Some of you may remember last year when Bobby was so itchy he was licking his fur off, scratching himself until bleeding. He had to wear an e collar for 4 months while we tried to figure it out.
Thought we had it solved, put him on a presciption food, green peas and venison. Well, in January when Tommy & Tuppence arrived, I stopped using the food regularly and Bobby was fine.
About a month back, the itching started again. So we went back to the vet dermatologist and had the blood serum evaluation, to find out just what he IS allergic to. Got the report today:
Weeds, trees, grasses, molds = the main problem. So this is like hay fever in a human. A pollen issue. He is also allergic to fleas and sheep wool, neither are a problem here.
Hence he is fine in the winter, as the windows are closed and all those things are kept away from him. In high summer, I have central air, which will help him. But that is used sporadically here in RI, 3 or 4 days and then off, a week and then off again.
The vet dermatologist recommends allergy shots, for desensitizing. This will be life long and year round.
Bobby is not yet 2 years, which is why I wanted to find the source of the problem and went this route. (it is quite expensive) He is also FIV +, so many of the other options for treatment are not available to him. He can't have depo shots for the itch, and there are no tests on using Atopica (a pill) on FIV + kitties. Last year we tried Benadryl (didn't help much and made him very sleepy) Chlor tri me ton (helped a bit but not enough to do away with the e collar).
So it looks like I need to start giving him these shots. Sigh.
Just wondered what other may think on this subject. Thank you.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks