Cat Anti-Itch Treatments?

[Rosebud]

My 13 year old cat has scratched all the fur off her legs.

Actually, for the past couple of years she has done this once a year- usually in the Spring. In the past, the vet has given her some kind of allergy pill, which has helped a little but not a lot.

It's not fleas- I've checked and checked. She hasn't scratched herself to the point where her skin is red, raw or swollen. But she will not stop scratching and biting-- all day every day. She's also having major hairball problems from injesting all that hair.

I looked at some topical ointments on PetMeds. Has anyone ever used something like this to give their cat relief? I'd just try it, but I'm concerned because she's an older cat (will she react badly?) and I'm away 10 hours a day and can't reapply the ointment every couple hours.

I really hate to have to take a day off work to take her to the vet, especially since what they've given her before hasn't really helped tremendously. We can't afford to get into allergy tests and stuff like that anyway.

[mjfish]

Well, I don't know if this will work for cats, but it worked great for hot spots on my dog (x-posted from another forum):

10 drops of tea tree oil
10 drops of lavender oil
1 tablespoon of Glaxal Base (available at most pharmacies) (or any hypoallergenic, non-lanolin, non-greasy, non-perfume base)
the contents of one capsule of acidophilus

mix well until creamy and store in covered container .
************************************************** *

As you probably already know..tea tree and lavender essential oils are anti-microbial; anti-bacterial; anti-viral and are immune system boosting. The oils are too drying by themselves, so they are mixed into a cream base for easy application and so they don't dry out the skin too much . The oils penetrate to eliminate the bacteria IN the skin and the acidophilus provides friendly bacteria on the surface of the skin to take out bad bacteria on the surface and replenish the area with friendly bacteria.

The best thing about this formula is that it STOPS ITCHING IMMEDIATELY ...so the dog won't lick and irritate the area and the healing starts right away...overnight, there was a BIG difference.

Apply once or twice a day until healing is complete, using just enough cream to cover the affected areas.

Try to get the essential oils from a health food store..they need to be 100% pure essential oils, also the acidolphilus should be live culture (health food store)...

Someone also mentioned that you could add in some Wild Oil of Oregano (probably 10 drops to match the others).

I couldn't find the Glaxal base (I think it's a Canadian thing), so I use Vaseline instead. The other compounding base that the local pharmicists were recommending (Aquafor) had Lanolin in it, and I wanted to avoid that. Someone used Dermabase cream, but only Walgreens could order it and it would be in a bid tub for like $25, so I decided against it...the oils are expensive enough...plus they couldn't tell me if it had Lanolin in it. The Vaseline makes it a little more greasy, but it works. The Aquafor is petroleum based, so why not go just for the straight stuff, right? :) HTH!

[diam124]

This is our cat too! The past month or so have been particularly bad. She has a huge bare patch on her belly and on one leg. This seems to happen every year and then it grows back in the Fall/Winter and thickens.

[mjfish]

I also wanted to mention that just because you don't see fleas or the cat doesn't have them on him/her, doesn't mean that it's not a reaction to a flea bite. For those highly alergic animals, one bite is all it takes...

[jesvet]

If it's to the point that she's chewing all her fur off, an ointment won't help. The itchiness is coming most likely from an internal source.

Most common are flea allergies (like mjfish said, one bite is all it takes- so if you aren't using Advantage, you might as well try it); environmental allergies, and food allergies.

My cat suddenly developed food alleries at 7 and it took 2-3 months of a strict elimination diet to clear it up. It's a pain, though you can certainly deal with allergies without doing the pricey allergy testing (which is optimal, but not always feasible.)

I'd still recommend a trip to the vet, especially since it sounds like she is pretty uncomfortable. The thing to remember about dermatology problems is they are difficult and frustrating, and you need to expect that is takes time and several visits to figure out what is going to help. It stinks, but that is a pretty realistic setup.

[kemorr]

I would not use tea tree oil on a cat. See link. There have been reports of cats dying from ingesting tea tree oil from their fur.

http://www.messybeast.com/teatree.htm

Actually, I wouldn't use teatree oil on any animal period. Lots of people like it as a "natural cure all" but I have seen a number of dogs with a chemical like burn after owners applied teatree oil to the area - that have taken weeks to heal. It's probably an idiopathic reaction but not worth the risk, IMHO.

Edited to add that I also agree 100% with what Jesvet said and a topical treatment, tea tree oil or not, is unlikely to be of any use.

[Rosebud]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll take her to the vet again. They'll probably just give her more pills?? I just was hoping there was something I could do for her sooner, because we can't get to the vet for a while still. Poor girl... I hate that this happens to her every year. :(

[jesvet]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll take her to the vet again. They'll probably just give her more pills?? I just was hoping there was something I could do for her sooner, because we can't get to the vet for a while still. Poor girl... I hate that this happens to her every year. :(

It's hard to say what they'll do- depends on the history and what she looks like on exam. I wish there were an easier answer for you :( but those types of problems just lend themselves to being complicated to diagnose and to treat. Unfortunately with food allergy and environmental allergies, over the counter remedies just aren't effective.

