Does anyone have a cat with allergies?

[NeatFreak]

We rehomed a cat (about 5 years old) last August and almost immediately she started licking all of her fur off. We've seen the vet a few times to get antibiotic/ steroid injections, which work for a month or so before she starts doing it again. We've just found out that our (well researched, expensive) pet insurance won't cover it because it is clearly a pre-existing condition and are now struggling- we can't afford £50+ per month on injections but it isn't a long term option anyway due to the side effects.

She has just started doing it again and her back legs and stomach are getting pretty bald- the skin doesn't look too inflamed but the fur has almost gone.

We have wooden flooring, which we keep clean to try and avoid a dust allergy and have been using a Feliway diffuser but nothing seems to have worked. I'm now wondering if it could be food-related and considering changing her diet. Can anyone recommend a type of food we could try? Or anything else that might work? She is the perfect cat in every other way. Dh is going to phone the rescue centre today to ask if they have any advice as well...

She doesn't have fleas and we treat her with frontline Combi every 4 weeks.

My cat has food allergies but it showed up as constant vomiting and weight loss. However, you could go for an additive-free diet for a while and see if anything improves? We ordered some Burns dry cat-food (www.zooplus.co.uk) which he will eat but doesn't love! But it's hypoallergenic so much better for him. He also eats plain tuna (tins specially for cats) and sometimes has some "encore" cat food from Sainsburys which is just chicken or fish without additives. The vet said the colorants/preservatives in normal cat food just cant be digested by every cat....However, presumably your vet has thought about a food allergy?

Thanks. The vet is pretty unhelpful to be honest; he just wants to do allergy testing, which will be horribly expensive and a last resort. The rescue centre know about her history as they told us it was a flea allergy so I'm hoping they'll have some advice for dh

Well it might not do any harm to test out food allergy theories then - far less costly to switch cat food than to keep having injections! However, it also sounds like the vet could do more to help. Could you try a different vet? In my area we have 2 vets' practices and one charges loads more than the other!

This is the second vet we've tried . The first one advised us to get rid of her... I'm going to try changing the cat food anyway.

Try changing her to stronghold from Frontline combo, and make sure you treat the house. Flea allergy is by far the most common allergy and it only takes one bite to set of a sensitive cat. You may not be seeing them, and frontline does not seem to be doing as good a job as it once did.

Thanks. I've just used frontline so I guess I have to wait a few weeks before I can use anything else but I will get some stronghold for then. What is the best way to treat the house? A spray of some kind?

WE have a cat who also appears to have some sort of allergy and shows similar symptoms to yours.
His coat is very sparse and he licks little spots completely bald. He also weights half kilo less than his brother.

The vet has told us it is a grass allergy, but it doesn't seem particularly worse in the summer when he is out a lot more. Said we can give him a jab to temporarily combat it, but he didn't seem to think it mattered one way or another if we did it or not.

No one has mentioned a flea allergy, but it possible as we have a dreadful problem with them.

A few years ago I could have written your post myself...

I tried managing it with steroid tablets with my cat for about 2 years. She would make it down to half a tablet every other day and it would flare up again. I then switched to the monthly injections which were working wonders until another health issue cropped up (actually it was connected but it caused a cancer scare which was negative but cost me an extra £1000 to find this out). I actually forked out the £300 for the allergy test only to find out that my cat is allergic to cotton amongst other things so since I can't eradicate that from her life the £300 was a waste of money but had it been something we could eliminate from our home then it could have been money well spent.

It is a difficult choice but firstly I would be systematically trying to work out what it is without the testing. As others have suggested try changing to stronghold rather than frontline and maybe try and keep your cat indoors so you can monitor exposures to things. A change in diet too would be helpful and even though sometimes more prescription diets might seem more expensive to start with they actually aren't usually that much more than feeding your cat on the likes of Felix as there's less rubbish in it and it is more nutritious meaning your cat will eat less of it.

Finally if you find that like my cat you end up just having to manage the allergy be prepared for the potential side effects of the drugs - diabetes/kidney problems. Taking on a cat with allergies like mine for instance is a huge financial commitment and you need to decide if you can do it. Not everyone can but it will not go away on its own and you have to be prepared for the fact you are going to be a regular at the vets. My cat costs me on average £1000 a year (excluding her cancer scare last year which was £1000 alone) in vet treatment and I know nobody else would look after her the way I do so I know this cat is stuck with me till her dying day. I also know this figure will go up in time as the drugs become less effective and start to have side effects.

Good luck with your cat, I really hope the allergy is more manageable than my little girl's is.

I have a cat who takes all his fur off on a regular basis. It is hard to find out what exactly sets him off. Periodically his fur grows back. He is regularly defleaed and wormed. I took him to the vet the first time it happened and they said that it could be so many different things that it would cost a lot of money to find out which. He is generally happy and when he is bald he doesnt get sores or painful skin so they said it was ok to leave him. At the moment he has a full head of hair :)

I have another cat who is very allergic to cat food. It causes her to prolapse and her insides end up on the outside, its pretty horrifying. I kept her on chicken and tuna for about 12 weeks and then moved onto James Wellbeloved. It is quite expensive but is manageable for one cat. It is nonallergenic. For wet food my vet recommended Sheba. She has been fine for a while now, hopefully it continues because my vet isnt hopeful for her in the long term if it happens again.

I have yet another cat who is allergic to beef, dairy and gravy. He vomits a lot if he eats something he shouldnt but its easy to keep him healthy.

Apart from initial injections and treatment I dont have any regular treatment for my tribe, when hes bald we keep him warm with a little coat and he is happy enough :). I hope your little cat gets better over time :)

Thanks all. Since last week I have been feeding her Hills dry food for sensitive skin and (touch wood) she seems much better. She still licks vigorously and has lots of bald bits but the skin isn't sore and it isn't any worse since last week so hopefully she'll be ok.