Expert: Norman Auspitz - 10/19/2010

Question
Dear Norm , here I'm back with a new dilemma!

From last few months my cats have started to scratch themselves just too much. I am a pedigree-Persian-cat breeder so we basically always have so many of them. At first it was not that serious, then it started to deteriorate. Now each and everyone of them is scratching themselves too much. I mean , almost all the time. Every single minute. Adult cats , kittens, all of them.

At first we thought it could be mites or some parasites. I had my cats checked then by two different vets. They both said it was no mites or louse issue. It's actually about cat allergy. They both said there is something wrong with your cats environment or food. The environment has not changed that much, except their litter box that I have change. I am using Amax cat litter now. But I doubt if this is the problem hence it's a good cat litter and many other friends of mine are using it with totally no problem.

I personally think the problem is in the food I give to my cats. I give them boiled chicken , and trying to get rid of the terrible smell of boiled chicken I put an onion , and add an small spoon of  Curcuma longa to the chicken too. Now ,  searching on net just today I realized that it was actually a mistake as onion can be toxic in cats and create allergies too.

Now , From tomorrow I am going to stop adding onion and Curcuma longa to their chicken. My question to you as an expert is , do you think this was the problem of so many of scratchings in my cats? They scratch their head and bite their tails like crazy, always. Can onion or Curcuma longa allergy in cats appear like this? Do you think that it will stop from tomorrow? What else do you recommend me to help my cats to get rid of scratching themselves? Do you think that Curcuma longa can cause allergy in cats too? Please help. All my adult cats and kittens are going crazy scratching themselves day and night.

Sincerely , Soheil

Answer
Soheil,

I would guess the culprit is the onion.  Onion is very, very dangerous for cats (it is a member of the Lilly family of plants, and all of these are extremely toxic to cats).

Check out:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1&aid=2414


My guess is that you are on the right track and removing the onion will, in time reduce the scratching. Meanwhile, to help things along, you can get a long acting steroid shot from your vet for the cats who are doing the most scratching.  It will take some time for them to get their hair back, but the scratching should stop.

Other things cats tend to be allergic to are, corn, wheat, soy, gluten, so any dry food with these ingredients could also add to the misery.

Please let me know how things go, and give them some time for the toxins to get out of their systems and for the scratching to stop.

Of course, if this does not work, you can always contact me, again.

Best regards... Norm.