By changing the food. But here's the problem: a lot of people think they can change brands. They think it's a brand problem. It's not. This is an ingredient issue. So you've got to be intentional about what you change your pet's diet to. You can stay within the same brand of food. We just need to look for a different ingredient and a different primary ingredient you're feeding. When I say the primary ingredient, I'm talking about protein. The vast majority of the allergies we see in dogs and cats when it comes to food is the main protein of the diet. Cats primarily eat beef, fish, and dairy. For dogs, it's usually chicken and beef. If I have a cat eating a fish-based diet, I like to try something a little bit more exotic. I like to go with something like, believe it or not, a rabbit diet. That's pretty easy to find for the most part. Hopefully, COVID hasn't created too many issues in the supply chain for rabbit food, but I think that's always a good choice for most cats. But you have to change the food. The second thing is if you have other cats in the house and they're getting a different diet, you have to be very intentional about making sure the kitty that we suspect has a food allergy cannot access your other cats' food. Third, if you have a cat that goes outside, we're kind of rolling the dice because if your cat likes to roam the neighborhood and it might find another food source, that can be a little bit out of our control. If you've got some neighbors who are putting some food out to get in good graces with your kitty, have a conversation with them or give them some food. You can say, here, I'm going to give you the food. This is what they can eat, and let them put that food out. So there are ways of getting around that, but the key thing is that you have to be very intentional about what they consume.

In two ways. Primarily, we first need to find out the problem's source. I say two ways, but it depends on the problem. If I suspect a food allergy, then first things first, we're going to change the diet. The three most common causes of food allergies in cats are dairy, fish, and beef. That's going to account for the majority of food allergies we see in cats. If we suspect a food allergy, first, let's change the diet. With flea allergies, pretty simple, we'll get them an effective flea product. We carry a range of different flea products that do work, not like the crap you buy at the pet stores and such. I like to give those cats a cortisone shot, not for the fleas but for the relief from the intense itching, biting, scratching, licking, and chewing they're doing. If they get a seasonal allergy, typically, the first thing I'm going to do is also give those cats a cortisone shot. I should mention the cortisone shot usually lasts about four to six weeks. So it gives them plenty of time to get some relief from the itching, which takes a few days but also gives them continuous protection from the itching, so they're not back at ripping themselves again. We have to get those allergies under control. With the seasonal allergies, at the very minimum, I'll encourage pet owners to start taking the washcloth and water and keep wiping their kitties down three times a day to remove any pollens, dust, and things of that nature that could be triggering a seasonal or environmental allergy.

A lot of the diagnosis comes from information that the kitty apparent can provide to me. Let me know if this problem has been a recurring problem? Has this been about the same time each year? We're trying to get a better sense of if this is a problem that's year over year or if it is a brand new problem? But again, we're trying to get a better sense of the problem's origin. Once we have the kitty on the table, we're going to take a look and see what kind of hair loss, sores, lesions, scabs, or whatever is going on with this cat's skin to give me a better sense of what the origin is. If I see problems primarily around the head, neck, and face, I'm always going to think of food allergies first. If I see a cat with not necessarily hair loss but a lot of scabbing from the neck, in the back end, or above the tail, we're always going to think of either seasonal allergies or a flea allergy. Then we like to look at the belly of the cat. A lot of times, people never look at their cat's belly because unless their cat happens to be laying on a sofa and you want to give a little belly rubbing, some cats like it, some cats don't. But when you happen to look at the belly, they may be ripping. We've seen cats with horrendous areas on their belly where they're red and raw, and they've ripped out all the hair. All of that will be information for me to better understand what's likely causing the problem in the first place.

Seasonal allergies are typically seasonal. I know that sounds pretty obvious, but when somebody brings a kitty to me, one of the first things I want to find out is how long the problem has been going on and has this problem occurred in the past? Is there a pattern to it? Is there a particular seasonal pattern year over year? Maybe it's the first time it's shown up, but maybe it's the fourth or fifth time. If we can see a pattern to when it develops, whether in the spring or summer or a combination of those seasons, that is extremely valuable information to help us better understand the seasonality of an allergy.

There are three different types of allergies we see in cats: food allergies, seasonal allergies, and flea allergies, and all of those have different means of resolving the issue. Although it's so rare in cats, occasionally, we might see a cat that might even get a vaccine, for example, and react in a way where they might get intestinal upset, vomiting, and things of that nature. Another example is a bee sting. Cats can also be affected the same way people and dogs can from an insect bite or sting. So when we're talking about an allergic reaction, there's a wide scope of information.