Cats can suffer from allergies; as an owner you must be able to detect the allergies and seek cat allergy relief treatment. The cat's allergy source may be food, environmental factors, diseases or parasites.
Symptoms of Cat Allergies
The most common symptoms of cat allergies include a runny nose, watery eyes and itching. You may also notice rashes and redness on the cat's skin. Any of these allergy symptoms will go away as soon as you identify the causing factor and get proper treatment.
Feline Food Allergy
Certain foods may cause allergies in cats. Rashes on the skin are the most common signs of food allergies. If you notice these, try to detect the source of the allergy and avoid those foods. However, it's difficult to detect the food that caused the allergy, because you can't possibly know everything your cat eats. The vet will be able to determine any possible food allergies. Your vet will also give you some ointments to get rid of the rashes.
Environmental Cat's Allergy
Cats may be allergic to a number of environmental factors. Dust, mold, pollens or chemicals may all cause allergic reactions. To reduce the allergy you will have to reduce your cat's exposure to these factors or to avoid the causing factors. The medicine will contain anti-histamines, ointments and sometimes steroids.
Parasites and Diseases
Fleas and ear mites are the most common parasites that cause allergies in cats. Both fleas and ear mites will cause extreme itchiness. The treatment for ear mites will include some oily insecticides which will be administrated locally; in addition, your vet might prescribe some drugs to help the healing.
To treat the fleas you will have to use an anti-flea shampoo, which will get rid of the fleas. A flea collar is also an effective treatment. However, after the fleas are gone, your cat will still be itchy and have rashes. To ease the itchiness, treat your pet with a cream that contains steroids or cortisone. Itchiness cause excessive scratching and your cat may cause serious injuries which can get infected.
The cat allergy is not a treatable condition, as the cat will suffer from allergies whenever he will be exposed to the allergens; however the condition is manageable. Identifying the causes of your cat's allergy is the first step towards helping your pet. Reducing the cat's exposure to the allergens is the following step. Depending on the type of allergies, your vet will also prescribe a few drugs or ointments.