dermatitis in my cat?

Question

My cat has some kind of allergic reaction to something. He does not have fleas. He is indoors only and I apply frontline monthly.
I brought him to the vet 3 times this year and every time he got a cortisone shot and the vet also took a skin sample. Nothing was found. The shot seems to last for about 3 month and than it reappears. He is quite miserbale. i am now switching him to grain free food. And I have to get him another shot. Not sure what to do with him anymore.
I am also giving him Grizli oil which is omega 3.
It also does not help. I am not using any fabreeze in the house either.

Does anyone have any idea on what more I can do?

Thanks

Answer 1

Oh man. I had this with two older females and went to so many quacks, spent so much money on cortisone and other treatments before I found a sensible vet:

(Honestly, in 30 or so years, I've found that most vets simply aren't all that aware of all that they should be.)

For my cats, changing two things has cured the problem:

What kind of food bowls do you use? If plastic, many, many cats have a bad reaction to plastic. I now use only china or for the one older stubborn dermatitis slave, small paper plates for every feeding.

I use a stainless steel water bowl, and wash it everyday.

Next: My old vet said that leaving dry food (any food) out all day can cause this reaction. Something about the cat smelling the food all day, never feeling hungry, triggered a skin condition. (I don't recall all the details.)

So I now lift the food after the last feeding, put it all in tupperware and put it back down in the morning.

No problemas anymore, after years of the suffering.

Next: Some cats just react better to Advantage than Frontline, and vice versa. You might try switching?

Tip: I had a copy of "The Natural Cat" for years and it really helped with this sort of thing. I can't find it right now or I'd quote the author for you.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Not much point switching to grain free food if isn't grain he's allergic to! You need to find out what he's allergic to. It might be fleas - Frontline alone is not enough to control a flea allergy, because it doesn't treat the house - you need to spray the house about every 6 months, and use something that will kill any flea eggs on your cat i.e Program suspension or the 6-monthly injection. Only then can you be sure she isn't suffering due to fleas.

You shouldn't need to go to a specialist to find out what's she allergic to. A vet should be able to take a blood sample and send it away for allergy testing - they send it back with a list of all the substances, food and plant, that she's sensitive to. It's not cheap, but sounds like it might be worth it, ask your vet about it.

Allergies are tricky. Like any medical question, I wouldn't be expecting to find anything useful on Yahoo - because people don't really know what they're talking about! That's why vets go to med school for years, to learn about this kind of thing.

Chalice

Answer 3

On the off chance he has what my cat has--check where in the list of ingredients the 'rosemary extract' falls. A lot of cat foods have this, it's a natural preservative, but some cats are highly allergic to it and when it's too high up the list a cat can get itchy, break out in tiny bb size lumps, and those will scab up, drop off and new ones form. EVERYWHERE on the cat except the legs it seems.

We had to look for a cat food free of rosemary extract or at least with it in the bottom two lines. Otherwise she gets the lumps and itchiness.

Answer 4

You might consider spending the extra money and going to a specialist. They can help you with the problem instead of doing "bandaid" approach and giving him shots every few months.
You might also ask your vet about doing a food trial. Which means you switch to a hypoallergenic diet and only feed him that...no treats or anything, just the diet food.

Good luck! I know its a hard thing to go through and can be very frustrating.