We have had the self same problem with our little one and despite countless tests (and a small fortune in vets fees - thank God for Petplan!) have never really discovered what caused it. She also showed an allergy to house dust mites, but nothing else. It started by spots erupting above her eyes, which she scratched, causing the hair fall out. Then it spread to her chest, which became an open, running sore. It was truly horrible. Add to that, raging diarrhoea, which appeared to be food related and you have one very unhappy, unwell kitty and frantic 'parents' trying to find a cure.

The vet prescribed Hills Hypoallergenic dry food, which did the trick with the diarrhoea, fairly quickly. I tell you, a cat's poo has never been so closely scrutinised before! Originally, it was prescribed for just 12 weeks, but although we have tried and tried to introduce all sorts other foods (both home cooked, raw and commercial) as soon as she has even a little, back comes the diarrhoea. So, she remains on the hypoallergenic food and is doing really well on it.

She had to be bathed every day for the skin allergy and bless her, she was so good about it. The problem was that she would clean her bottom, then lick her chest, thus causing a really nasty infection. She was prescribed antibiotics and steroids, but for ages it seemed, nothing improved it. My husband bought some premature baby socks, which he cut up and attached to her back legs with micropore tape (not on her fur) and although she didn't tolerate them very well, she did wear them for a while and it did stop her scratching quite so much. We also kept her claws clipped as short as we dared, so that if she did scratch, it limited the damage she did to herself. Although she was still very loving towards us (and to my husband, in particular) she was obviously very depressed and hardly ever played with the other two cats in the household. That in itself was distressing, because she had always been such a happy, fun loving little kitten. She was 9 months old when this started, although she had had the diarrhoea since we got her.

The lowest point came one Wednesday, about two months later, when we had to go out shopping. We got back, fairly late and as usual, she came to greet us. She simply adores her Daddy and he picked her up, only to discover that he was covered in her blood, because while we were out, she had shed the socks and had a really good scratch. She wouldn't let him bathe her and was obviously in a lot of pain, crying pitifully, but she did settle eventually, whilst we sat and tearfully discussed having to have her pts, to avoid any further suffering. Back we went to the vet, but he asked us to let him try one more thing, which we agreed to let him try. He took some biopsies of the worst of the spots, skin scrapes and swabs (all of which were really a waste of time, in the event, because they all came back with inconclusive results) but after her operation to do this, he gave her a long lasting antibiotic injection. She came home and although it took a long time for her skin to heal and the fur to grow back, she did start to improve from thereon in. We continued to give her steroids daily for quite a while, gradually tailing them off and she has not had any medication for it since. That would be about 4 months from the onset, from memory.

Now, we have our healthy, happy baby back! She is playful, purry, still incredibly affectionate and is just loving life, in general! Her fur is glossy and she is bright eyed and in great condition, but just a bit overweight, due to the steroids, but even her tum is shrinking slowly. If it ever comes back (which I pray it doesn't) the next step is desensitizing therapy, although what they will put in the vaccine remains to be seen, because all the blood tests have shown no allergies to anything. other than house dust mites, which can never be eradicated from a house.

She is now 15 months old and has been well for about two months. It has been quite a steep and frustrating learning curve for all of us, but thankfully, she does appear to be over it now and is really, really doing so well. And in all of this, our vet has been absolutely brilliant!

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Love and purrs,

Caryll

Happiness is a warm cat!