[kemorr]

Rosebud - press your vet a little if he/she just offers you the "same old pills" again. It sounds as though your vet has discussed allergy testing with you - which you've already said you can't pursue, but there are other options that fall somewhere in between pills (which were probably either anti-histamines or steroids) and the full blown allergy testing. Make sure that your vet knows that you haven't had much success with the pills in the past and want to discuss options other than those or allergy testing. Your vet probably has plenty of ideas but may not be offering them to you if he/she is under the impression that the pills have worked in the past.

[jnettie]

I have been struggling with the same problems with one of my cats. I have nothing but commiseration, because I have yet to find a solution. I think with Sissy it's a compulsive behavior, because it's not seasonal and I spent months working on an elimination diet only to have the problem return. I know it's not fleas...I have had flea experience with former cats and my girls have none of the signs and Jade has no itching or fur loss.

My stepmom said that one of our cats was doing this when I was a kid and that the vet gave him birth control pills to solve the problem!

[diam124]

We noticed that the fur loss has gotten worse with our cat lately. It's always been on one leg and her belly, but we noticed on Friday that it had spread to her other leg. We took her in yesterday and they did a skin scrape. No sign of mites or fleas and they took a sample for ringworm (which we really don't think she has). They gave her a cortisone shot and an antibiotic because it's a little red in one area.

The vet said we might want to consider kitty Prozac - he thinks it's emotional. She doesn't seem to be very itchy or anything, but she wants to go outside very badly. I always thought it was a seasonal thing because of something external, but I never made the connection that it could be related to her wanting to be outside in the spring/summer.

[Asha]

i don't what would be the correct dosage or if safe for a cat, but would benadryl work to at least relieve the symptoms until you can get an appt with a vet? i know our family dog was given benadryl for his skin allergies.

[Rosebud]

Thanks for the input everyone. We were able to take her to the vet yesterday and they gave her some pregnosone tablets to start and said she's probably just especially sensitive to some kind of bites/ irritation. This is what we've given her before and I'm sure it will make her more comfortable. We're not going to do an allergy panel at this point-- she's an older cat and we've got bigger problems to focus on with her, and we really do have to pick and choose the most important. Most alarming right now is that she's lost nearly a pound and a half in the last year and looks noticably thinner. The vet gave us some older-cat nutritional suggestions and we're going to take her back in a month and see if the weight has stabilized, and if not we'll need to start doing some testing to figure out what's causing the weight loss. :( Poor kitty-- she's an old girl and we're just trying to stress her as little as possible while still keeping her healthy.

[jnettie]

The vet said we might want to consider kitty Prozac - he thinks it's emotional. She doesn't seem to be very itchy or anything, but she wants to go outside very badly. I always thought it was a seasonal thing because of something external, but I never made the connection that it could be related to her wanting to be outside in the spring/summer.

Oh, that makes so much sense! I wonder if this is the case for Sissy? We cannot let her out at all because not only do we have way too many feral cats around here, but she's also deaf and bad things happen to deaf kitties when they are outside. We've been warned by our vet about making sure she doesn't get out for just that reason.

Is the kitty Prozac a pill or liquid? I think we could give Sissy a liquid Prozac. We'd never get her to take a pill, though.

[jesvet]

It comes in both forms. When I tried it on my cat (it turned out he has food allergies though) I had it compounded into a liver flavored liquid form.

[diam124]

The vet said the kitty Prozac is a gel that you put on their ears. Ours is horrible with pills too. (when the vet left the room DH asked if we could try putting the kitty Prozac on my ears too :rolleyes:)

[jajacobsen]

The other thing i want to post is that a specialist vet may help. My mom's mature dog developed a terrible skin condition a few years back. Basic remedies suggested by her long term vet were not helping. Continued use of steroids was not a good answer (all parties on agreement on that point).

She ended up taking the dog to a vet who specializes in dermatology and has had significant success. It turns out the dog developed both food and environmentl allergies for idiopathic reasons. The solution was not quick, easy or cheap. However, the dog is now happy and healthy, no longer with swollen lips and eyes and scrubbed raw belly as she was before. The treatment has ben quite expensive and Mom has sacrificed quite a lot, reducing her own discretionery spending.

Mom still goes to the general vet for general health matters but defers to the specialist for all things skin related.

I think the takeaway here is that there is no way to guess to what sort of things a pet is allergic or why sudden changes occur. This previously haappy and healthy dog developed an allergy to cedar, mosses, beef, chicken, etc..... really random and disconnected items. I really think it takes a specialist to sort some of these out.

