itchy ears and faces

[Rafiki]

I brought Jammu to the vet this morning for a teeth cleaning and they did blood work. His ALT is back up to 252. Everything else is normal. I stopped giving him the Denamarin only a week ago. He has zero symptoms: appetite is very strong, energy level is high, stools are dry and crumbly, coat looks good, weight is holding steady at 18.2 lbs. What the heck is going on?

Could a food allergy cause an elevated ALT? The last time he had a bite of chicken was July 10th but he still had Mazuri supplements (contain chicken) until July 17th. By the end of July, he did not have new bumps on his face, he just had the healing scabs.

I did add 1 chicken yolk per lb of meat to the last batch of quail. Could that trigger a response? He has not had more issues with an itchy face.

Quail and rabbit are both very low fat. Everything I have read says that low fat diet is good for liver (but it seems like much of the cat nutrition info available is not accurate). Could the diet be too low in fat and cause elevated ALT?

And just to add to my overall stress, Rafiki has been scratching at her left eye for the last 3-4 days. Most of the time it looks fine but if she scratches at it with her back paw or repeatedly cleans it with the front paw (about 1x/day) , she has reddish-brown discharge and inflammation. We are bringing her in when we pick up Jammu. Rafiki bolted the minute we tried to stuff Jammu into his carrier and there was no way of catching her this morning.

Just to keep all the relevant info in one thread, the cats are now on the following proteins:

• Jammu now likes beef, quail and rabbit.

• Rafiki likes chicken, quail and rabbit; and beef as long as the beef is mixed into one of the first 3. I have not managed to get her to eat just beef yet.

I plan on introducing them to duck next but will hold off for a few weeks.

 

[Patti]

I've never heard of a food allergy causing an elevated ALT. What does the vet say about it?
I hope whatever is going on with Rafiki is insignificant and/or easily rectified!

 

[Rafiki]

I've never heard of a food allergy causing an elevated ALT. What does the vet say about it?
I hope whatever is going on with Rafiki is insignificant and/or easily rectified!

The vet was totally puzzled by it. He had blood work done in March, May and June and it was all trending down just to have it spike up again.

On a good note, he had his teeth cleaned anyway and did fantastic. The previous vet had told us last May that he was going to have to have a molar pulled as the pulp was coming out the side and all sorts of scary stuff. Rafiki was diagnosed with liver fibrosis at that time so we never had Jammu's teeth addressed. Well, either that vet was lying or Jammu's teeth have miraculously healed themselves. He had some tartar but his xrays were great, his gums were great and he did not even have pockets. He came out of anesthesia easily and is ready to go home. They will keep him on fluids until we get there with Rafiki.

 

[Patti]

He probably just had a bit of leftover raw stuck in his teeth...

 

[Rafiki]

We saw the x-ray and I do believe that the prior vet showed us a horror dental picture from another cat. That jerk wanted $1500 for this incredibly difficult extraction. Jammu's teeth are all excellent except that he is missing a tooth right behind his top right canine and it appears like he never had that tooth at all. By the time we got there, Jammu had already managed to get his bandage down and it was dangling over his paw like a bracelet. He did manage to mess with the IV fluid line earlier so his leg is a bit swollen. He is a bit stoned but doing great.

The vet thinks that Rafiki either has a bit of allergy or maybe the herpes virus in her eye. She stained the eye and the cornea looked fine. We were sent home with Tobramycin drops and told to give her 500 mg of Lysine twice a day. While we were there, we had them do a blood draw so that we can recheck her liver values as well. Rafiki's liver values were perfect in March so if hers are elevated as well, we might be dealing with a repeat of the bacterial infection in both cats. It might give us more clues as to what is going on with Jammu.