Long, sorry but I really need some advice on this cat we've adopted...

[NeatFreak]

We adopted a cat from a rescue centre a few weeks ago. They told me she had a flea allergy but as long as we kept on top of it with flea treatment she would be fine; as this is something we would have done anyway we went ahead and adopted her.

She settled in really well and we all fell in love with her. Over the past week she has developed some sores and bald patches and has been staying outside all the time. I thought she might have some fleas (although we hadn't seen any and had treated her two weeks ago) so used some Frontline again. After a few days it seemed to be getting worse so I took her to the vet today. His response was that she is a seriously allergic cat with numerous allergies but the main one appears to be to dust mites. He also seems to think the rescue centre would have known this as it is very different to a flea allergy; it can possibly be treated but will be expensive so he suggested I contact the centre and ask how they intend to resolve it- his suggestion is that they shuold pay for it but as a charity I don't see this being a possible solution.

We can't really afford to pay for the treatment but can't bear to be parted from her now. The bottom line is that if we'd known about this we probably wouldn't have adopted her .

We have got insurance that covers conditions for life but this started within 2 weeks of the policy beginning and is clearly a pre-existing condition so they won't pay out (the 2 weeks is tomorrow but records will show she had symptoms before we adopted her anyway).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated- the dc were with me at the vet and are devastated that he suggested it might be better to send her back. In reality I expect that they wouldn't be able to rehome her and the worst would happen- she is the most laid back, friendly cat i have every met and already feels like part of the household.
Dh is being a git, which isn't helping- he just keeps asking why I adopted a cat with health problems but as far as i knew it was a flea allergy that was easily treated

Did the vet test her for dust mite allergy or are they just presuming? A very high % of cases like this are flea allergies and in my experience there is no way to just look at a cat and decide what has caused the allergy, except in those cases that are crawling in fleas!

I would ring the adoption centre anyway and see what they have to say about this as many places will have their own vet take a look for you or will fund further testing if necessary. I would also change off Frontline and use either advocate or stronghold on the cat - treat all dogs and cats in the house if applicable, and get hold of a tin of Indorex spray from the vets and ensure the house is fully treated with this or another reputable product (not all household sprays are the same) and this way you can ensure you sort out any flea problems - in some allergic cats it only takes one or two bites for a severe reaction to occur.

Beyond that, well you need to make some choices based upon what is best for the cat in the situation you have. If you can not afford to keep it then it may be best for the cat to return to the rescue, though I can totally understand why you would not want to do this. I would also argue that if the rescue had her back they would have to pay for her vet care anyway, so why not help you fund keeping her.

Thanks for the advice. The vet looked at her and said her legs were classic dust mite allergies and the sores on her face were something else in the household. He hasn't yet treated her as she has just had her booster vaccination and he wants to wait a week. I'll ring the rescue centre tomorrow and see what they say but am not hopeful. I thought I might try some cat shampoo of some sort tomorrow, not sure what I can really do to be honest...

Shameless bump- does anyone else have advice? We've had her for four weeks but she has only had these symptoms for a week. Could it still be a household allergy?
I'm frantically clutching at straws to make it possible to keep her...

I personally agree with bg there is no such thing as a classic dust mite allergy pattern, I have one patient who has a similar patterns to what you are describing, but she is allergic to fleas, beef, lamb, chicken and cereal. This has been confirmed with a combination of intradermal skin testing and blood testing.
These cats are expensive and demanding to treat and require an enormously dedicated owners - which I am sure you are.

Thank you. I spoke/cried to the vet today and he has given me some cream to soothe her skin. I am hoping to get dh to speak to the rescue centre and try to get them to do some allergy testing. From that we will try to work out a programme of treatment. We will definitely not be sending her back there.

She seems to be spending all of her time outside at the moment (for the first 3 weeks she spent all her time on our laps) so we are going to leave some blankets etc in the shed for her so she doesn't have to shelter in the house and get irritated by whatever it is in our house that triggers it. Her face is quite clear today, although she has got a sore under her chin that was bleeding earlier. She is still very friendly, purrign and nuzzling like mad so I hope she isn't too unhappy

(I also asked for an alternative to Frontline but they wouldn't give me anything because a. they said nothing would work better than that and b. she had Frontline last week so can't have anything else yet)

The nurse said that in her opinion (though she hasn't seen the cat) she would be looking into stress as a cause- she was a stray before we got her and might be settling into a new home.

I'm just grasping at straws to find some, any, way of helping her

Seriously, you need to change your vet.

That's exactly what we've just decided to do. She's having allergy testing next week through insurance (another policy we had) so hopefully she'll be ok.