? Crap on a cracker

I have no idea where that phrase came from, but it seems to apply today...

My question is what do we need to do?

Fabby was doing well the first week, not making much headway on her numbers, so we upped the dose by.25. I was also feeling guilty about the amount of ear pokes she was getting, so we added Neosporin plus pain relief into our routine after every ear poke.
Then she began vomiting once a day, no hair balls, and only on one of the 4 meals.
So we switched from Friskies to Fancy Feast. This cat has always had the stomach of a tank. She's a big girl and has in the past eaten a lot of weird stuff without issue. (She prefers salty things, though she is on a strict diet now.) She's on quarantine so she doesn't have access to get into anything.
Then I saw her ears were a little swollen and red down near the base (not where I poke). I immediately thought about the adverse reaction from Neosporin that others have discussed here, so we discontinued Neosporin. Today is day 3 no Neosporin and day 3 no vomit.
Yesterday I noticed the spot that was red and swollen wasn't red or swollen anymore but looked a little less hairy. Well if it was swollen it makes sense she'd scratch at it, so I didn't worry too much as I figured we stopped the allergen, so the reaction will be less and she won't itch them.
But this afternoon, I just noticed the hair on the back of her ears is noticeably missing. It's not red or swollen, but way less hair than there was even this morning.
Just now I had to stop her from scratching her ear...

Should I give her benedryl?
Should we go back to Friskies?
Can cats tolerate a cortisone cream, and if yes would it interfere with her diabetes testing/insulin?

Crap on a cracker...
Pictures coming soon.

 

Will wait for a picture of her ear to see if it's similar to what 1 or 2 spots showed up on Maury's

 

Hopefully this uploaded...

 

These really do look like an allergic inflammatory response. I'm not sure what you could try. I know people have given Zyrtec to kitties for allergies and one of mine had it for a short time for facial itching. I don't recall the dose though. If you do try it, be aware that it's very bitter tasting.

 

One of my crystals kitties is highly sensitive to stress, so before we figured out what was causing his excessive grooming the vet said, we can do really expensive allergy tests that are not always reliable, or we can give him some benedryl and see if he gets better. So I'm familiar with dosing a cat both in benedryl and prednisone for allergies.
But would allergy meds have any diabetic reaction?
Also, I do dose all my cats when pills are needed pretty easily with pill pockets - is that going to make a big difference in Fabby's carb/sugar intake?

 

I don't know if allergy meds like zyrtec or benadryl affect BG. Prednisone certainly can. I think I've read here that pill pocket are higher in carbs but I'm not sure. Could you wrap a pill in something else like a small piece of cheese or meat?

 

For this cat, I'm sure cheese will work. That stomach like a tank thing will come in very handy at pill time.

 

Yes pill pockets, except for the pea abd duck are higher in carbs. We git tge pea abd duck boy do they stink!!! We quit using them and went to gelcaps #4

 

I've read pill pockets are higher carb too and not to use a whole one, just enough to cover the pill. Pictures do look more allergy responsive. Cheese or meat is probably a better option. I've learned with Maury a small piece of cheese doesn't effect him

 

Does Fabby's neck look ok? These ear photos remind me of when my kitty's food allergies were out of control--he rubbed the hair off his ears, but he also got little tiny scabs all over his chin and neck. They were difficult to see but pretty easy to feel when I combed him. If the itching really is localized to the ears, a reaction to the Neosporin does seem more likely than another kind of allergy. How do the insides of her ears look--any chance she has an infection or mites in the ear canal?

 

BTW I've heard Penny on Big Bang Theory day crap on a cracker..... That might be where you heard it. Lol. Hope the ears are better soon!

 

Neck looks fine, and no chance of mites in ears, we were just at the vet and other than diabetes related issues, she's healthy like mule... lol.
And just looked inside the ears, also normal/clean looking. Just the ears. I guess I should be thankful she's not itching so much she's breaking skin...

 

I haven't watched that in ages, but I did live in Nebraska (where Penny is from) so perhaps that's where it comes from. I just assumed it was weirdness from the VERY southern part of my family... lol.

 

Someone posted THIS product in one of the earlier condos. I bookmarked the page but never actually used or researched it properly.

 

We seem to be hearing of more and more problems with Neosporin use lately. I recommended a fantabulous product in this thread: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/neosporin-pain-relief.172215/#post-1919631. I've used it for years on many animals and a few of the two-legged variety, too!

It's awesome stuff!

 

I had read that before we got the physical reaction... And dismissed it because we aren't having a reaction, lol. See where that gets me. I also read someone mentioned poly-something from the Canadian pharmacy b/c it didn't have one of the ingredients Neosporin has that seems to be causing the reactions.
I appreciate you looking out though! Right now I'm not adding anything until we get these issues on lock...
My poor girl. I'm putting her through the ringer. Hopefully, eventually it makes her better.

 

I believe it's called polysporin.

Applying a washcloth soaked in cool water might help sooth the ears temporarily...

 

Is this for the ear pricks or the allergy relief?

Just tried the benadryl, and that did not go well. Whatever the opposite of well is... That's how it went. Now I'm chasing around an angry cat, who is looking like she'll never trust me again - ever, with paper towels in hand because she can regurgitate the swallowed pieces of pill via foam vomit strings. And she won't let me keep her in one place to keep her contained so now there's drool spittle everywhere. Did I mention I threw my back out? OMG what's worse than crap on a cracker... I'm there.

