3/15 Buzzy AMPS 116 = 1u; PMPS 96 = 1u; losing hair on head now

toomanycats

toomanycats

Member Since 2020
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/3-14-buzzy-amps-115-1u.227008/

OK so last night & this morning I put the hydrocortisone on immediately after testing & that seems to make the biggest difference/be the most effective (vs. putting it on at a different time). One slight shake of the head, but no scratching, definitely not bothering him nearly as much when I do this. This definitely confirms the "it's a skin surface issue" vs. deeper in his ear like the vet said since the cream only goes on the outer surface of his ears.

Obviously, hydrocortisone cream isn't a long-term solution though. I'm using a 2.5% cream with a 1% coming shortly, which I'll try to see if I can switch to....idk if there's some other anti-itch type cream I can use? Hydrocortisone makes me nervous bc I know it can make skin fragile.


We're slowly trying to transition to the turkey food, but he remains not a fan...so that's annoying. We're still mixing in some of the chicken, so he's still getting that if it's the allergen.
 
Looking good Buzzy, glad the hydrocortisone is helping, have u ever tried neosporin
Have a great day
 
Bellasmom said:
Looking good Buzzy, glad the hydrocortisone is helping, have u ever tried neosporin
Have a great day
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I was using neosporin when this issue started, but I stopped to see if the neosporin was the problem...guess it wasn't. I could try it again, but since the problem developed while I was using it, I have little hope of it helping now. (Though I was using the one WITHOUT pain relief, so there's that...just remembered that.)

I've also tried chlorhexadine and coconut oil
He likes the coconut oil & I'm hoping it's helping protect the skin some (we've not broken through skin with scratching yet...knock on wood), so I'm still using that mid-day.
 
I'm glad he's showing signs of improvement with the hydrocortisone cream. Hopefully with enough healing he can be weaned off of it at some point. I know for hoomans it's a two week on and two week off for long term users for various skin ailments. You may consider trying that...you'd have to keep a calendar of when you start/stop and see how that goes. Nice blue start :)
 
Sue and Luci said:
I'm glad he's showing signs of improvement with the hydrocortisone cream. Hopefully with enough healing he can be weaned off of it at some point. I know for hoomans it's a two week on and two week off for long term users for various skin ailments. You may consider trying that...you'd have to keep a calendar of when you start/stop and see how that goes. Nice blue start :)
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it's already on my spreadsheet, so that's being tracked lol.
 
Well...Cleaned out the box and put the old, scented Tidy Cats in.... it makes zero sense that scented TC would be less allergenic than Free & Clean TC, but maybe my cat is allergic to activated charcoal..idk.

I also got a can each of Instinct's Venison, Lamb, and Rabbit wet foods. (Not limited ingredient; they all also contain pork, but that's another protein he's not had.)
I'm still planning to get him onto the turkey-only I have, give that some time...see if things get worse over the next week or so...idk...but this way if the turkey & going back to old litter isn't enough I can see which protein he'll actually eat before ordering a case on Chewy.

Unfortunately, I didn't get enough litter to fill my giant box so now I have to go back to the store and buy more -.-
And still need to clean our bathrooms & bake banana muffins darnit
 
You may have mentioned this in a previous post so sorry if I'm repeating, but do you have another cat/animal in the house that may be licking Buzzy's ears/head to get the ointment? I know my critters LOVE coconut oil.
 
Judy and Freckles said:
You may have mentioned this in a previous post so sorry if I'm repeating, but do you have another cat/animal in the house that may be licking Buzzy's ears/head to get the ointment? I know my critters LOVE coconut oil.
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I do have another cat, yes, but I've witnessed Buzzy scratching/shaking his head a lot, so I don't think it's her.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm being hyper alert or what, but I feel like my 2nd cat is also itching more than normal though not losing fur. When I got her, they told me SHE had a clay allergy but that she does OK w/ Tidy Cats litter, so that's what we've always used (clay-based). But now I'm wondering if maybe the Free & Clean tidy cats has MORE clay or something? ...or I'm being hyper alert & she's scratching as much as any normal cat.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Had the vet investigated ringworm? It causes hair loss.
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We're suuuuper familiar w/ ringworm (had it in the house a year ago...thanks foster kittens). The vet did not take a skin culture because his skin looks completely healthy & normal - no crusties, no rash, it just gets really flush when he's itchy -- it does go really flushed sometimes then goes back to very pale.. She does not think it is ringworm or a fungus, and neither do I mostly bc my other cat has now been extremely exposed (as in has licked it) for over a month & hasn't lost fur AND I've been suuuuper exposed...and last time we had ringworm, we literally found it on me the same day as the kittens. (I got it bad & resistant.)

That said... we're quite close to another vet visit... it's just the last one was like "it's not mites, anything IN his ear, fungus, yeast, etc. we don't know what it is probably an allergy - you should stop testing for a week bc it might be related to that & use hydrocortisone & go back to a food he did well on before (impossible since he ate a mix of wet/dry before & the wet was high-carb....)" So, a completely useless waste of $$$.

I'm also just plain broke now from all the vet visits, food changes, litter that I bought and may now have to see if Target will take back...ugh.

