Itchy Ted - please advise!

[KittyKiernan]

Hello everyone,

As some of you will remember, I'm currently fostering a lovely little chap called Ted. To cut a long story short, he's with me while we try to sort out his skin problems. Essentially, he's really itchy, and if not supervised / put in a comfy collar, he scratches / overgrooms until sometimes, he scratches himself raw .

I'm concerned about the various meds he's on (the vets have been tinkering with the doses over the last few months, to try to stabilise him). Basically he seems to be less itchy / more content when he's on Prednicare (a steroid) while Atopica (not a steroid) doesn't seem to work as well.

But - I know there are risks involved in having a cat on steroids long-term.

I also give him Piriton occasionally (when he has flair-ups) and he also gets Yumega oil in his food once a day. He is also on a hypoallergenic (Hills prescription Z/D) diet!

To make things more difficult - the vets at the rescue all disagree amongst themselves, with some saying him should come off the steroids asap, and others saying his immediate comfort should be top priority.

It's just so hard - he's had a rubbish life so far, and I want to make him as happy and comfortable as possible. My instinct is to keep him on the Prednicare (as low a dose as possible, obviously), but I hate to think this will badly affect him in the long-term.

Sorry for the long explanation - basically, I was wondering if anyone else has a cat on steroids long-term? And what, if any, side effects have you seen?

Any and all pointers would be appreciated. Ted and I are are both the end of our tether!

[Dr Kris]

Wow - awesome for you for helping this guy. I tell people it's like living in a suit of pink house insulation - non stop itchyness. These guys can truly suffer as a result. If you believe that the relief of suffering in the short term is paramount, then do what gets rid of the itch now as your working towards something better. Ask any 2 vets 1 question, and you'll get 4 opinions. So it comes down to your belief system.

3 tips:

1) food takes forever. it will take 3 months before you see any results of the food working for his skin (assuming food is part of the issue...which you fustratingly wont know until 3 months pass).

2) Atopica takes forever. It's safer. But it's 4 to 8 weeks of daily dosing until it might work.

3) the thing nobody tells you - you gotta have the skin looking awesome the whole time for the food to really show it's true colours. Often, that is when the steriod is helpful. They can look good quickly on it. You can have the food doing it's thing, but never see it working if the itch-scratch cycle is never broken.

sometimes they gotta be on the steroid to have a chance at a steriod free life...

hope that helps,

k

[KittyKiernan]

Hi K,

I really appreciate you taking the time to post such a thorough reply - thank you!

Funnily enough I have excema myself, so I totally understand the 'itch scratch' cycle. Unless my skin is in tip-top condition, the cracks in my hands move and stretch and starting itching all over again (regardless of any allergies!).

The one other option the vets at the rescue haven't tried is allergy testing (we're still not sure what Ted is actually allergic to!) - basically it's a last resort for them, because it's so expensive. But I think I might ask for it on our next vet visit (next week) and see what they say. I know Ted was badly allergic to the fleas he was found carrying, but fortunately my home is a flea-free zone .

And interesting you say Atopica takes so long to work... that might explain Ted's current itchy state, as the vet only put him back on it (after trying the steroids) about 3 weeks ago.

Anyway - thank you again. I think I'm going to put Ted on a low dose of Pred until next week's vet visit (at least) to make him a bit more comfortable in the immediate term.

[greenkitty]

Hector is on Pred and has been for about 4 years now, although not for his itchy skin (he has chronic rhinitis and IBD). He is on a 1mg daily dose and a recent blood test showed no issues, I believe cats tolerate steroids a lot better than dogs and humans. He used to get big itchy weeping sores and if you felt under his skin you could feel lots of little lesions, the Pred and hypoallergenic diet did go a little way to helping (the big sores cleared up) but he would still scratch a lot. About 6 months ago I started him on half a Piriton 2 or 3 times a day to help his rhinitis but found that his skin cleared up completely and he hasn't had anything in about 4-5 months now.

The other thing I'm slowly changing is his diet, I'm in the process of cutting out the hypo food and getting him onto a cereal/filler free diet so I'm not sure if this is also helping too. Because he has IBD I have to be really careful with the change and am doing it mega slowly, I've switched him to 1 hypo meal and 1 butchers classic a day but have taken about 6 months to complete this stage. Touch wood he's tolerating it well and I've had no problems with his skin or tummy.

[KittyKiernan]

Hi greenkitty,

Sorry for the delay in replying - I haven't been near a computer for the last 36 hours. Thanks so much for telling me about Hector's experience with Pred - that's definitely encouraging.

I remember you mentioned the Piriton a while ago, which is why (with clearance from the vet) I now give it to Ted now and then.

At the moment, I think I'm going to ask the vet (on Weds) whether I can stop the atopica, and try a low dose of Pred and Piriton daily instead. Then perhaps, when Ted's current flare-up clears up, try decreasing the Pred dose to every other day...

I'll let you know how I get on!