 

Polysporin and the damp wash cloth were meant for the ears.

Ah, Benadryl! I gave it to one of my civvies once and she had the same reaction. Foam vomity strings everywhere and she was ticked off but good! I was more successful with Zyrtec for seasonal allergies, but it was so long ago that I can't remember the kitty dose.

 

Polysporin is almost exactly like Neosporin. In fact as a kid we had Neosporin then it seemed to replaced by Polysporin on the shelves. It is used for small scraps, infections etc.

 

Doing some research it looks the ingredients for Neosporin with pain relief is:

Bacitracin 500 units
Neomycin 3.5 mg
Polymyxin B 10,000 units
Pramoxine HCl 10 mg
white petrolatum

There have been reports tha the neomycin can cause allergic skin type reactions.

The ingredients for Poloysporin are:

Medicinal Ingredients (per gram) : 10,000 units Polymyxin B (as sulfate), 500 units bacitracin zinc, 0.25 mg gramicidin and 50 mg lidocaine.
Non-medicinal Ingredients (alphabetically) : butylated hydroxytoluene, cocoa butter, cotton seed oil, olive oil, petrolatum, sodium pyruvate, vitamin E.


Because I am curious why...

 

For some reason, polysporin just seems so familiar. Like it's the name on all the generic versions of Neosporin, but if it's the generic then why wouldn't it cause a reaction as well? (I may be totally wrong and it's a different product all together, because my memory gets worse every year...)

 

Beat me to it! I'll check out the shelves this weekend and see if it's marketed like the generic...

 

So, other than benadryl and zyrtec anybody have recommendations for an allergic reaction?
(I only have zyrtec D in the house, and I know cats aren't supposed to have the D.)

She's currently over at the end of the bed bathing herself - but hey, adult least she's grooming herself again...

 

@Carol & Murphy I just saw on an old thread & your photo of the ears looks like mine, but it didn't mention what you did to heal the ears from the allergic reaction though...
Did you end up using the steroid cream?

 

You can use pill pockets, just use only enough to cover the pill. Squallie gets them twice a day with his appy stimulant, never been a problem with his BG because he gets such a tiny amount. Been down that road, chasing down the angry kitty who is trailing streams of foamy drool, always fun...NOT!

 

I went with cheese, and now she won't even take her preferred salmon treat from my hand, because she thinks it's a trick. Oh goodness...

 

I've only used Benadryl for Maury's pollen allergies. He gets sneezing fits when pollen is high. It doesn't taste good so a couple times I have had to follow him and clean up pink foam

 

Neosporin and Polysporin are not the same thing.

Neosporin has 1 additional antibiotic in it - Neomycin. The mycins have had allergic reactions from humans enough to be on the 'are you allergic to ???' on medical histories. Makes sense it can also do the same for cats.

Polysporin doesn't contain Neomycin and uses lidocaine as the pain relief. I prefer poly of the 2. I believe this is what you all in Canada get.

Many times antibiotic cream isn't needed, just petroleum jelly but I'm sure a bit of pain relief helps.

Lots of sneezing cats here right now too - got big air filters going.

 

It is all you can get now. But there was a time it was Neosporin on the shelves ??? I remember it as a kid...but that was many years ago! It seems to me like we had 1 then just moved to the other. That is why I googled the ingredients.

Not all drugs are equivalent when you cross the border even though the US/Canadian market seems so the same.

 

well she came willingly for her PMPS and she ate her food in my lap, so at least I know I'm forgiven. (For now anyway, lol.)

 

From years of experience pilling cats - wrap pill in a tiny piece of raw chicken (breast works best) and pop it into the very corner of her mouth. Works best if you have another 2 small pieces of chicken - one before the pill so she doesn't think you're trying to poison her and one after as a treat. Has worked for me every time even on the most unmanageable cat.

 

Sorry for the tardy response I've been off the boards for a while. Murphy definitely had a bad reaction to the lidocaine/Neosporin I was using on his ears - I just stopped using anything on his ears and after several days to a week, his ears were back to normal I hope Fabby's are by now too. For me, not putting anything on the ears has also helped me test - the ointment was always clogging the test strips.
Murphy has bad seasonal allergies and I've been giving him 1/2 zyrtec a day for a long time.

 

Carol, Murphy looks like he's doing fine under your more "relaxed" (it's all relative, isn't it?) routine. How do you feel about it?

 

He occasionally pulls something funny - Saturday am when I had hired a moving company to move some things out of my Mom's house, he was going to have a very active cycle so I had to abort it. How do these cats know about timing? I wish he would be a bit lower, but he's not. After almost 2 years, I had to do something to ease up a bit I see Teasel is behaving

 

Well, Teasel is "sort of" behaving. I'm switching to a human meter tomorrow AM because of cost. I had a large supply of AT strips to use and didn't want to leave them to expire. I'm saving a vial of them just in case but will be using a Freestyle meter I've had here for months.

 

That's what I use - you'll be seeing much better numbers now - such a nice psychological boost

 

If nothing else ...

 

Thank you for coming to respond! I'm glad Murphy's ears healed well without anything.
Fabby might not be as lucky. I haven't used anything on her ears, and haven't tried to get benadryl in her since that day.
He ears look a little better, but also a little worse. It seems some of the fur might be growing back, but because of her scratching she's got a few little sores on the base of her ears. Her ears are also randomly more hot than her usual.
Here's today's ears picture...