Cat with allergies?

Question
Greetings.

We have a 6 year old female indoor-only mixed breed shorthaired cat. Her name is Kamikaze, and she's fixed. Every spring and summer, she starts water very, very badly at the eyes, and sniffling alot. On some days, when the pollen count is very high, her eyes turn red and she squints alot. We don't change anything in the home, so I feel very confident in saying that it is some form of an inhaled allergen that she is reacting to.

Before I take her to the vet, and am charged with a 50 dollar office visit fee...is there anything that the vet would be able to do for her? Her siblings sometimes get watery eyes, but only for a day. Kamikaze's are all day, and more or less all spring and summer. Late fall it starts to fade off, and then she's fine all winter and early spring. She goes nuts when you rub her eyes for her.

Please advise.

Thank you,
Amanda

Answer
Well, textbook thinking will tell you that most animals do not suffer from allergies the way that we do, however, we have seen cats with this type of problem for years. Where we live a lot of it comes from woodstove smoke.

Having said that, you need to ask the vet what kind of eye drops you can use over the counter for her, such as Visine or some sort of eye cleanser. This will keep the stuff out or rinse it out and help somewhat.

But cats are sensitive to many drugs so you really need to ask them first.

Antihistamines won't do much good as they pretty much do nothing for inhalant allergies. Most inhalant allergies in cats and dogs manifest themselves as skin disorders, itching, scratching, sores, etc.

I would call the vet, not go in, and ask them to ask the technician or the vet if some sort of eye wash would help.
That's about all I can suggest for her.
One thing I would say is do not rub her eyes. While I know it feels good to her, you are embedding pollens and other things that way into her cornea (surface of the eyeball) which will only result in more irritation.
Washing them out would be better for her.

Let me know how it goes.