Just like us, cats can suffer from allergies. From red irritated skin to hair loss, overgrooming to skin ulcers, allergies are unpleasant. Understanding this complex issue and knowing the options for cat allergy treatment are essential for owners concerned about their cat’s skin. Specific treatments will depend on the cause of your cat’s allergy but may include topical products, anti-itching medication and allergy specific treatments.
If you’ve got a cat with allergies, or you’ve been frantically searching ‘my cat has allergies, what can I give her?’ then read on for more information.
What is your cat allergic to?
To provide the best treatment, it is important to know what your cat is allergic to. Now, this can be difficult: allergies in cats can be fairly easy to recognise but hard to get a definitive diagnosis. In addition to taking a thorough history and examining your cat, your vet may perform tests.
There are three main types of allergies in cats:
· Flea allergy dermatitis – some cats react badly to flea saliva, which enters their skin when a flea bites them.
· Food allergies – cats can react to certain types of food. The most common culprits are beef, fish and chicken. As with other allergies, food allergies most often result in skin symptoms, but gastrointestinal symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhoea, can also occur.
· Environmental allergies (atopic dermatitis) – cats can be allergic to various things around them, such as pollens, grasses or dust mites.
For more details, don’t hesitate to read our page dedicated to cat skin allergies.
Treatment - What can you give your cat for allergies?
Skin allergies can be distressing and painful for cats, with common symptoms including red, inflamed skin, persistent itching, scratching and overgrooming, bald patches (alopecia) and ulcers. It is therefore essential to seek veterinary advice and treatment for these cats.
There is, unfortunately, no quick fix for cats and allergies treatment. Allergies are chronic diseases and will require long-term management. A combination of multiple types of therapy is often needed to manage symptoms and control the allergic response, and your cat’s treatment plan might need to be adjusted over time to make sure it continues to be effective. What is working perfectly today might not work tomorrow, and flare-ups are normal and should be expected.
Avoiding the allergen
This may seem obvious, but if you know what your cat is allergic to, avoiding it as much as possible will help to reduce the severity of the cat’s reaction. This can be easier said than done, though!
· Flea allergies: if your cat is allergic to flea saliva, the most important thing is to keep their flea treatment updated, using an effective and reliable product. It is also recommended to keep their environment and any other pets treated as well. This is because even if your cat is on flea treatment, if they are exposed to lots of fleas, it is possible for one to jump on and bite, therefore exposing your cat to their saliva, even if the flea then swiftly dies due to the flea treatment.
· Food allergies: performing what is known as a ‘dietary trial’, where your cat is fed a novel or hydrolysed diet for a significant period (usually 8 weeks). Diet trials need to be strict, as eating even a small amount of the ‘wrong’ food can cause a relapse. This makes them difficult to do well with an outdoor cat or with multiple cats in a household, but they can be extremely successful if done correctly. However, treating your cat will be very simple if the dietary trial is successful and the offending allergen is identified. By removing that allergen from your cat’s diet, it will no longer have contact with what was making its immune system react.
· Environmental allergies: it can be difficult to reduce exposure to environmental allergens, as things like pollen and dust mites can get everywhere. It is particularly difficult for outdoor roaming cats.
Medications: can you give cats allergy medication?
Many cats with allergies need lifelong medications to control their symptoms. There are a few options for cat skin allergy treatment, and your vet will recommend which one (or combination) is best for your cat.
· Corticosteroids – often the mainstay of cat allergy treatment, steroids can be given either topically onto the skin via creams or sprays or orally as a tablet. They reduce quickly the cat’s overactive immune response to the allergen, as well as inflammation and itching.
· Cyclosporin – this is an alternative drug helping to control the immune system. It is more expensive but has fewer side effects than steroids and can be very effective at controlling allergies. The onset of action is longer than steroids, usually around 2 weeks. That is why at the beginning of the treatment it is often combined with another drugs.
· Anti-histamines – these can help reduce allergy symptoms in cats but are often only effective in combination with other treatments and for mild allergic symptoms.
Improving your cat’s skin health: how can you help?
Cats with allergies usually have a poor skin barrier, which predisposes them to other skin problems. Improving skin health, focusing on restoring the three barriers – mechanical (the skin by itself), microbiological (the microbiota) and immunological (the immune system into the skin)-, often helps reduce the severity of allergic reactions.
Topical skincare products such as DOUXO® S3 CALM range contain selected ingredients such as Ophytrium, designed to soothe the skin, help strengthen the skin barrier and protect against bacterial overgrowth.
The different formulations complement each other:
· The shampoo cleans the skin, allowing adequate contact between the skin and active ingredients.
· Applying the mousse afterwards allows contact for a longer period, helping the skin to better absorb the product.
· As for smaller lesions, the pads might be the simplest and most suitable solution.
Immunotherapy
This approach is not often used in cats, but if a specific allergen has been identified, a ‘desensitisation vaccine’ can be given. This is a special injection made up specifically for one cat’s allergies and involves injecting tiny doses of the specific allergens, so that the cat’s immune system is re-programmed to accept the allergen as ‘normal’, rather than something it must reject. This option can be costly. It may not resolve the allergy fully but can reduce the reliance on other medications.
The role of nutrition in treating the allergic cat
A proper diet is paramount in keeping cats happy and healthy, with nutrients being essential for skin repair and healing.
There are a number of nutrients that can help in this process, the most important being essential fatty acids, zinc, selenium and vitamins A, C and E. While these are included in most commercial diets, allergic cats might benefit from dietary supplementation to aid skin health.
Complications: treating secondary bacterial overgrowth
With allergic cats having fragile skin, plus the mechanical aggression of overgrooming and scratching, some skin bacteria can develop and will need adequate management:
· To prevent further self-injury, the itchiness must be addressed and controlled, so that the bacterial overgrowth may resolve.
· Severe cases might require oral antibiotics, but for most cats, it is possible to solve it with topical products, such as DOUXO® S3 PYO.
Key takeaways
· Allergies in cats are a lifelong condition that requires careful management.
· Treatment of allergies depends on the type of allergy suspected, as well as other factors.
· There are multiple treatment options for allergies, including allergen avoidance, medications, skincare products and supplements.
