Mary Allen
According to studies, around a third of all cats with skin problems suffer from an allergy. But there are many pitfalls on the way to the right therapy, as Musa’s story shows.
The therapy marathon started more than a year ago. In March 2020, Miusa suddenly has a bald spot on her neck. “At first we thought it was an injury,” says Dona Mascherin from Schaffhausen. When the five-year-old cat started losing fur on its face a few days later, the family took it to the vet. There you go directly from a food allergy. That sounds plausible for the owners since they bought the wrong dry food for Miusa at exactly the same time.
Musa is given cortisone drops and, on the advice of the vet, the family begins to experiment with different types of food. By switching from chicken to beef or fish, you want to find out what the cat is allergic to. But despite intensive treatment, Miusa’s condition continues to deteriorate. Six months later, the cat has large bald spots all over her body, which she keeps scratching until it bleeds.
Now the vet assumes a fungal infection and injects Miusa with medicine every week for a month. The cat’s condition briefly improves, but once the treatment is complete, she rapidly deteriorates. The family gets a second opinion. In the second practice, a fungal infection is ruled out, and instead, bacterial infection and an allergy are diagnosed. The treating doctor is confident and wants to get the problem under control with antibiotic cream and another allergy dampener “in a few weeks”. Later she prescribes Miusa a well-tolerated special feed to clarify a feed allergy.
With Body and Claw Protectors
But when Miusa’s condition still hasn’t improved after two months, she gives up and refers the family to a specialist. The drive to the Margin – the center for veterinary medicine in Feusisberg SZ – takes one and a half hours. When Sylvie Wilhem, veterinarian and allergy specialist, sees Musa for the first time, the cat has been receiving cortisone for around ten months. She is wearing a bodysuit and claw guards. Both are intended to prevent her from scratching herself further. In the meantime, Musa has not only changed a lot visually. In front of the door, she only goes in company. She lies lethargic most of the time.
She is no longer housebroken and seeks extreme closeness to her humans. “She liked to lie on our chests, like a baby burping,” says Mascherin. In doing so, she clawed herself so tightly that one could hardly put her down. “She jumped on our shoulders and wrapped herself around our necks like a scarf. She had never done that before.” Allergy specialist Wilhelm diagnoses a severe allergy in Musa. In order to better assess the success of the therapy, she advises the family to take off the cat’s body from time to time under observation.
In this way, the animal can behave and clean normally again in between. She also prescribes a new drug for Musa and instructs the family to continue giving her the special food. A feed allergy can only be clarified if the feed change is carried out consistently and for at least six weeks. Unfortunately, Musa doesn’t like the food at all. She refuses as much as possible and shows her family that she is hungry. Mascherin: “She licked our legs and arms. When we were in the garden with her, she would try to eat dirt or fish things out of the compost.”
In addition to the bad state of mind and the sore spots on the skin, the cat also loses more and more weight over the weeks. The family is desperate. It is also discussed whether the therapies ultimately do more harm than good to the cat and whether it would be better to redeem them. “Of course, my sisters and I didn’t want that, but it was an issue for our parents,” explains 18-year-old Dona Mascherin.
Medication for Life
In the meantime, they had already spent around 3,000 francs on the various treatments for their cat. “Because there was never any improvement, we were at the end of our patience.” They address their concern to Wilhelm. The vet shows understanding but recommends that the family try another therapy. After all, the clarification is one step further: Since Miusa’s condition has not improved despite special food, a food allergy can finally be ruled out.