@Dr. Jeff My male cat, Charlie, is 13 years old. He is neutered, 14 lbs, and a black and white tuxedo. We worked with you two years ago to assist with his extreme itchiness. When he was about 1-2 years old, Charlie was diagnosed with asthma. He used to cough very badly multiple times a day, but I switched him to raw food (rad cat at the time), and his asthma improved to the point where he only coughed a few times a year. Since he was about 2 years old, he had some issues around his eyes where there was some small patches without hair. But it wasn't really bad, and he wasn't itchy. However, when we moved to California from the Midwest when Charlie was 5 years old, he became increasingly itchy and began to rub the corners of his eyes on various objects in the house until there was no hair left there. I tried various products from Only Natural Pet and Flower Essences for his itchiness over the years: various flower essences, only natural pet skin and itch homeopathic remedy, petalive allergy itch ease, fish oil, Petalive skin and coat tonic, immune balance, pet allergies, aller free 7 herbal liquid formula, chinese holistic formula, etc. Nothing ever really worked. But things really exploded when Charlie was nine. His best friend who was with him his entire life passed away. Charlie fairly quickly began itching uncontrollably. He ripped hair off the backs of his legs, and has scratched all of his hair off around both of his eyes. This has stayed the same for nearly four years. A vet convinced us he needed steroids, and we gave him one injection. It helped and he didn't scratch at all for two weeks. Then, his itchiness returned even worse than before. We just moved to the East Coast last July, and Charlie is still itching very badly.
- Charlie currently eats Tiki Cat raw (chicken or quail)
- He receives a multivitiman every day and a probiotic mixed in with his food.
- For snacks, he eats Wholelife Just One chicken, salmon, or tuna or some Ziwipeak air dried mackerel and lamb raw.
- He does not receive yearly vaccinations, and has an exemption for rabies due to a bad reaction when he first had the vaccine when he was 1.
- Medical History: a. Charlie was diagnosed with asthma when he was 1. He is pretty stable with asthma, only coughing a few times a year. Though, I did notice him coughing just a few time more since we moved to the East Coast last July. b. He has had crystals in his urine a few times and just recently. I gave him tinkle tonic. c. He has hairballs very frequently since we moved to the East Coast. Last summer, it was almost 5 times a week. It has just picked up again since it has gotten warmer here. He has thrown up three times over the past two weeks. I believe his itchiness and the constant licking of his legs (to the point where all his hair is gone) may be contributing to the hairball issue. d. hunger. He is hungry constantly. Even after he eats, he wants more food. After half and hour, he starts crying for food. This goes on all day. This has gone on for 10 years.
- BEAM: he is a sweet, calm cat that gets a spurt or two of energy every day, running up and down the stairs and darting through the rooms. Other than that, he sleeps. Great appetite - always a good appetite. He is very sweet, unless you try restraining him in any way (trying to clip his nails, trying to put him in a cage to go to the vet, or even locking him in a room when we had movers moving our furniture). If he is restrained in any way, he bites, hisses, scratches, or cries.
- The main issue is his itchiness. It is truly unbearable for him. It seems a bit worse when the warmer weather hits.
