I noticed 2 raw patches above each eye, where the hair was falling out and it was a bit bloody. I took Guinness to the Vet who ruled out fleas, ticks etc The Vet gave him antibiotics. Took him back after 8 days and the Vet is not 100% happy and Guinness is on another 10 day course. If the skin doesn't clear up totally in 10 days then he has an allergic reaction to something and will need blood tests.

I do know that he is allergic to Fish as it makes him sick, but we haven't fed him fish since we found out. I cleaned out his bed as the Vet said it could be an insect biting him. I have changed his food recently but will revert back to the same one. I hope he will be OK!

Anyone else have similar query with their cat?

Hi one of my cats has allergys and in 5 years they still dont know whats causing it, i take her every few mths for an injection and that clears it for a while i have her only on pure food no additives like natures menu and applaws but she still loses hair and gets sore spots around her neck that need vet treatment, they say it could be a dust allergy and nothing they can do about that , they have been giving her steroids but the vet wouldnt give them to her this time as she dosent agree with keep giving them so she just had antibiotics injection , the trouble is she scratches and then the tiny spot turns into a big sore so im back to vet again and this goes on continously, hope you get better results with your baby.

Hi, i don't have a cat myself unfortunately so can't really help you, sorry. But hope soon you'll find out what's wrong with the poor thing and it will be all sorted. Fingers x

Yes, i have a Burmese girl who has some sort of allergy, she gets sores around her neck. It's probably a specific food ingredient but I haven't yet been able to identify it (ca't afford allergy testing!) and with quite a few other cats in the house, I could never feed her a special diet on her own. So at the moment we're just living with it - it doesn't seem to bother her although it looks nasty sometimes.

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Vervain Cats

Hi I had a cat who developed a similar type thing although the vet first treated her for feline acne (as it started on her chin) Basically she just scratched her whole face.

We took her to langford vet centre, had blood tests which tbh were a waste of time. Allergy testing was also inconclusive. (44 allergens injected into her side)
We also tried an elimination diet, we fed purina hypoallergenic food for 8 weeks (prescription from vets) but unfortunately nothing was detected.

When we were trying to find out what caused it we had to try 2-3 week courses of anti-bs, steriods & Puriton allergy tablets (the human kind but check dosage with your vet first, also ensure they won't react with current medication)

I hope you manage to find out what is causing this problem but as others have said, it can take years & you may never know what the problem is.

Your best hope is that you are able to identify the problem quickly or at the very least find medication that allows your cat & you to live with it.

The only thing you can do is keep going back to the vet, so they know the problem hasn't gone away.

I wish you both the best of luck

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Christina

http://www.sungold-bengals.co.uk

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent - Eleanor Roosevelt 1937

Thanks for all your replies. I am hoping this next course of antibiotics clears it all up - as he doesn't have any other symptons I read about, like red eyes, runny nose etc... I'm reverting back to his original food and have cleaned his living area and bed very well! Poor little mite....

Christina, did you actually find out what was causing your girl's allergy?
I've been giving Nina half a piriton for the last few nights, mainly to calm down her calling, but i am wondering if this might actually help her allergies too!

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Vervain Cats

I'll pm you

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Christina

http://www.sungold-bengals.co.uk

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent - Eleanor Roosevelt 1937

Hi:

My cat is going through the exact same thing, he has been like this for months and I've taken him to 4 vets and nobody has been able to help, so I'm doing it on my own. I've tried diferent kinds of cat litter, I've stopped using plug-ins, perfumes and other chemicals, I've fed him different veterinary prescription foods, including hills and Royal canin hypoallergenic and nothing helps.

I've been doing my own research online and I decided to try natural Balance Green peas and Duck Formula, a friend from the US told me it helped her cat. I tried finding that food here in Puerto Rico and they don't sell it here, so i had to buy it online, the shipping was expensive, but I need to help my Lucas.

I hope you can find what is going on with your kitty.

Tamar

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!