Kitten allergies and eyes?

Question

My kitten that is 6months old has had a bad time with illness. He had ear mites about 2 months ago and had ot wear a cone. After getting the all better he was diagnosed with food allergies and the cone went bk on due to him scratching. He has been on the new food about 3 weeks as the vet wanted us changing food slowly. He still scratches to the point of tearing his face open if we take cone off. How long to see results? Also he has conjivitus(sp?) in eyes and has drops for it. Today one eye swelled shut. I will be calling vet tomorrow am but am a very concerned mommy. We do have 2 other cats that are fine and healthy. This poor guy has not been able to have his needles and therefore get fixed due to his problems and other cats (females) are not impressed at his attempts to mate, they are all ready fixed. Any and all advice appreciated. Even if you tell me I am worrying and to calm down. I so want him to be albe to not have cone on and be a normal kitty.
thank you all

I have a vet appointment in 2.5 hours. will update when I get back. thank you for advice for wet washcloth on eyes it helped for a bit.
I have wrote a list of questions and various things about our house etc to aid vet in a diagnosis. hopefully my baby will be all right.

Susan

vet has cat on a ton of meds. basically vet is treating cat for what is wrong and we will worry about cause later. that is how sick my baby is. he is on a lot of meds (pain killers is one). he goes bk friday to see if it is improving. thank you all for keeping me sane til I could get him into vet. he is sleeping right now and seems to be calmer and not trying to scratch as much.

Susan

Answer 1

Wow thats crazy sad, obviously the cat is being bothered by something still, thats what it seems like. Listen I rescued a kitten that was in my garage and it had ear mites and his eyes were horrible! But I called the vet and they said the mites will go away in a few days but they told me to take a washcloth and clean it myself so I did and after that he didnt have anymore. Then about his eyes... they told me to wet a washclth with warm water and wipe his eyes off and to keep repeating this process until I see no more of that stuff in his eyes and it worked! The reason I didnt take him to a vet right away was cause it was at night and too late but I called a lady who rescues kittens and cats daily as a job and shes the one who informed me on wetting a cloth and all so just try that for tonight till you go see the doctor. Its takes couple days to actually get thro it all so dont worry, your cat is probably just sick cause its so small, its very easy for him to get sick especially cause he wasnt able to get his shots yet. I have a cat and she has gone thro it and she is perfectly healthy right now so just try to do as I said till tomorrow and hopefully he will get better. Goodluck!

Oh and make sure the vet checks him for anything else just in case hes being bothered by something else that your not aware of.

Answer 2

If a problem is food allergies or sensitivity, it can take up to six weeks for the new food to have an effect.

Bathe his eye with some warm salty water (1 tspn salt to 500ml cool boiled water) using a clean cotton pad or make up pad or clean cloth for each eye. Wipe from the inside near the nose to the outside. Cleaning it will help the drops to get where they're needed.

I would suggest keeping him away from your other cats as conjunctivitis is highly contagious, even if they aren't showing signs just yet. He may have come into contact with a cat virus and the stress of wanting to mate has made it flare up, he could be shedding the virus which will leave your cats vulnerable to it, even if they've had shots.

I hope your boy is feeling better soon, it's a long hard road and it's hard to see the end of the tunnel, just keep going, one day you will look back and wonder what all the fuss was and you may not remember how bad this was.

Answer 3

The vet has your kitten on the right track towards licking the allergy issue. Its frustrating but it does take several months for the change in diet and or medications to make an impact on the individual cat's allergy. Just stick to the regiment and eventually, you will see a vast improvement.

Answer 4

See if your doc is willing to get the poor little guy a steroid injection to help with the itching.

If it's been three weeks, I'm inclined to think it's not the food anymore...but I can't think of anything else it could be, except more bugs. You'd think that would be obvious, but ya never know.

Good luck, honey. It's hard having a pet that's in pain or uncomfortable!

Answer 5

Oh, I am sorry to hear about your kitty, it sounds like you and he have had a very hard time with illnesses! I can empathize with you, dear. Our cats are like our children, we are going to worry about them, especially if you are giving him medicine and it seemed to have the opposite effect. I think you are doing the right thing calling the vet! The best thing you can do for your kitty is just be there with him, if he likes to be held, hold him, pat him, brush him if he likes...Just try to stay calm, I know it is easier said than done but your kitty may be scared too and needs you to be strong for him. If you cannot wait til the morning, there is always an emergency number to call after hours at the vet you take him to...It is just like for doctors that treat people...If that eases your mind give the emergency number a call and ask what you should do until you can see your vet to make your kitty more comfortable and to ease your heart, ok?