ginnyinWI
ginnyinWI's JournalSkin allergy in my cat
My 13 year old tabby has been scratching her head between eyes and ears and making it raw. Went to the vet with her yesterday and was persuaded to have her given a corticosteroid shot. This is supposed to relieve the itching and allergic reaction in a day or two. But I am very concerned about giving too many steroids and don't want to continue it long term.
Other options would be oral steroid medication, working down to a pill every other day. I've also read that antihistimines can do some good?
Still wondering about the cause: might be seasonal pollens: she's an indoor cat but twice recently we went outside with her and let her roll in the grass. She also is a chronic herpesvirus sufferer, and has had an outbreak in her eyes the last few weeks (red and swollen) which I've treated with antibiotic eye ointment and the eyes are looking better. Steroids suppress the immune system, which might be really bad for her herpes resistance. So we want to suppress the immune system because of allergic reaction, and then encourage it to resist the virus! Oh dear.
The vet discussed a hypoallergenic diet that we could try, involving eight weeks on nothing but the special food (Hills Z/D.) I will see what happens to her symptoms before going there. The shot should last several weeks and she is going to be rechecked in mid-July. If it is only spring pollens, we will only have to treat for a few weeks during the year.
Just wondering what others have been through with allergies. Could the eye thing have been allergy related rather than, or on top of the herpes symptoms? She has been itchy and miserable and has spent more time hiding under the bed, poor kitty. But today she's out in her normal sleeping spot, which is encouraging!
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Gender: FemaleHometown: Southeastern Wisconsin
Home country: USA
Current location: Waukesha County/Greater Milwaukee area
Member since: Fri Nov 19, 2004, 07:59 PM
Number of posts: 17,276
