Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: 9cats on January 08, 2013, 16:06:13 PM
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so, my black boy shadow had had an off on skin problem for quite a while now, gets so bad where he scratches himself red raw
he got a lot better but now its started up again so he is back on his steroids
i would take some pics but... my HTC is getting repaired and i dont own a camera
but just go give u guys an idea of how bad he made himself last time this was from august
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7136/7793363368_b912f2621c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78858103@N03/7793363368/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78858103@N03/7793363368/) by kiwi20122012 (http://www.flickr.com/people/78858103@N03/), on Flickr
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7793362322_bd6578447f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78858103@N03/7793362322/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78858103@N03/7793362322/) by kiwi20122012 (http://www.flickr.com/people/78858103@N03/), on Flickr
hes currently not even 1/4 as bad as he was then, but if the steroids dont work he soon will be :(
hes been seen by dermatologist specialists he drew a blank and he had two appointments then started getting better with the help of the steroids
but we still dont know what caused it, its only ever been in his neck area
anyone else have similar experiences?
also a pic of him from the other day before my HTC brokened, adorable isnt he with his ikle teddy
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8223/8342184172_5819c9bd2e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78858103@N03/8342184172/)
IMAG4287 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78858103@N03/8342184172/) by kiwi20122012 (http://www.flickr.com/people/78858103@N03/), on Flickr
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a friend of mine had similar with her cat altough that was food allergy and I assume the vet has already thought of that, it looks so sore poor thing
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Oh no that looks awful.
Can't offer any practical advice other than what the vet told me when one of my girls had cystitis caused by stress - I'm just thinking here of maybe having a go with all the calming stuff to see if it works?? Try him on rescue remedy in his water along with Feliway and if it is a stress type reaction that might help calm him down.
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he was on zylkene up until xmas, but vets havent ordered me anymore in and waiting for delivery taking ages :(
so could very well be hes getting stressed again
but he shows no signs of stress, like he doesnt hide or run away etc, its his brother thats the antisocial one
re the food order, he refused to eat the special food after 6 days into the trial, so he had to go back to raw food, he wont eat anything but raw and dreamies :shy:
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I ordered Zylkene online - I think I got it from Medic Animal.
It might be a bit cheaper as well.
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If he was better on zykline, I would definately get it online asap, thaqt looks awful
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Is it definitely stress? Have allergies been ruled out? Poor lad. :hug:
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Yikes, that looks so sore - poor baby :care:
I was going to suggest softpaws/claws whatever they're called but looking at the bottom pic looks like he's wearing them already? Has that helped lessen the damage he can do?
I don't have any experience of such things but food allergy or flea allergy sprung to mind, I don't think you even need to have a flea 'problem' for such a reaction to be caused if they're so sensitive just one or two fleas could set them off.
Raw feeding is obviously excellent for any potential allergies but have you tried feeding 'unique' protein sources that he will likely have never had before, as I understand it cats can be allergic to common meats eg chicken or beef. My cat had tummy troubles which the vet thought might be food related but turned out not to be so I was looking into this.
I'm sure there are better articles but from a quick google there's some info here: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/05/07/protein-diets-for-pets-allergy.aspx
http://www.celiahaddon.co.uk/pet%20problems/cats/skin%20allergies.html
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i placed the order of zylkene when vets didnt have any in, still waiting for it!
the soft paws limit the damage but hes still itchy
as for the unique protein, he was on a diet of horse meat... but got sick of it after a few days and would have rather starved than eat it
at first they thought he had a flea problem but even after getting the house professionally flea bombed and treating all the cats and giving him stronghold once a weak he was still itchy as hell so they ended up ruling it out
then he was tested for bacterial viral fungal infections which all came back negative
he had biopsys done which only showed damaged due to self harm
i know the vets would like to get him on a food trial and they did say that if it ever started again, but just cant see him agreeing to it :tired:
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When and where did you order? Have you chased them?
I know things have been bad over Christmas New Year even with Amazon.