Cat with flea allergy

morgana

My cat is allergic to fleas. She's just finished a three week course of prednisolone to reduce the irritation and stop her scratching. My vet will probably put her on another course in a week or two but obviously it is not good for her to be on steroids for an extended period of time. Does anybody else have the same problem and knows of anything else I can do for the poor thing? Anything topical (non-toxic) maybe?
At least the problem goes away when fleas die, usually mid/end September.

Jotter

I dont know of anything you can put on her to make her more comfortable but advantage or stronghold are great for keeping fleas at bay - use once a month - also spray your house if your cat has been indoors.

galah

hm, the obvious choice would be not to expose the cat to fleas...if it's an outdoor cat, this would be cruel though...

I guess frontline and the like only work AFTER the flea has bitten, plus these are fairly toxic..

I am currently "investigating" the use of brewer's yeast (Vitamin - will keep you posted if I find anything substantial about tehe effectivesness in flea prevention!

peasant

Are you (or your vet) sure it's fleas causing it?

AFAIK fleas don't really die in September ...could be grass mites instead, which might make a different form of treatment necessary.

morgana

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Of course, she's frontlined regularly and a dedicated outdoor cat so keeping her inside is not an option. Well, this the third year I have her and she usually starts scratching around June/July and stops end of September, maybe thats just the height of the flea season. Will ask vet about other possible allergy options when we bring them in for their annual vac in a week or two.
Galah, the brewer's yeast is supposed to do what?

RandomOne

morgana wrote:

My cat is allergic to fleas. She's just finished a three week course of prednisolone to reduce the irritation and stop her scratching. My vet will probably put her on another course in a week or two but obviously it is not good for her to be on steroids for an extended period of time. Does anybody else have the same problem and knows of anything else I can do for the poor thing? Anything topical (non-toxic) maybe?
At least the problem goes away when fleas die, usually mid/end September.

Prevention is obviously better than cure, but all are toxic. How tolerant of being bathed is she? It's a lot of work, but you can beat it with bathing and combing. Have to say, the only time I've done this is when a cat was too sick to risk using chemicals on him. Personally, I frontline all mine all year round. Even allergic ones can usually stand the odd bite, it's infestations of them that trigger the reaction. As above re treating the house.

BrianD3

Our cat has the exact same symptoms - every year from around June/July to September/October she starts scratching furiously. By the end of this period she has pulled out a lot of hair and is all sores from the scratching. At first the vet seemed to think it might be a food allergy but I'm pretty sure it has to be to do with fleas or some other parasite. I give her a flea treatment regularly (not sure of the name, it's a small tube of stuff that you apply to her neck) which does seem to improve things somewhat but she still does a bit of scratching.

galah

morgana wrote:

Galah, the brewer's yeast is supposed to do what?

apparently it's supposed to slightly change the smell of the cat (or something like that) so that fleas are not attracted to the cat anymore..still researching, hope I'll have a definite answer soon!

morgana

Thats sounds promising, Galah. Now I only have to get her to eat yeast :-). The tablets are difficult enough
And I haven't ever had the need to give her a bath and wouldn't fancy trying either - usually being out in the rain does the trick. As far as I can tell there are no fleas in the house and the cats aren't infested either. The vet said that even initially when I got her she didn't have many fleas on her but showed a strong reaction. I've just frontlined her a few days ago and she does seem to scratch a little less. Maybe increasing the frequency of frontlining her wil help somewhat - I used to do it every 2 months or so on account of the toxicity of the spray ..

RandomOne

Re Brewer's Yeast, I've never used it but my Mother does. (For herself) Her cat eats the tablets by choice, actually coming when he hears her open the pot. Maybe you'll get lucky and your cat will think they're treats too.

galah

yeah, I heard it works for humans, and I found some posts on a German cat forum about it - nothing conclusive as yet though, still waiting for more precise answers on dosage...

Edit: Update: According to this German site http://www.lucky-land.de/bierhefe.htm,
you should feed 1/2 or 3/4 of a table spoon full of pure dried brewer's yeast per cat.

bounty_hunter

Sorry to hear about your cat Morgana.
I had a lovely little cat a few years ago who suffered from the same condition. Like yours, she was a dedicated outdoor cat, so keeping her inside wasn't an option. We did of course attempt to convert her many times, but she was miserable being shut indoors and so it would have been utterly cruel to keep her confined.

Sadly, after years of unhelpful medication (as you say, steroids really don't do any good in the long run), various alternative treatments/bathing, and constant unsuccessful flea treatments (anyone with outdoor cats will know it's next to impossible to keep them 100% flea free), she began to turn yellow, couldn't clean herself properly and completely lost her appetite, along with being in pain from swollen limbs, etc. She was clearly not enjoying life anymore and we made the heartbreaking choice to give the poor little girl the rest she deserved and have her put to sleep.
It was a very difficult decision, but just by looking at her we knew that it was for the best.

This isn't to say your cat will succumb to the same fate of course Her symptoms don't seem to be nearly as serious as my little cat's were (awfully swollen paws, loss of appetite, etc. combined with everything else).
If your cat's allergy isn't overly serious she should still be able to live a perfectly happily life as long as you keep up the hard work required on your part.

I can't really give any advice because, like I said, everything we tried for Tiddles was pretty much unsuccessful. However, there were a few things that seemed to ease the discomfort slightly for her.
Constant, and I meant CONSTANT, removal of fleas is essential. Take to her with a flea comb every day or two and see what you can get hold of. In conjunction with this, keeping your home spotless if your cat comes inside at all is extremely important to prevent infestation. Hoovering carpets/upholstery daily will help with this. Make sure you get right into the corners and edges of rooms/cracks in the floorboards if your floors are bare. If the problem gets very bad it may be a good idea to give bathing a go to see if your cat can tolerate it.

Other than that, plenty of love and attention will help her to feel cared for even when she is suffering. Your vet will be able to advise you on anything medicine wise, as none of us here are qualified to do so (assuming nobody who's replied so far is a vet ).

Best of luck to you and your cat! Feel free to PM if you want to talk some more.

morgana

What a sad story, Bountyhunter. I can feel with you so much. Fortunately, Pudsy is totally fine apart from the allergy, she eats well and enjoys life to the full as far as one can tell, i.e. hanging around outside, staking insects and her fellow feline household member, presenting the odd mouse, shrew or bird and showing no signs of discomfort other than scratching. Although it seems somewhat reduced now since the last frontline treatment. I checked her fur closely yesterday and can't see any of the tell-tale black dots so I suppose the frontline is still doing what its supposed to do and keeping the little buggers away. We have no carpets in the house, just tiles and hard floors which makes keeping out infestations (but we didn't have one after the very first which caught us unware :-) ) easier anyway.
Both of them will go in for their annual vac in a week or two, so I'll have a chat with the vet and sees whether he can point out any other options. And I'll look into the brewer's yest thing Galah mentioned, i.e. making sure it can at least not do any harm . ...

demanufactured

I have 4 cats and dont have a problem keeping them flea free

I use a tea tree collars that I get from the local pet shop for around €6 they keep them free from fleas, ticks, grass mites and more and they smell good too.

one of mine was having the same trouble as your own - losing hair - lack of appetite - decided to take her off the steroids and try this collar and tea tree oil diluted on her itchy spots and she has never looked back or been happier - hope this helps