Skin Lesions & flea allergy

[Tiggy's Mum]

You sound pretty clued up about food issues so if it turns out not to be a severe flea allergy then she's definitely in the right place! 

[poppycat]

She would happily live on Gourmet day and night - gave her some last week before lesions came back up, to see if she liked it.  She LOVED it, but it is full of cereal, which is a common cause of food intolerance in cats.  When my last cat got IBD, I did so much research to try and find a solution as none of the meds, prescription diets etc were working and she was literally at deaths doorstep.  After trying absolutely everything for months on end, eventually put her on a raw diet and within 2 days the vomiting cleared and she was full of life again.  I kept her on high protein cereal free commercial food forever after then and she never relapsed. 

Cats systems aren't designed to digest carbs. Lots of vets now think it's the high carb content of most commercial food that's leading to many of the illnesses in cats, including allergies. 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Gourmet do a tuna and shrimp food, why not try that rather than human tuna.............the shrimp is literally one shrimp LOL

Its a complete food and the only thing apart from biscuits that my tortie will eat.

[poppycat]

The vets didn't bring up food intolerances but I did as my last cat had IBD as a result of intolerance to grains. She also had skin lesions (as well as sickness and lethargy) which cleared up as soon we changed her food.

The vet agreed might be worth trying an exclusion diet so has given her Hills sensitive dry single protein kibble.  This is however where  it falls apart - I'm not strong enough to ignore her pleas for other food and keep her exclusively on those pellets for 8 weeks !!   I have already relented (and it's only been a few hours !) and given her some other things - all cereal free and high protein.  I had lots of food left over from when my cat passed.  TBH she's an ultra fussy eater - only the gravy or sauce gets licked...........steamed chicken, turkey, roast beef, John West mackeral etc all just gets binned. Absolutely criminal considering how many starving kitties there are out there.

The only thing she really tucks into is tuna, but I'm wary of giving her too much as don't want her to get cystitis.

Really hoping it's a flea allergy as will be so much easier to deal with than trying to change her diet.  If fleas aren't the cause will get tough with her then.

[Tiggy's Mum]

Do you know if her diet has ever been discussed in realtion to her skin? I know flea allergies are a common cause but I think the other big thing is food intolerance.

Hope you can get to teh bottom of it and that it's something relatively easily fixed 

[poppycat]

Because she's still a foster I will be taking her back to the rescue for her monthly flea treatment. It will be up to them what she gets, but wanted to get advice if one was better than another as I only have experience of Frontline combo, which my cat used to have .  I'd like to try her with something else to see if it's more effective.

Have ordered the Indorex.  From what I've read the injections are safe to give in addition to the topical treatment. I was thinking of doing the injections as well to prevent future flea breeding.  Will speak to the vet about it. The rescue, because she's one of many, unfortunately won't invest the time and money getting to the bottom of it, so I'm hoping that I can help her. Unless she can be fixed or managed easily she's got very little chance of being re-homed.   

Her lesions may not be flea allergy - but it seems to be the most common cause for skin lesions, so thought I'd try and do everything to eliminate them first before looking at other causes and spending a fortune on allergy testing.

 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

The problem with programme is that the fleas still bite and that is no good for a cat with a flea allergy,.........I dont know how Advocate works but I use stronghold because it kills the fleas without them biting.

So its worth dragging up the leaflet for each and seeing how they work cos you need one that kills fleas on inpact with the fur.

I dont think it would be wise to use an injection plus a spot on because you are giving two doses which is too strong.

Both my vets now only stock advocate so think the marketting people have been out in force and that site also has it top of the list and not full details about stronghold. However one can get them to buyin Stronghold.

I would consult a vet before using anything on her as if she has lesions around her neck this would not go well with a spot on, I think................has she been wearing a flea collar formally cos these can do a lot of damage?

I think that Indorex is a good spray for the house

[Liz]

Programme injection does not require a spot on treatment it is an injection that last 6 months it strelises the adult fleas so no eggs can be laid, we use it on all ours here at the Clan as well as our dogs

[poppycat]

I was going to buy Indorex from Vet UK but then held off as the Fabcat site http://www.fabcats.org/owners/fleas/info.html    said be wary of anything that contains Permethrin.  However it seems all the sprays do.   Anyone's cat had any adverse reaction to a carpet spray ?

Also anybody know the protocol for doing a spot on treatment as well as the 'Program Injection' ......read on some sites about 'Integrated care'  ie topical meds to kill any existing fleas and then the contraceptive injection to prevent flea eggs from maturing.   Not had any experience with the injections before.

Any thoughts on which is the most effective spot on treatment ?   This site has a good run down of the different ones http://www.sandholevets.com/Your-Pet%20/Fle-Control/   but still not sure what would be best.

[Tiggy's Mum]

I don't know anything about skin conditions/lesions as thankfully have no experience but you mentioned carpet sprays...

Somthing like Indorex or Acclaim which is a vet strength product sold by vets but also online pet pharmacies will do the job. It will be much cheaper at places like VetUK, petmeds etc I use Indorex as I think it said it covered a larger surface area than the other one I was looking at. I only do it once a year as a precaution as have been caught out by fleas in the past and never want them in my house again!

[poppycat]

I'm fostering a cat who's been suffering from skin lesions since April.  I've had for 2 1/2 weeks and she was clear up until 2 days ago.  I'm now trying to work through all the possible causes, starting with  flea allergy.  She's up to date with her treatment - not sure what she had as was done by rescue vet.  They've been treating her every 4 weeks. Any advice on other things I could try. Have read up about carpet sprays etc but a bit wary about just buying stuff online, especially having read the other thread about the Bob Martin spray.

She's had regular steroid shots, and her skin calms down until they wear off.  She grooms almost constantly and often looks like she's been suddenly bitten as she'll suddenly 'attack' and start furiously cleaning her hind quarters.

The lesions are mostly around her neck, but she has alopecia above both eyes.