another set of questions- allergies/acne

[mrsKoach]

Hi!
More questions from a new cat mom

#1- Charlie has chin acne. I switched him to my Gibson china dishes (I have two extra) today. I'm also going to start feeding him 3x a day instead of 2. That way I can wash the dish up quick. Am chucking the plastic ones.
Is it ok that he keep the plastic water dish? It's the large self feeding thing.
Is it ok if it's a few minutes before I wash the dish? I usually wait until the kids finish breakfast before I wash everything (not like 2hrs, maybe a half hr at the most)
I will start cleaning/witch hazel on his chin 2x a day (per another post)

#2- I think Charlie may be allergic to something in the one food. He's been flipping between Friskies Chicken and Liver Pate and Friskies Turkey and Giblets Pate- the two grain free friskies varieties in the store. When he eats the Chicken and Liver he gets the red ring around his eyes and is sneezing by the time he is done with dinner, not to mention he gets extra goopy eyes. Today he had Turkey and his eyes/nose/ears aren't red at all. No snot or extra goopy eyes. I have one more chicken can, so I'm going to give it and see what happens tomorrow.
So- after my ramble..the question is: If he is allergic, how will I know if it's the chicken or liver?
I ordered Wellness Core chicken/turkey/liver canned and the Evo variety pack. When they get here..should I start with the Wellness and then try an Evo beef. And if he's ok with the beef but not wellness, try the evo chicken/turkey as process of elimination for the liver?
I've been through plenty of food allergy/issues with my kids so it wouldn't surprise me in the least to have a food allergic cat LoL. I'm just not sure how to get to the simplest for the possible culprit in his food. It's a little easier with the kids to get to the bottom line.

#3- Can cats have severe allergic reactions like people? I always carry 2 kids' epipens, but not sure what good that would do for a cat.

Thanks for your help! My boy is getting more and more lovey- he slept on my pillow around my head last night <3

[Susan]

Some cats can be allergic to plastic, and will develop rashes from eating or drinking out of plastic bowls. If that's the case for Charlie, then I would eliminate all plastic bowls.

As for discovering whether Charlie is allergic to Chicken or Liver, the best way is to feed him something with chicken, but no liver, to see how he reacts.

It's nice to hear he's getting more cuddly. I wish my girls would sleep beside my pillow!

[saitenyo]

Switching off the Friskies is probably a good idea. Looks like these supposedly "grain-free" varieties are not actually grain free as they claim! The turkey and giblets contains brewers rice, which is a very cheap, low-quality grain filler. The chicken pate also lists rice as an ingredient. Both list meat by-products as their first ingredients, so honestly it's hard to know what he might be allergic to because you don't know exactly what kinds of meat are in those by-products.

I'd try putting Charlie on a high-quality grain free diet. Wellness and Evo are both excellent brands. If he continues to have allergic reactions on those, then you'll know it's probably a protein allergy and can try narrowing it down from there. The most common food allergies in cats are beef, lamb, seafood, corn, soy, dairy products and wheat gluten, but it may not necessarily be one of those. It's entirely possible it's the chicken.

Check all the ingredients of the foods you're giving him and make sure they clearly list all protein sources in the ingredients list (i.e. specifying "chicken liver" rather than just liver) as that way you'll know for sure what he's eating and therefore what he could be reacting to. Keep in mind, the flavor name doesn't necessarily list all the protein sources. For example, I have a can of Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck here, but on the ingredients list it specifies it contains both Duck and Turkey. Evo 95% Beef contains beef and herring. Fish tends to be in a lot of cat food, so if it's a fish allergy, that can be hard to narrow down.

I actually have a spreadsheet of high quality grain-free cat foods with a list of all their protein sources and marked potential common allergens with colorcoded boxes. I've been sharing the link around to anyone who might find it help full, and I'd be happy to give it to you as well: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...thkey=CN60yuQH

Another thing I've heard people on here and elsewhere recommend (and something I've found successful with my own cat who has IBS) is rotating wet foods. Once you figure out which foods Charlie can tolerate, rotating them so he gets as many different protein sources as possible will reduce the risk of him becoming sensitive or allergic to one.

[tigressbythetail]

My cat Opie has chin acne. I switched from plastic bowls to glass bowls for all of them, and it seemed to clear for awhile but then came back. I hoped he would grow out of it but he will be two next April. I scrub it off his chin every now and then but it comes back super fast.

