I really need help my cat is almost two years old ever since he was 6 months we started having problems. His bottom lip was swollen really big. Took him to the vet we diagnosed him with an erodent ulcer.
We gave him serveral rounds of steroids which helped till i took him off. So we did the surgery where they scrape the ulcer out of the mouth.
And still his lips stayed big. He said it must be a food allergy so I tried many different kinds of natural foods for a month on each, didn't help.
After the steroids and surgery he started scratching his neck, so bad i had to keep it covered cause if not he would make himself bleed bad.

So we put him on some ATOPICA for dogs that regect there own skin. This is working, but i forgot to give him one pill and it through him off he started to get that thing on his neck again. So I have him back on it and we are cuting down the pills but his lip is still swollen and he has been on this medicine since october of 07.
Please help do you have any suggestions.

I do have white carpet and I bleach it with my steam cleaner once a month but my other two cats are fine and i never see him walk on it after i do this. So

I don't know what it can be please please help

morgaine300

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree back. Some of those so-called "formulations" aren't anything special at all that cannot be found in other foods. I don't recall mentioning "grocery store brands." I do NOT feed grocery store brands. I was talking about looking into some truly premium foods that are tons and tons better than nearly all of the prescription foods. And most problems that the prescription foods are given for are things that a good, low-carb, all canned, no grain diet can take care of. Many of these problems are started because of the bad food to begin with.

And most prescription foods are not good quality! Hills is crap. Purina isn't much better. It doesn't do much good to feed a supposedly special food when the ingredients aren't very good, they are too high carb, and the protein is coming from more plant than animal.

You, like everyone else, are just quoting what everyone else says. Have you ever actually researched any of this? I know of no person who has actually researched feline nutrition that would recommend Hills.

Here's the low-down on Hills D/D canned duck limited ingredient food. First, only 29% of the calories come from protein. That's too low for a cat. The long-term affect is anemia and other problems. Second, 17% of the calories come from carbs. In the wild, a cat would only eat about 5% or less carbs. It's body doesn't know what to do with all those carbs. It damages the pancreas and eventually can cause diabetes. There's no excuse for a canned food to be that high-carb. The only excuse is cheap filler ingredients.

Third, here's the beginnning ingredients: Water, Duck, Duck Liver, Ground Green Pea, Powdered Cellulose, Soybean Oil, Pea Protein Concentrate, Brewers Dried Yeast, Fish Oil, Glucose...

One trick is listing the pea as two separate ingredients. If it were one, it might be higher on the list since it's by amount. (I don't have a huge problem w/peas per se, but it's just too much.) Cellulose is undigestible. Some cats are allergic to soybean, so there's a great option when checking for allergies. Pea Protein. How about MEAT protein, like a cat is supposed to eat. Fish oil can be a good thing, but I never trust a food that doesn't say specifically what it is. What kind of fish oil? And glucose? Why put glucose into a cat? Glucose is what you stick into a diabetic when they're having a hypo. Cats turn protein into energy.

Good starting point, in plain English, of feline nutrition:
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
But there's a whole lot more out there.


While this part is true, you don't need a prescription food to do this. Why does one need a prescription to get a food that is one protein source? There are foods out there that are like this, which are better quality than the prescription foods. The only fairly good quality limited ingredient prescription food is IVD.


Feed all the cats a good-quality canned food. Then it won't matter if they get into each other's food.

morgaine300

The only fairly good quality limited ingredient prescription food is IVD.

Actually, I take that statement back. I forgot that Royal Canin bought them out, and despite their price tag, don't think much of them. (Their food is full of corn, bad bad ingredient.) And I can no longer find the ingredients or any reasonable information on their site, which always makes me leary. I emailed them about this and got no response, so I guess they don't care what their customers think.

It may or may not be the same food it was. But there's always a solution to that: look at the label.

morgaine300

Call the manufacturer and see what they have to say about it.

topladyj

IM SORRY ABOUT YOUR LOSS. I DON'T WANNA GO THROUGH THAT. THATS WHY I HAVE TAKEN HIM SO MANY TIMES AND THOUGHT MAYBE I COULD SEEK HELP OUT HERE. I AM A ANIMAL LOVER TO AND I LIKE TO GRIP PEOPLE OUT WHO MISTREAT ALSO....LOL SO I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THANKS.

