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Probiotics increase helpful bacteria in the gut and thus improve the overall health of cats. They are shown to have great potential in treating atopic dermatitis.
These include external aids for treating hotspots and providing temporary relief.
There are numerous approaches to sorting out cat or dog itchy skin. We understand how difficult and time consuming it is to go the natural route. However, for those interested in solving dog skin allergy or itchy skin long-term, see A Vet’s Perspective: Why does my Dog have skin disease and what can I do about it?
Probiotics for cats are usually quite effective and are measured in CFUs (colony forming units and we consider anything over 5 billion cfus as effective for numerous conditions).
Here are some key points about their effectiveness:
Digestive Health: Probiotics help maintain a healthy balance of gut bacteria, which can improve digestion and reduce issues like diarrhea, constipation, and gas.
Immune System Support: A significant portion of the immune system is located in the gut. By promoting a healthy gut microbiome, probiotics can enhance the overall immune response.
Skin and Coat Health: A healthy gut often translates to healthier skin and a shinier coat. Probiotics can help manage conditions like dermatitis and other skin issues.
We understand how difficult it is to have an itchy dog or cat. We do not recommend giving over the counter human medications to pets. We suggest you talk to a vet to figure out whether this is what's needed for your situation.
An antihistamine such as these may provide short-term relief but do not address the underlying cause of your dog's or cat's itching or allergies. Please work with a holistic vet to find a good long-term solution.
Using Food energetics from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), holistic practitioners/ vets consider that there are certain proteins that have warming or cooling properties. Food is considered to be nutrition as well as medicine. Therefore food can provide certain energies that affect your dog or cat's body and keep it in check or throw it out of balance. For dogs and cats, the focus is on proteins but it can also be extended to fruits/vegetables.
Dog with allergies/ food sensitivities are encouraged to eat cooling proteins such as duck, fish (certain whitefish), alligator, clams & mussels, and rabbit. In addition, vegetables and fruits that fall under the cooling type for dogs/cats include apples, asparagus, banana, blueberry, cucumber, pears, broccoli, watermelon, orange, strawberry. However, this needs to be balanced with whether your dog is yeasty and removing any fruits that convert easily into sugars feeding the yeast.
Warming foods to typically avoid for dogs and cats with allergies include chicken, chicken egg yolk, lamb, goat, venison and in some cases we've seen mention of kangaroo. That is interesting as normally, exotic proteins like venison and kangaroo are suggested as novelty proteins for allergic dogs/cats. In addition, vegetables and fruits that fall under the warming type for dogs include squash, sweet potato, some mushrooms, garlic and turmeric. This means that using garlic to prevent fleas for allergic dogs is not a good ideaor using turmeric as an anti-inflammatory for dog/ cat joints.
Neutral foods include beef, goose, tuna, sardines, tripe, quail, pork. Vegetables and fruits that fall under neutral include pineapple, shitake mushrooms, cabbage. These can be used regularly.
There are a lot of considerations you need to make in using food energetics. For example, the way a food is prepared also affects whether it is cooling or hot. Frying/ hot processes might make canned food or kibble hot while the same proteins in raw form are not as 'hot.' The important thing is to work with a knowledgeable vet with TCM skills. A good TCM knows how to look at your tongue, pulse, skin, hair and behaviour to tell if you are out of balance. A vet with TCM skills should be doing the same thing for your pet or else they are just guessing.
