Dear Tracie,
I’m thrilled that the Weruva has resolved my cat Leo’s struvite crystal situation. However, for the last 3-4 months he has been biting the tip of his tail and chewing on his paws. The vet thinks he possibly has a food allergy to chicken, and offered steroid shots. To give Leo some immediate relief the vet gave him one shot. I do not plan to continue a course of steroids.
I also switched Leo to a limited ingredient diet on March 14th, feeding him Instinct’s rabbit, venison and lamb. There is no chicken or chicken liver. He did really well until last week when he started over-grooming and biting his tail and paws again.
I apply Advantage flea control every three to four weeks. I was hoping the change in diet would help, but he seems to have the same allergy symptoms. I would love your advice on what other things I can do to help him.
Laura
Here’s what I think is going on:
Leo needs omega-3 fatty acids in the form of fish oil. Nordic Naturals is my favorite because of its purity and freshness — it comes in pet capsules and you can puncture the capsule and squeeze a few drops on his paws every day for him to enjoy & lick off. These omega-3 oils are anti-inflammatory in general plus they nourish the skin at a cellular level.
You are so right to avoid the steroid shots — it creates a horrible cycle of dependence on them and it solves nothing — only deals with the symptoms and creates problems of its own
Food allergies are extremely rare and sorry to say I hear of vets who blame chicken all the time and then give shots — without any proof of why the animal is suffering — it’s ridiculous! I think you may still have fleas — one flea bite can create a terrible itchy reaction and the biting and scratching can cause more irritation.
The product you are using is based on older technology and cannot compare to Vectra for cats — which is far superior because it is the newest technology and kills off all 3 life cycles of the flea — which can live in your environment for years unless the life cycle is ended. Plus, it works efficiently for a full 30 days so there is no longer any reason to buy a product that you have to reapply too soon because it isn’t working anymore! Please go on my website and see the page about Vectra so you can figure out how to ask your vet to carry it. Otherwise, you can go to your nearest Banfield Vet Clinic — which has Vectra made for them under the name First Shield. This product is available only through vets, never online, to protect the quality and safety of the product.
P.S. About the crystals — to avoid them forming again you want Leo to drink as much water as possible — which cats are not inclined to do, especially if getting such good nourishment. So you have to make the water really tasty! In addition to giving my favorite canned cat food, Weruva, I urge you to buy a canister of ICE PUPS (just ignore the name!) from the Honest Kitchen. It’s finely ground chicken & herbs which dissolves in water after you stir it around and makes it really delicious. So you can put half a teaspoon in a shallow bowl of half a cup of water and see if you can get him to slurp up some of that, too! You can buy Ice Pups (and the new Honest Kitchen treats called Wishes, which are freeze dried little fishes!) from www.K9Cuisine.com, which despite the name carries Weruva and a whole lot of great cat treats. With a minimum order there is even free shipping.
Let me know how everything goes!
Dear Tracie,
You are so kind! This is great information. I Googled Banfield Vet Clinic and there is one near my house, so I’ll definitely check out Vectra flea medicine. I’ve been wondering about Advantage since I noticed that it wasn’t particularly effective. The kitties keep scratching and biting even after I apply it…. so I concluded their issue must be food allergies (thinking the product was killing the fleas).
I’m going to switch back to Weruva since they absolutely love it…. they eat rabbit and lamb, but they are not really crazy about it and they are still biting themselves. So… sounds like nasty fleas.
I’ll pick up some Ice Pups…. I’m sure they’ll enjoy another treat.
And then I sent Laura a few more thoughts from me (since I cannot be stopped)!
I think you’re going to see a big improvement over time with the Nordic Naturals omega-3 fish oil, which is a natural anti-inflammatory that helps the skin and should also reduce their itchiness over time.
Goody gumdrops on getting Leo back on the Weruva! The Vectra is a lifesaver AND MUST BE USED MONTHLY YEAR ROUND because fleas have a long life cycle (most of it invisible to us) and they are always looking for their next meal.
–TracieHotchner