[mrsKoach]

Ok. Well, he's eating off the ceramic plates and I'll get a different water dish tomorrow.
There isn't much I can do about the Friskies until the Wellness/Evo comes in the mail. All they have at the grocery is Friskies and Fancy Feast.
I'll read and compare all the ingredients tonight/tomorrow to see what I'm looking at in more depth. Thank you for the spreadsheet..should make it a bit easier than just trial and error.

Would the drippy eyes/nose (almost human hayfever like symptoms) also point to an allergy??

[tigressbythetail]

Drippy eyes and nose could be allergy related. When my cat Mickey began sneezing with no other symptoms, the Vet said they get hay fever just like we do.

[mrsKoach]

I just got in all of Charlie's records today and flipping through it seems that he has had sneezing/watery eyes since he was a kitten. As I've read through, it's not seasonal, it's constant.
No Evo box today. I will make an appt with the vet to see what else the cause might be, but I'm really wondering about allergies. What info will the vet want and is there any real testing they can do?
He was scratching his eyes last night to the point where it looked like it was bleeding a bit this morning. Poor baby. The furminator brush came in today and I'm going to get him all brushed. Besides the food might there be any other culprits? All the plastic is gone and his chin/mouth area is not anywhere near as red. Now it's just the eyes.
Thanks again

[mrsKoach]

Yep, here I am again LoL
Charlie has an appt for the 22nd. The vet tech agrees that he prob has some sort of allergy going on and gave me directions to the nearest vet ER (even if they don't speak English) in case he has a really bad reaction.
So, I've cut our chicken, grains (corn/wheat) and Salmon/fish. Still waiting on the Evo/Wellness box. Shipping is uber slow here. Any other ideas as to what he might be allergic to food wise? Beef? The idea, per me, is to make sure he doesn't eat any of the above four and then add them in one at a time and see if it bothers him. His ears aren't red at all, nor his nose/lips. His eyes are just a teensy watery and he sneezed just a couple times today- one with lots of snot.
I feel like a pretty good cat mommy bc our neighbor said he looks heaps better than when we got him.
Thanks much for any ideas

[Auntie Crazy]

Rather than an allergy, this sounds like Feline Herpes to me. Many, many cats have it to one degree or another.

It's incurable, but most definitely manageable. Improving the cat's diet will help. Evo and Wellness grain-free varieties are GREAT choices; there are also other varieties out there that you could add to a rotation, including: Felidae grain-free, Natural Balance has three grain-frees, Nature's Variety Instincts are expensive but high-quality and all grain-free. You could also try one of the many raw products available.

Keeping stress to a minimum helps, too. Stray cats seen or smelled from the windows/doors are stressors, loud, high-energy children and dogs can be a problem, changing the house around, especially construction, is upsetting and so on. If you haven't already, try to establish and then maintain a routine - cats crave routine.

Many folks with FH kitties add L-Lysine to their diet. I think the usual dose is 500 mgs a day, sprinkled over their food, doubling that when the cat shows signs of a flare-up. My three oldest cats have FH and I used this religiously until I switched to a raw diet (haven't had to use it since then).

Oh, and that red stuff might not be blood. Cats and dogs have something in their tears that turns brown when exposed to air and makes it look like they're weeping tears. It's alarming, for sure, but doesn't mean anything other than that their eyes are weepy.

FH isn't deadly, but unchecked it can lead to eye ulcers and eventually blindness; it's good you're having this checked out.

Good luck getting this under control!

AC

[mrsKoach]

Hi!
It was definitely blood, he had scratched himself next to his eye. But I do know of the brown stuff you mean. He gets eye crusties.
His appt is tomorrow and I will ask about the FH. Is it something he came across? He was adopted as a kitten and has always been up to date on shots. We are his second "official" owners.
He has been doing well on the new food after refusing it for a day. He doesn't like the Evo venison, but will eat the other flavors (chicken, beef, and duck) with duck being his favorite. When I switch over to the Wellness Core chicken you can see his eyes get pink, but it's no where near the gross bright red it was. The amount of snot and sneezing has almost diminished greatly. It's nice to not wake up to massive amounts of green goop on the walls. I think he's sneezed 3x in the past two days.
As to stress, with three kids under 5 there is only so much I can do. But we are pretty routine oriented and he seems to know what comes when.
Thank you all for your help! I may not talk much but I love to come look at the pictures.