GOOD NEWS THOUGH!

He ate the turkey food by itself -- not mixed w/ the one w/ chicken in it -- this afternoon!! This means we can move to the single protein (turkey) food!
Still a poultry, but typically less likely an allergen from what I've heard.

...my other cat's gonna need to finish the chicken food lol
 
Although, if it gets immediately better...I won't know if it's the litter or the food lol. I imagine if it starts getting better immediately, it's the litter, because I hear food allergies take a lot longer. Also going to continue w/ hydrocortisone for now bc I do think that helps.
 
I've been using wood pellet litter for about 8 months now. Much much cheaper than clay ($6.49/50 lbs). It doesn't clump but it also absorbs any smell. I was always a bit concerned about clumping litter thinking that it clumps when moisture hits it, so what does it do when a kitty breathes it in - so it didn't matter to me that the wood pellets didn't clump.
 
Judy and Freckles said:
I've been using wood pellet litter for about 8 months now. Much much cheaper than clay ($6.49/50 lbs). It doesn't clump but it also absorbs any smell. I was always a bit concerned about clumping litter thinking that it clumps when moisture hits it, so what does it do when a kitty breathes it in - so it didn't matter to me that the wood pellets didn't clump.
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how do you clean the box?
we've never had issues w/ tidy cats scented stuff so I figure the safest thing to try first is to go back to that.
if that doesn't work, I was looking at other litters
 
There are a few you tube videos on how some people sift wood pellets. I have 4 cats and despite having 5 litter boxes in the house, they tend to use one for pee and a different one for pooping - one of the litterboxes (of course the most expensive one) rarely gets used. :rolleyes:

So, in my case, I just dump the whole contents of the pee litter box out (the wood pellets turn to wet sawdust).

Some people take the poop out and use the used sawdust in their garden/around trees as mulch.
 
ugh...well...we'll see. We have 2 cats and just 1 BIG box that, unfortunately, liners don't fit....so it'd definitely be a chore to clean.
I saw some scoopable paper-based litter..IDK. I'm reeeealllly hoping just going back to normal tidy cats will suffice.
one thing at a time I guess.
 
toomanycats said:
unfortunately, liners don't fit
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Surprisingly, nothing really sticks to the bottom of the LB. Because of the number of times I'm cleaning the litter box, I have a big plastic tote with a lid that I just dump the used pellets in there and then once a week I empty the plastic tote. I'm really in awe that even the big plastic tote does not have an odor - even holding a weeks worth of used litter by 4 cats! The wood pellets are really odor and liquid absorbent.

I tried a ton of different litter - from recycled newspaper, corn, wheat etc. They all were either smelly, or messy and all were super expensive. The wood pellets are used for wood stoves and the stuff I use does not have any binder (e.g. glue) to hold the pellet together. I'm really happy with it and so is my pocket book. Any wood particles that stick to the cat's feet is light and easily vacuumed/swept up.
 
This is info from a former vet. (I moved out of Chicago.) Gabby was licking her belly bare and we thought it was allergy. This is what my advised:

"There are several options—there is a product called Allerderm which is applied once weekly to the skin which can be quite helpful for itchy or dry skin. Additional fish oil omega-3 fatty acids, 200-250 mg daily, are often helpful, but may take up to 2 weeks to really have an effect. Antihistamines are often helpful—we seem to have the best success with Zyrtec, which is over-the-counter, or hydroxyzine which is a prescription medication.

We have Allerderm here, but you may be able to order it online. Zyrtec dosage is ½ of a 10 mg tablet by mouth (in food…) twice daily, or about every 12 hours, try for 7 days. Watch for drowsiness or restlessness, although side effects from Zyrtec are not likely or are very mild. Use plain Zyrtec, or cetirizine, only—no combo meds. The fish oil product we use is AllerG3, or you can use human products. "

If you opt for the omega-3, I'd suggest Nordic Naturals. One of the people I work with is a major league research on stress and recommends their products. They make a version for pets that has the amount calibrated on the eye dropper in the bottle.
 
Thanks @Sienne and Gabby (GA) ! I had him on Zyrtec Friday/Saturday (do you know how long it would take to even see any change?) he was still itching quite a lot, so I decided to stop it today to see if doing the hydrocortisone immediately after testing was the one thing that seemed to be at least making him seem less uncomfortable in those moments...it SEEMS to be, but then why's there MORE hair missing today since I started to do that yesterday?

It's hard to know IF anything is helping at this point (he just came over and gave a really rough head shake & his ears have turned really red, but he's not scratching, so there's that -- he just ate his dinner, but was also just tested and did the hydrocortisone AND just given insulin. His ears did NOT go bright red the 2 other times during the day when he ate -- so I'm pretty sure that's caused by my testing (they went bright red and really really itchy on him when we went to the vet & she handled them a lot too).

At this point, if something ever does help, I won't be able to identify what as we've changed so many things.
Today alone, we've eliminated chicken, switched to just turkey as a protein, changed litter, stopped Zyrtec, and are only on day 2 of hydrocortisone immediately after testing.
 
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