Anyone with cat litter allergy experience?

[Ahoragi]

We have a typical tuxedo black and white cat and another fully black cat. The Tux cat is 8 years old. He has always had some type of allergy that resulted in scratching, sneezing, overgrooming, etc. He tends to pick at the bottom of his feet and has since licked all the hair off his lower belly. This has been going on as long as I remember.

Recently I started to wonder if his allergy is this litter. He has always been the weirdest litter cat I have ever owned and I've had many. He does not bury his poo and does not scoop or spread the litter. He barely touches it. I noticed last night as he was doing number two that his back end was shaking/trembling and when he was done he would get all three paws out of the box immediately and scratch the side and top of the box as if he is burying his poo. I knew he did this since we've had him but never analyzed him as he went. It seemed as if he was trying to avoid the litter as much as possible as he kept three of his feet out of it.

In the past we have always thought it was food allergy as the vet suggested that was the case so both cats were put on a duck diet (both wet and dry) but nothing really changed. So I was wondering maybe it was the litter all along?

Anyone with experience in cat litter allergies?

Thanks

 

[AinaWGSD]

What kind of litter are you using? Standard clay litter is pretty inert. Natural plant based litters (wheat, corn cob, pine) are the only ones I would think could be allergens.

if you've only tried the duck diet (it's the only 'hypoallergenic' diet mentioned in your post) it could still be a food allergy. The main meat protein is the most common source of allergens but pets can have an intolerance for any of the ingredients. Sometimes it takes several diets to find the actual culprit. Also, pets can't have any treats, absolutely nothing but the food, for a diet trial to be effective. A (prescription) hydrolysed protein diet is usually the best option to rule out food allergies as all potential allergens are broken down small enough that they can't trigger the allergy.

Environmental allergies are always a possibility, and it's not uncommon for allergic pets to have multiple allergies so he could very easily have both food and environmental allergies. I doubt it would be the litter, but it wouldn't hurt to try a different litter (I would suggest one of the crystal litters) and see if it helps. Just remember to change over gradually, cats often won't use a new litter if you switch all at once.

One final note, you didn't mention anything about flea preventative. Make sure all of your pets are on a good flea preventative. I cannot tell you how many times owners swear up and down that their pets couldn't possibly have fleas only for vets to find fleas or flea dirt or for the allergy to magically disappear after a few months of flea meds. Flea bite allergies are extremely common.

 

[Cebarmlds]

I had a cat with the pulling his fur out and over grooming issues but he wasn't goofy about using the litter box, but I got to the point of disliking the fragrances in the litter and knowing cats have a better sense of smell than humans, decided to go unscented litter years ago.
Sometimes it's not easy to find unscented but found the Chewy brand unscented clay litter and bought that the last several years. He - our last cat died a few months ago and haven't gotten another, although I'm feeding a stray outside and hoping it will tame down.
I would suggest you try unscented litter, that stuff makes my eyes burn and nose to get runny. I cat sit for a neighbor and they have the heavily fragranced litter so I know that's the issue for me.
Do a complete change of the litter and clean the box to get rid of most the smell as soon as possible. If the box is scooped out daily you won't have smells in the house, and seriously I'd rather smell the turd than perfumes!

 

[Squawkers]

I had a cat with the pulling his fur out and over grooming issues but he wasn't goofy about using the litter box, but I got to the point of disliking the fragrances in the litter and knowing cats have a better sense of smell than humans, decided to go unscented litter years ago.
Sometimes it's not easy to find unscented but found the Chewy brand unscented clay litter and bought that the last several years. He - our last cat died a few months ago and haven't gotten another, although I'm feeding a stray outside and hoping it will tame down.
I would suggest you try unscented litter, that stuff makes my eyes burn and nose to get runny. I cat sit for a neighbor and they have the heavily fragranced litter so I know that's the issue for me.
Do a complete change of the litter and clean the box to get rid of most the smell as soon as possible. If the box is scooped out daily you won't have smells in the house, and seriously I'd rather smell the turd than perfumes!

Unscented 100% I can’t stand scented litter

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Several good comments above

Some cats are just really weird about litter boxes. So it may or may not be a litter allergy.
But it shouldn't cause harm to switch litters.
Perhaps he's allergic to dust mites or something?
Or there could be a common ingredient in the current and previous cat foods that are the problem. (Example- if a dog is allergic to eggs, or peas, many dog foods I've seen seem to have those.)
I knew of a dog that was allergic to grass. Got little doggy allergy pills for it.