Allergies can cause your cat to develop skin conditions, but with a better understanding, it should be easier to treat and prevent.
Environmental allergies come from the allergens that cats inhale. Some of the common allergens are pollen and dust, which are difficult to avoid. Seasonality and regionality factors can affect allergies, but a proper diagnosis is recommended. You can diagnose your cat through blood testing, but intradermal testing is more reliable. Intradermal testing is a thorough method that tests and monitors your cat’s reaction to injections of common allergens. Once diagnosed, the best treatment, including allergy shots or hyposensitization therapy, can be chosen to avoid skin conditions like atopy caused by allergies.
Contact allergies are rare and come from simply having contact with the allergen. The usual causes for this kind of allergy are cat litter, fabrics, cleaning materials, plants, plastics, and dyes. These allergies have a simpler treatment than environmental allergies because it only requires the removal of the allergen. In time, your cat will feel better as long as they do not come into contact with the allergen again.
