I would do the allergy testing. A friend of mine has a cat that has numerous allergies. Some environmental (oak, pine) some food related (wheat, etc.). The cat is on special medication and was treated with prednisone. My friend has now moved to another part of the country and the cat now only needs the special food.

I am not sure that the twitching/rolling skin is a problem. My cat does that, and other cats I have owned have done it as well.

Some cats are sensitive to food with "fillers". You might want to consider switiching to a food with no fillers. Wellness is a good food.

I love Maine Coons. We had one growing up. They are great cats. Does Wilson "chat" or "chortle"?

One of my sister's kitties has food allergies - she's allergic to some kind of protein found in regular cat food. If she eats regular cat food she gets sores all over her mouth and fat lips. Pretty messy. She now eats a hypo-allergenic food that my sister gets from the vet, it's made with duck meat, and so far so good, she's just fine. She only had issues agaon last year when they adopted a new kitten and she'd steal a bit of the kitten's food, but now that the kitten is older and on adult food it's no longer a problem. All three of her cats eat the hypo-allergenic food.

tess

Thanks Sue! I should really say he looks like a Maine Coone cat - since we found him as a stray. He is beautiful though. He actually is very soft spoken. When we found him he only did silent meows - we figured he was so thirsty. Sounds like the allergy testing is the way to go. The twitchy, darty cat thing seems to be seasonal since he has been on the antihistamine. I think the vet said we could also try zertac (sp?).

Sue, Tess - we have talked to the vet about special foods, but as of yet have not tried them. Most of the time the sores at the corner of his mouth don't seem to bother him. But they are now. So, not sure if it is food or seasonal. Another reason for the allergy testing!!

Thanks for the input.

I always tell people- kitty's gotta eat something! As long as you're paying for kitty food anyway, why not spring for a couple extra bucks and make it a limited diet? It's TONS cheaper to do a food trial for 8 weeks than to do allergy testing. Plus kitty must be completely off all medications for several weeks prior testing, and to top it off, allergy testing in cats doesn't work that great anyway!

Sounds to me more like an eosinophilic plaque (indolent ulcer, rodent ulcer). These are common in cats and it sounds like what you are describing. The symptoms you're describing don't sound like allergies to me, but then again, cats are weird when it comes to certain things so it is not out of the realm of possibility.

Here is a link that might be useful: eosinophilic plaques in cats (with pictures)

Hi meghane. Interesting thoughts on the food trial. The vet didn't mention anything about being off meds prior to testing - but did say it needed to be done during allergy season. I had read someplace that the blood test wasn't always reliable like you said. I guess I will see what she says.

Regarding the plaque - we had a scraping done for that a year ago. It didn't turn up anything. And, it really doesn't look like the pictures at all. So, this has us stumped too. Plus the oddity that although the sores at the corner of his mouth have been there for a year, all the other symptoms seem to be seasonal. His sores scab up as well which I think is unusual for granuloma - but I could be wrong.

Thanks for the information!

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

LOL - thanks for the laugh qq. I enjoyed it!!

Don't laugh please, I'm trying to annoy you with off-topic mumbo jumbo to teach you a lesson. Although you may notice I left your impotant food recall post alone.

Oh, qq. I knew what it was about :) Sorry - but I can't be angry about it.