Loss of hair around itchy bumps

[Sharde']

So Zara has this line of bumps going up the back of both hind legs and on the side over her right leg. I took her to the vet and they said it is because she is having an allergic reaction to the food i am feeding her. They sent me home with these pills to give her twice a day till they run out to see if they made the bumps go away. They didnt. So now i need to buy some hypoallergenic cat food for her. She is an F2 female kitten 10 months old. Her litter mate sister does not have this issue.

Does anyone else have this problem? and what kind of dry food are you feeding your fur babies? We are on iams right now but its not helping. Someone said to try blue cat food for wild cats? any reviews on that? thank you!

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Can you tell us what pills those were? What did it say on the bottle...that might help us to know what the vet tried to know if there is anything else to suggest.

Food allergies in cats are generally attributed to either grains (so corn, wheat etc) in kibble and then chicken and fish too. In the pet store you can often find Natural Balance in their "Limited Ingredient" formulas which include things like duck and pea, or venison or rabbit. These are good places to start to see if it is a food allergy. You will need to feed for some weeks before you might see an improvement.

I hope the diet change works!

 

[WitchyWoman]

The only effective way to identify what she is allergic to is to try her on a diet with a novel protein -- rabbit, emu, venison, kangaroo. She'd have to eat just this protein and water for a number of weeks to see if the allergic reaction resolved. Then you'd have to introduce 1 item at a time (chicken, beef, etc) back into her diet to identify what she is allergic to. Since chicken, beef, pork, and fish are common proteins in commercial cat food, you'd give her one of them for several weeks to see if she reacts. Other culprits for cats are wheat, corn and barley. Any food you feed her with these ingredients can be part of the problem so I wouldn't bother experimenting with commercial foods because they usually contain the allergen causing the reaction.

While the symptoms you describe are usually indicators of food allergies, it's also a good idea to look for environmental causes -- litter, cleaning products, laundry products. If you've recently changed these or if you have installed new flooring or furniture or paint, any of them could cause the problem.

 

[Sharde']

the medicine is called prednisone
and she has had these bumps since we got her. they just got worse about 3 months ago. we have changed her litter and no change in her bumps.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

When you changed litter what were you using before and what did you change to? Hopefully it was a significant change and not just a change between clumping and non clumping clay litter, when the clay is still there. That's just an example, but hopefully the change in litter was a change from something like corn litter to a clay litter...

Talk to your vet too about the steroid they used. There are different ones they can try and a cat that doesn't respond to one might do better with another type. You could also try treating with an antihistamine such as Benedryl.