Cats, like humans, can suffer from allergies. Inhalant allergy is only one of four types of cat allergies. The others are food, tick and contact allergies. Identifying which allergy your cat suffers from is much more difficult with felines than it is with humans.This is due to the fact that itching, licking and scratching are symptoms for all four allergy types, but they are also natural acts for cats. As a result, a skin or blood test may be necessary to diagnose cat allergies when a behavioral evaluation fails.
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Features
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Inhalant allergy or atopy is the most common cat allergy. Inhalant cat allergy is similar to seasonal or perennial allergies in humans. Cats are allergic to certain airborne particles such as mold, dust mites and mildew, and tree, grass and weed (ragweed) pollens.
Unlike humans who exhibit respiratory symptoms such as wheezing and coughing, cats exhibit excessive scratching when suffering from inhalant allergies. Affected cats will engage in generalized itching and scratching. In some cases, excessive itching and scratching can result in bald patches.
Time Frame
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Inhalant allergy involving outdoor allergens such as tree or grass pollen cause seasonal allergies in cats. The duration that the cat will be affected by the allergy is solely dependent upon how long the allergen is present in its environment.
Moreover, indoor allergens such as molds and house dust mites cause perennial or year-round allergies. As a result, a cat suffering from inhalant allergies will exhibit scratching symptoms for two weeks or year-round.
Diagnosis
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Inhalant allergies can be diagnosed through interdermal skin tests, blood tests or by simply monitoring and evaluating a cat's symptoms. More importantly, if there is a pattern in the cat's behavior, such as excessive scratching that occurs only two weeks out of the year, the diagnosis is most likely inhalant allergy.
Prevention/Solution
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Treatments include hypoallergenic shampoos, natural and synthetic antihistamines, steroids and immunotherapy. Hypoallergenic shampoos and fish oil are the least expensive inhalant allergy treatments that also have the fewest number of potential side effects.
Hypoallergenic shampoos target inhalant allergy at the dermal level by removing any existing antigens from the cat's skin. Bathing alone will alleviate some of the itchiness as well.
Another treatment is fish oil, which contains omega-3 fatty acids and acts as an antihistamine. Compared to fish oil, however, man-made antihistamines have a much greater (70 percent) efficacy in controlling cat inhalant allergies.
Steroids, specifically corticosteroids, are highly effective anti-inflammatories in treating inhalant allergies. Corticosteroids are considered third- or fourth-line treatments in both cats and humans due to the many side effects associated with them. Due to their safety profiles, steroids are only prescribed for seasonal allergies, as they cannot be given year-round. Dosing can be done by injection or orally.
Immunotherapy treatment such as cyclosporine is another option for inhalant allergies. It is effective in 50 percent to 75 percent of cats with atopy. The main side effects of cyclosporine are diarrhea and vomiting, and like corticosteroids, treatment duration is limited to several months.
Warning
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Sometimes excessive licking or scratching is not due to an allergy, but because the cat is bored or depressed. In these cases, the vet may prescribe behavior-modifying treatment such as Amitriptyline or Clomipramine.
Furthermore, because excessive scratching is the most common symptom of cat allergies altogether, when behavioral evaluation is ineffective, taking your feline friend to the vet is the best bet.
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