[diam124]

I have a question for those of you who have tried to eliminate food allergies - what is a good brand to start with? Our vet recommended Hills z/d, but I didn't know if there are other hypoallergenic foods out there. We're going to try the food route rather than Prozac for now because we're going to be on vacation in early Sept. and we don't think a pet sitter would be able to give her Prozac (even to rub it on the ears)!

[jesvet]

z/d is fine. Eukanuba has one, IVD makes a venison one and a rabbit one-- keep in mind no diet is truly hypoallergenic. You're trying to give a diet where the components are completely new to your cat but any of them, even the z/d can trigger an allergic response in some pets. It can take a lot of time (months!) to really get it sorted out.

I have a food allergic cat who developed his allergies at 7 years old out of the blue. z/d didn't work for him (lucky me); it took a solid 3 months on the IVD venison to finally see a result. Food allergies are frustrating! Especially when the little bugger keeps sneaking food from the toddler and setting off his allergies again. :rolleyes:

[diam124]

Thanks. I think our vet sells Hills and IVD (which is now Royal Canin right?), so I'll just go there.

[jnettie]

The vet said the kitty Prozac is a gel that you put on their ears. Ours is horrible with pills too. (when the vet left the room DH asked if we could try putting the kitty Prozac on my ears too :rolleyes:)

LOL! Hm, well, I don't know if I could get it in her ears, either. She's kind of a freak of a cat, and doesn't like being handled in any way. Which is why I'm pretty sure she's a compulsive groomer.

[Rosebud]

Just an update...

We've now done two cycles of pregnosone for my cat's scratching. We also did a full blood panel (which turned up nothing unusual) and used the flea medication just in case there was any chance of that being a cause. But she's STILL scratching. Since finishing the last cycle of pregnosone a week ago she's scratched almost all the new fur growth back off her legs. The vet is stumped.

I'm just out of ideas at this point and I hate seeing my girl half-naked and scratching all the time. :confused: Other than this, her behavior and health seem pretty darn normal, so I have no idea what's going on.

[Rosebud]

Has anyone given their cat Benadryl for allergies? My vet gave us some liquid Benadryl to see if that would stop Lucy's itching. She's supposed to get it twice a day. However, each time she chokes and foams at the mouth and drools for like 10 minutes after being given the dropper of Benadryl. Is she just trying to spit it back up? She's always fine after a little while and doesn't seem to be reacting adversely to the medication--- but actually giving it to her is pretty traumatic. Any experience with this?

[silvergrey]

Giving cats liquid medication is such a PITA! Your kitty's reaction sounds pretty normal. After my cats had dentals, they each had liquid antibiotics twice daily for a week. The whole house was covered in pretty pink antibiotics by the end.

[diam124]

We had the same experience when we gave our cat benadryl for a bee sting. I thought it was the flavor (I bought children's strawberry flavor). We used to have to give her a different liquid medicine every day and we never had the drooling/foaming so that's why I assumed it was the flavor.

We started giving our cat prozac about a month ago for her fur issues. I weaned her off of it when the prescription ran out because the fur is growing back. Her legs look great, but her belly is still kind of sparse. It's much better than it was though.

[maxandmolly]

I get the adult tablets, cut them in half and use a pill shooter. And even then, it ends up being a horrible experience for all involved. I've had them foaming bright pink (from the tablet) at the mouth, glaring at me, half scratching me to death. But, it does work!

[Rosebud]

I'm so glad to hear it's a common reaction. The first time I gave her the Benadryl I was scared to death that she was having some terrible seizure or something. *whew*

It's only been two days so it's a little early to tell if it's working, but I sure hope it does. Poor kitty is just miserable and half-bald. I wish we could figure out what the underlying problem is, but hopefully the Benadryl will make her feel better until we do.

Thanks!

[Rosebud]

Well, the Benadryl doesn't seem to be helping much. She's still itching and scratching and losing hair. :(

Out of sheer desperation I made an appointment at the animal dermatologist recommended to us by our vet. It'll be 3 weeks before they can see us and it's $160 to walk in the door (this does not include any testing or medications). Seriously, this is CRAZY. I am at my wit's end.

[Rosebud]

Does anyone have a pet who is on Prednisone long term?

We're still dealing with this issue with my cat scratching off her fur. This year we've done 3 cycles of Prednisone (which stops the scratching, but scratching resumes as soon as the pills end). We've also had her on Benadryl (no impact), did a skin scraping (negative), flea medication (just in case) and have changed her to a special allergen-free diet. Nothing is working long term and she is bald and scratching again.

The vet suggested we might want to put her on a low dose of Prednisone permanently. However, I'm concerned about this impacting her health in a negative manner. Isn't Prednisone hard on pets' organs? My cat is 13 or 14 and has an otherwise clean bill of health, but she's older and I don't want to give her anything that could shorter her life span, obviously. Thoughts?