Speaker: Chris Bern, JustAnswer Expert
Chris Bern: Hi, my name is Doctor Chris Bern. I'm a veterinarian with 27 years of experience and I answer pet health related questions here on JustAnswer.
Chris Bern: So I want to talk to you about tips for preventing and treating allergies in cats and how they may not look like you expect them to.
Chris Bern: So let's talk about some of the common signs and symptoms of allergies in cats. First thing we need to realize is they don't really get the hay fever symptoms that we do. So, even environmental allergens like pollen, we don't commonly see them have sneezing, runny eyes symptoms like that. If we're dealing with something in the environment, the number one symptom is itchy skin and that's true whether it's fleas, dust mites, pollen to detergents, different things like that. So if you see a cat that is significantly itchy all over their body, we're dealing probably with an allergy situation and possibly an allergy to fleas. When we're talking about internal allergies, mostly food-related. We're going to see digestive signs. So that would be diarrhea, vomiting, not being able to digest food well. And so losing weight a little bit.
Chris Bern: Next, let's talk about how to identify the allergens that are causing the problems on cats. And I hate to say it, but that's not very easy because all different allergens really only cause a few different symptoms. So the number one thing that we see as an allergen is fleas, even inside cats can get fleas because you can bring them in on your shoes and socks, any dogs that you have coming in and outside can bring them in and cats that go outside are definitely exposed to it. So if you see fleas, see a lot of itching, that's probably the allergen. Outside of that, there's really not a lot you can do at home, unfortunately. So that's where veterinary exam comes in. And they can look at possibly allergy testing for some of the things like dust mites, mold spores, things like that, that might be a source of allergy. When it comes to food, it's usually related to ingredients, not to a brand. And so we have to look at trying different types of foods and not over-the-counter ones either. And that's where your veterinarian in-person can help guide you through the choices on that.
Chris Bern: I want to focus briefly on just the food allergy aspect of it and any dietary changes. So if it's an environmental allergen, you're really not gonna get any success with trying different types of food. Although certain supplements like fish oils at the appropriate doses can potentially help. When it comes to a food-related allergy, that is pretty tricky because there's no accurate test for it. You can even ask all the dermatology specialists. You cannot do tests for food allergies and it tends to be protein contents more than anything else and it could be just about any kind. The most common ones would be chicken, beef, dairy proteins, even fish proteins and just changing to a different over-the-counter food really may not help. There have been several studies that have shown that most over-the-counter foods can contain ingredients that are not on the list, which for your average dog or cat, not a big deal, but for a dog or cat that is allergic to those ingredients. Well, it's kind of like someone with a peanut allergy that can't even be in an area that has the allergen or can't have any food on a surface that had it previously. That's where these prescription diets that veterinarians often recommend will come in where we will do trials to really restrict the proteins or break the proteins down into a much smaller pieces so that it will not trigger the allergy. And if it's a food-related allergy that usually fixes it.
Chris Bern: So how do we create an allergy-free environment for a cat? And it's not as easy as it sounds. If it's a food-related allergy, obviously, we don't give them anything that contains those types of proteins or other allergens. If it's a flea allergy that we can do something about, we can treat all of the pets, we can treat the environment to make sure that we're getting rid of any fleas that will trigger it. Other allergens, pollens, mold spores, dust mites. We can't get those out of the environment. You can reduce the load by using certain like HEPA filters, air filters that really filter out a lot of those things, but it's still gonna get through. So if it's one of those types of allergens, we can improve the allergen load in the environment, but we're never going to be 100% free of it. And that's where treatment comes in.
Chris Bern: If you have questions about this topic, which most people do, it's pretty complicated or really any questions or concerns about cat health in any aspect, please reach out to us directly by the link you'll find in the description.
