cat has allergies?

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm glad to hear that you'll be taking Paulie to a specialist. Hopefully this doctor will finally be able to find out whats going on with Paulie. Good luck.

I only have experience with Storm losing the fur on his ears because he became very itchy from eating fish. I've also had some cats that would get feline acne on their chins from time to time even though I fed them out of stainless steel bowls.

My Pearl has Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex which causes her to break out on her lips and chin. It can be caused by an allergic reaction to fleas, a food allergy, or an airborne allergy. I think she may have a food allergy even though my vet said that this hasn't been proven to cause this disease. I treat all of my cats every month with advantage so no one has fleas. Pearl actually broke out again a few days ago so she's now on prednisolone for several weeks. The last time she broke out was on 4-1-08. I recently changed everyones diet so this may be the cause but it could also be just a coincidence.

[MyCatPaulie]

Thanks so much to the both of you for your help! I have the bag of royal canin green pea and rabbit but I don't know if I should start her on it or just keep her on the wellness, that way if she does start breaking out the vet can see what her bumps look like. It worries me that I can't find any reviews on that food, do you know anyone who has tried the royal canin limited ingredient diets? I'm going to call the dermatologist back on Monday to tell them if they have any cancellations to let us know so we can get him in sooner. I will keep you guys posted for sure! Thanks again for the help!

[Catlady711]

Thanks so much to the both of you for your help! I have the bag of royal canin green pea and rabbit but I don't know if I should start her on it or just keep her on the wellness, that way if she does start breaking out the vet can see what her bumps look like. It worries me that I can't find any reviews on that food, do you know anyone who has tried the royal canin limited ingredient diets? I'm going to call the dermatologist back on Monday to tell them if they have any cancellations to let us know so we can get him in sooner. I will keep you guys posted for sure! Thanks again for the help!

I've never personallly used the Pea and Rabbit formula, but I had Dusty on the Pea and Duck formula for a time as a diet elimination trial. She liked the food well enough, although in her case it turned out that she just had mental issues rather than a food allergy. We have some clients on Royal Canin vet diets our more popular ones being the one I had Dusty on and the Hypoallergenic 23 formula. We've had pretty good results with both if it did turn out to be a food allergy.

You need to pick one food (whether Wellness or the Royal Canin) and STICK WITH IT for 2 months minimum. The body can take up to 2 months to recover from an allergic reaction to something and if you're changing foods more often than that it will be impossible to know what's helping/hurting there.

[MyCatPaulie]

Thanks so much for your help Catlady711! On Friday we were going to start giving her the green pea and duck so I mixed in 13 peices of that with the wellness, then we deicded to just keep her on the wellness until she sees the dermotologist but today she is having soft stools again, would the green pea and rabbit be the problem, she tried nateral balance green pea and duck and that didn't agree with her so I'm worried about the rabbit. Thanks again for the help!

[Catlady711]

Any diet change, particularly if done rapidly, can cause loose stools. Some pets just simply don't get along with all foods. For right now just stick with that Wellness until you see the specialist. If the loose stools continue you might want to see your regular vet before that just to rule out any other problems.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Yes, changing a cats diet can cause loose stools at first. I've been trying to do some more research about good diets for cats and I came across this great link that tells all about what a cats diet should be. I found it very informative even though I did know some of the information already. Here's the link: http://www.catinfo.org/.

[MyCatPaulie]

Thanks for your help everyone. Paulie has been on this wellness for a month today and no breakouts but I don't know if you saw my post about his soft stools coming back. I have to give him a five day trial of Met but if that doesn't work the vet said I will have to change his food again. I don't know what to do, now we finally found a healthy food that seems to help his allergies and we might have to change it. I read that natural foods like wellness can be too rich for cats, is there supplement I could give him that would help his soft stools? I don't want to go bad feeding him a low grade food like Nutro. Do you think the dermatologist will be able to help me pick a food that will help this problem? Thanks again for everyone help!!!