Oh, hai! It's me again. HARLEY! I have something to TELL you. I am a little bit EMBARRASSED about it though. I hope you will still LIKE me after you find out...
It has to do with my THIGHS! Do you NOTICE anything in the picture below? Besides the fact that my Mommie PIXELATED my Spot #13...
You know I have
eosinophilic granuloma complex, right? (Those are some BIG words!) Well, this causes me to sometimes have something called a LINEAR GRANULOMA on the backs of my thighs.
It is like a long SCAB on the back of my leg. It does NOT hurt, but sometimes it gets real ITCHY and I lick and lick.
Here is my OTHER thigh. It used to have a big, long scab, but it is all HEALED now. Except, I still need to grow some FURS back there.
Even though I gots SCABS on my legs, I am still real happy. HEY! Are you looking at my THIGHS?!?
A note from Harley's mom:
We have tried lots of different things to keep Harley's EGC under control. Harley is doing pretty well now, and has not needed a Depo-Medrol injection since February. We have gone through a lot of trial and error, but here are the things that have worked for us:
- A high quality diet. Harley and Daisy both eat Nature's Variety raw food in the morning and the evenings. They also share a small amount (1/4 cup) of California Natural dry food in the evening. Treats are freeze-dried single ingredient meats.
- Harley seems to react to fish products, so we avoid any food or treats with fish or fish meal.
- We apply pure aloe vera gel to the lesions Harley gets on his lips and chin and thighs twice a day. Harley has not had any lip ulcers in over a month now.
- He also has feline acne, and I clean his chin twice a day (after meals) with a very dilute solution of Hibiclens and water.
- Harley gets 1/2 of a 5 mg prednisone tablet every other day. This is the lowest dose that keeps him from getting swellings and blisters on his lips and mouth. He started at 1/2 tablet twice a day, then went down to 1/2 tablet once per day, and then to the every other day dose. We are hoping to go down to every third day soon.
- Transfer Factor mixed in his food once daily seems to be helping him. I am a little skeptical about this product, but it has seemed to work for Harley.
- On days when Harley seems really itchy and is constantly licking the backs of his thighs, he gets 1/2 of a 4 mg chlorpheniramine maleate tablet (this is an allergy medicine).
- We use a perfume- and dye-free litter (we like both Feline Pine clumping and World's Best Cat Litter).
Every case of EGC is very different, and this is only what has worked for us. Of course, we recommend seeing your vet for advice if your kitty has any symptoms of EGC.
Thighmaster!
I NEVER told you very MUCH about my CONDITION back then, because I did not want my friends to WORRY about me. But for over a YEAR I got TERRIBLE ulcers on my FACE and I got STEROID shots almost EVERY month. Here is one of my WORST ones. I hope you do not think LESS of me now that you SEE how sick I was back THEN.
I was looking BACK at some of my OLD pictures, and I see how SKINNY my face was then! Can you see my SWOLLEN lip?
Besides the ULCERS on my LIPS, I would get all SORTS of crazy symptoms like big LUMPS on my CHIN, blisters on my PAW pads, SCABS on the back of my THIGHS, and my MUZZLE would sometimes swell up and FLUID would leak out of my WHISKER holes!
Anyway, for SOME reason, I am almost COMPLETELY better, except when STRESS makes me get another outbreak. I just wanted to let you KNOW that I am GOOD now!