topladyj

Thank You All I Have Tried At Least Three Different Natural Foods Eukanuba, California Naturals. And His Problem Did Not Go Away So He Is On Some Cheap Food Once Again But They Love It. So I Am Probalby Gonna Try The Z/d Which The Vet Perscribed In The First Place Just To See. If That Doesn't Work I Am Going Back To The Cheap Food. At This Point I Am Gonna Try Frontline Too Cause I Never Have Although I Have Never Seen Fleas On Him Not Even With A Flea Comb...but Its Worth A Try. At Last If Neither Of These Work I Am Gonna Do The Allergy Test But I Am Debating Might Just Wanna Do That First. With Three Cats I Really Can Go Through A Lot Of Food. So I Am Leaning Toward The Test......i Just Hate To Give Up 200 When He Is Doing Just Fine On The Atopica Its Just His Chin And Lip Are Still Puffy.

Flying Blue Eagle

Topladyj - This time I think you are out of line . I DID NOTY DESERVE the reddie you gave me ,Mostly because I gave you a apolagy. You need about 6 reddies for not posting the whole questio right . Good DAy ::: F.B.E.

topladyj

yes i sent you a note okay because i thought you were out of line for telling me i am cruel i am none the least I take care of my animals and i was just replying. Didn't see your second comment till later on sooo sorry really! And I don't know anything about the six reddies! I appologize and will make sure I don't give you anymore! please except my effort of saying sorry FBE. Is there anyway I can go back and delete it?

Flying Blue Eagle

Topladyj - Appolagy accepted all is fopr given, WE are getyting off on the wrong foot , so lets try to get off on the other foot , I did not mean to upset you like I did ,I'M Sorry that I did . AS I said I thought that you were only talking about it ,instead of going on and takeing the cat to a vet. HOPE you accept this and we start all over again .::
Good day & GOD BLESS::: F.B.E.

topladyj

Thanks FBE we do have a lot in common for I love animals and used to work at a vet also. I hate them being mistreated cause they don't have a voice to tell an owner no, so I see what you mean. I'm sorry I disagreed the second post wasn't till later on and I hadn't made it there yet. I accept yours as well. Bless you also and hope you have a great day!

morgaine300

I hope you'll still see this. (Been kind of busy and haven't been here for like a week or so.) Don't let the word "natural" fool you. That doesn't mean it's a good food, and it doesn't mean it's a good food to use for an allergy test. It doesn't say anything about what the ingredients are. If you want to check for food allergies, you have to look at the ingredients on the label. There is no other way to know if it's an appropriate thing to try for an allergy test.

If you want to do a serious test you need to find a food that is an unusual protein source, such as rabbit, lamb, venison, duck, etc. Cut out beef and seafood, and it's not a bad idea to cut out poultry as well, since common foods can be the allergens. You cannot just go by what the name of the food is. A LOT of food sneaks seafood in there somewhere. You have to read the label. And NO grains. Cats commonly have allergies to grains. In fact, I'd say the no grain is the number one rule.

California Natural has rice in it. (Rice is natural. Doesn't mean a cat isn't allergic to it or should be eating it.) California Natural isn't a bad food, but if you want to do a proper allergy test, no grains! It has rice. It also has seafood. Yes, even the venison one. (That's why I said you have to read the label.) All of the Eukanuba has either corn or rice. Not sure which one you tried, but Eukanuba isn't necessarily a good food.

I hope this also helps make a point how much marketing hype there is out there. The really good foods are ones no one has ever heard of. Try something like byNature Organics or Nature's Variety Instincts. Nature's Variety also has frozen and freeze-dried raw diets, if you can afford that sort of thing. It can be difficult to find this sort of thing, but the Petsmart around here carries byNature Organics, so if you have a Petsmart near by, check for it cause it would be a good choice for this. If you can't find them, and you want to get something at the vet's, I would suggest you at least go for IVD limited ingredient foods... assuming they haven't changed them, they're a heck of a lot better than Hills, especially if it's something you have to do on a permanent basis.

Trust me, I know what a pain this is. My one cat was scratching all over a while back, getting scabs all over him and pulling hair out. I hadn't changed anything around the house. My vet did suggest food allergies, but unfortunately he won't eat any foods I've found thus far that fit the bill to do a proper allergy test. As in, it would probably be impossible for me to do that. He didn't have a flea issue. I thought it might be dry skin so I was also going to try salmon or cod liver oil. I had been using Vitamin E on the scabs, not only to help heal them but also to soften them and hopefully make them not itch. Fortunately, the whole thing cleared up on its own recently, leading me even further to believe it was just dry skin during the winter. Which is good, cause I actually can't even do what I'm suggesting to you to do.