itchy ears and faces

[Rafiki]

We don't spray for anything. Heck, I don't even use Round Up except in the most extreme situations (like getting rid of invasive Wisteria several years back).

The only thing that does happen in May is that our deadline for brush clearance is May 1st. We have 2/3 of an acre that is covered in brush and hay. We have made a lot of inroads by manually plucking really annoying weeds like mustard. I know that a lot of people are allergic to mustard but have not seen anything that indicates that cats are. The rest of the hill is predominantly some type of hay, California fuchsia, sage and lavender. The fire department did the inspection last week and as a result, my neighbor was doing their brush clearance last Thursday/Friday.

 

[Rafiki]

Update: I used the Epi-Otic on her right ear and that seems to have done the trick. Thanks Patti for the suggestion! I do have to be careful when I use it though.....the optimum time is exactly 1 week after mani-pedi. Too soon, her fresh clipped nails are too sharp and she ends up with scratches in her ears. Too late and her nails are too long and it is the same issue. I have been using Animax ointment on her ears when this happens and it has helped a lot.

Jammu, on the other hand, has had a repeat of the bumps and will return to the vet on Friday. Rafiki had not been feeling well (diarrhea) late last week and Jammu was quite persistent about wanting to play. We saw her swat at him and when we saw a bump above his left eye the next day, we thought that she had probably tagged him. We applied the ointment. The next day he had a tiny bump on the right side. As before, the bumps were located on his forehead between his eyes and ears. I am now wondering if this is ringworm. Rafiki is symptom free and I have never heard of ringworm going away without an anti-fungal but I cannot come up with anything else.

 

[Patti]

Ringworm can go away on its own eventually, although it can take weeks or even months. Hard to tell from the pics but its possible this is what it is. On the other hand, ringworm is very contagious so I would think if Jammu has it then everyone else would too, including Rafiki and you.

 

[Rafiki]

I read that some cats can be carriers of the spores and remain symptom free. Also that long haired cats tend to get it more because it adheres to the fur. That could explain why Rafiki has no symptoms but I would think that Steve and I would have it. Especially Steve as Jammu constantly rubs his head on Steve's chest.

 

[Kristin]

I feel for you Linda. What kind of cleaners do you use? Detergents? Litter? Household sprays? Are you experiencing any allergy type symptoms?

With all the stress that has been going on lately with your kids, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if their poor little GI system is inflamed, causing food to consistently cause issues. The only way to really deal with that though is low stress and a varied diet...which your kids don't love.

If you want, I can pm you some herbal ideas for immune support and to soothe the GI but I know they're already on meds and you may want to stay away from overloading their little systems.

 

[Rafiki]

Thanks for asking and offering Kristin!

I couldn't think of any allergens inside the home and he has not been outside recently other than the catio. I avoid fragrances as much for my sake as theirs. When Rafiki was so sick last year, we really did an inventory of everything as we tried to determine what was attacking her liver.

Both cats had been eating chicken (chunks and ground) and some beef (chunks). When he first had the issue, the vet thought that it was food allergies so we eliminated the beef. We applied the topical and he improved within days. A month later, it returned so we went back to the vet and had him tested for ringworm and mites. The tests all came back negative for ringworm and mites. That basically leaves food allergies.

The good news was that we also did blood work to see how his liver was healing on the Denamarin. His AST is now normal (61 from a high of 252) and his ALT is down to 173 from a high of 252 (normal is 27-158). I am trying to use the ointment as little as possible as it could affect his liver so that meant that I needed to get him off of chicken very rapidly. My thoughts are that he had contracted whatever bacteria that had attacked Rafiki's liver and the antibiotic knocked it out so we just needed to help heal his liver with Denamarin. The IM vet had also noticed a slight thickening of the intestines and I am wondering if a food allergy to chicken might have caused that.

By July 5th, Jammu was on 100% beef. He is one happy camper. He is eating with so much enthusiasm now. I am going to continue adding Florastor and psyllium powder for another week to help his GI track and keeping him on beef only for a few weeks more to let his system settle and to confirm that it was indeed the chicken causing the issue. I remember that Zeddie had issues - how long did it take for her body to settle once the issue causing food was eliminated?

Then the real fun begins .... trying to transition the cats to a more varied diet. Any suggestions on how to do this are more than welcome! The cats will only eat raw meat and both like to have chunks as well as ground. They do not like lamb or venison. I am looking into quail, duck, rabbit and bison. Bison should be an easy switch for Jammu but not Rafiki. I know how to transition a cat from one food to another food but I have never had to transition them from one food to a multitude of food.

 

[Rafiki]

Jammu had a rough morning. Rafiki had left about a teaspoon of chicken behind. I had just added a dusting of kitty crack and was about to get her to finish when Jammu ate it. One measly teaspoon. About 5 minutes later, he was so itchy he was pleading me with his eyes. He is a smart boy and knew if he scratched it would hurt worse so he came to me, laid down on his side and raised his back paw to his neck. He was shaking he wanted to scratch at it so bad. I rubbed it down and then applied soft pressure to calm the nerves. When the first reaction had stifled, I went and grabbed the Animax ointment. He went downstairs to his safe area which unfortunately is where the litter boxes are. By this time, he was positively quivering. Had I not known what had just happened, I would probably have thought that he was having seizures. I applied the Animax, something that he normally fights, and laid down next to him amidst all the kitty litter. It took almost a half hour of my applying calming pressure to the itchy spots for him to finally settle down. He also issued 4 large burps. Amazing how rapidly allergic reactions get increasingly worse with exposure. Well, if I still had doubts before, I know positively now that he is allergic to chicken!

 

[DumaLove]

Awe!! Poor boy! You are SUCH a good kitty momma Linda!! At least know you have no doubt about the chicken allergy.

 

[Patti]

Wow, what a dramatic reaction - clearly no doubts as to whether he is allergic to chicken!

 

[Rafiki]

Would trying him on quail be safe? Is quail too close to chicken? I know that he is getting bored with his beef and I had bought some quail yesterday and defrosted it hoping to feed it to him tonight.