat and (grown) kittens are still around and whenever we visit we still see that Mom/baby pecking order. She still mothers them and would shred the skin of anyone who dared mess with her adult kids.
Cats are just so cool in this way.
 
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lprad

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*curse word*
I understand vets can't diagnose or treat without seeing the pet, but this is not a "pet", it's a feral that can't be easily contained or examined or transported and it's a shame they can't offer suggestions based on pictures and your descriptions and what you've done for her to date.
It might be a HUGE shot in the dark, but if there are any really good cat rescues around it might be worth giving them a call and telling them your situation...this cat is feral, not easily handled, has scabs and sores or whatever and you don't wish to relinquish her but are asking for their experience and/or advice. Some places would probably help, others no, but if worse comes to worse it might be worth a shot.
I hate to say this, but I'm not overly impressed with the rescue groups around. I've had dealings with them before and either can't get a response at all or they are weeks late and are no help at all. Last February, I had another stray calico show up and I was trying to figure out a way to get her fixed without the regular vet expense and someone to take her so she would be out of the weather. After a conversation with one of the people that I was actually able to get ahold of, where she spent 90% of the call telling me how wonderful she was for picking up a stray off the side of the road, she informed me that there was no way that she could or knew anyone who would take her. She would try to help me rehome any kittens she might have, but that was all. Unfortunately that cat and the kittens she had didn't survive the winter. And while I have a lot of the blame and still feel extremely bad about that situation, that woman and the rescue leagues around here have a lot to answer for.
The vets around here are next to no help either. I'd talked to three different vets about her when she first started showing signs of the skin problems, my regular vet and two others who work with the rescue leagues with spay and neutering. The two blew me off and my regular one said they would see her on an emergency basis but would not help without seeing her.
 
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