How to treat cat flea allergies and stop scratching without steroids?

If it is from a flea allergy, then regular flea control will be needed to treat the underlying cause. Cortisone shorts can have side effects such as increased thirst and urinating and weight gain which can affect joints and arthritis is older animals. Long term use or high doses can also lead to diabetes and liver problems. They do make other medications to help control allergies that are safer to consider. A food allergy may also be contributing and you may want to talk about a prescription diet to minimize more ingredients.

Although not the typical affected areas, make sure flea are controlled as this can contribute to ther allergies. A food change may make a bit different as this can be a food allergy. You want to switch to a hypoallergenic diet; royal canin, Purina and science diet all have good diets for this. From there you may need a low dose of cortisone intermittently to help but cats can build a resistance to long term use and have side effects. There is another immunosuppressive drug known as atopica that is helping some cats now. There is another drug called Apoquel that is not labeled for cats but is showing good relief in several

Hello, sorry to hear about Eli. Unfortunately, anti-histamines don't work well with that time of allergy reaction. Typically, we can use a short course of steroids or a steroid injection to break the itch cycle. These may be obtain from your veterinarian through a prescription. Know that steroids in cats can cause increased anxiety and muscle loss. Hope this helps and best of luck.

I'm sorry your cats (and you!) are dealing with you. Unfortunately, once a cat has a flea dermatitis, the itching and skin problems can continue even once you get rid of the fleas. The degree of which really depends on the severity of their sensitivity to flea bites. Often, we have to use antihistamines or steroids to resolve the inflammation. Sometimes we also have to incorporate antibiotics if there is an infection. For dogs, there are topical shampoos we can use, but those are often not a good option for cats. So, I would recommend having your veterinarian examine your cats' skin to determine if there is a secondary skin infection or just inflammation in order to help you determine the best treatment. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

If they are not very deep and only small wounds, I would recommend to clean them with diluted hibiscrub twice daily until completely healed. Flea allergy must be treated and fleas as well. A combination of steroids and flea treatment is usually needed. A vet care is not needed if in 3-4 days the wounds are healing. If not, antibiotics may be needed.

As there are at least ten fleas in the environment for every flea you find on Bella, and fleas tend to hop on, gorge themselves with blood and then hop off again, There is a possibility that there are still fleas in your house, even if you do not see any. In order to effectively get rid of fleas you need to do the following: SInce Bella should not be bitten by fleas at all you should use a flea spray on your dog that kills fleas before they can bite. Frontline or any other spray containing fipronil should be effective there. Also get flea powder, put some in your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum your house and furniture and also non-carpeted areas frequently to remove flea larvae which live off house dust., Dispose of the bag in the trash outside. Hot-wash all the pet's bedding, If you do this diligently for a few months you will get rid of the fleas.

Steroids can be indicating is allergic dermatitis but have extreme side effects when used at high doses or long term. I would not recommend this as a long term course. Any steroid over time leads to a resistance where it just won't work anymore and can lead to liver problems and diabetes in cats. Prednisolone is better tolerated and seems to work better in generally in cats compared to dexamethasone. There is a medicine called Atopica or Apoquel that is made for allergic skin disease and does what the steroids do just without the side effects and resistance, so you may be better trying one of those instead. All are prescription medicines so you will have to call your vet to see if they can fill this since they already have a medical report on her. I would stay on the hypoallergenic diet as this can take 2-3 months for max affect and treats count as far as food allergy go, so make sure those are hypoallergenic or don't give any. I would consider a treatment for mange and fleas also. It is not common in cats but causes them to be itchy and it is hard to prove and super easy to just treat to be safe.