Please help; my cat is pawly 🥺

Hi all,

Was just wondering if anyone has any advice for me here please.

My lovely nephew, Woody, who is 10 years old, has suffered with this paw irritation shown above for as long as I can remember. I’m pretty sure it used to be on his back left paw, but is now on his back right. Coincidentally, when this flares up, his eye also tends to get a bit poorly too; not too sure if it spreads to his eye when he uses his back foot to scratch. It doesn’t seem to be seasonal, as it’s flared up at random times of the year, neither does it seem to be environmental as he’s moved around with us to a few different places. He was kept indoors when my sister, his Mum, lived in an apartment, and when they moved to a house, he was allowed out. He’s currently living with me and is allowed out into the garden but not elsewhere as he has a tendency of getting into fights! He is on a grain free diet, and has a very slight heart murmur, but I’m not sure if this is relevant.

We’ve taken him to the vet and they’ve prescribed Isaderm, Aurimic and most recently Cortavance. The vet has now advised us to apply Cortavance topically as a preventative measure, and when he flares up. It feels as if they are just treating the symptom rather than trying to find the root cause. Surely all the steroids aren’t good for the lovely boi? The vet recommended changing to a hydrolyzed diet, but even this seemed a bit of a shot in the dark rather than an actual action to take. Maybe it’s time for a full allergy test? The vet seemed a little reluctant but I can’t remember why exactly.

I guess the aim of this post is to get input from my fellow cat lovers, and advice on what could be done going forward.

Thank you so much in advance!