Allergy testing for my cat?

Question

My cat is allergic to multiple things which I already know. I'm sure she has allergies to other things which I don't know of. I would like to have her tested for allergies. She has Feline Herpes Virus so I have a housecall vet for her as I do not want her stressed or she gets URI's. I would like to know what this test consists of. Is it skin scraping? Does it hurt her in any way? Would the vet be able to conduct this test at home and what happens after. Would she need allergy shots for the rest of her life? Cortisone injections are out of the question as this activates her virus and I do not want to give her antihistamines as this could harm her kidneys down the road. For those of you who have done this, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Also, if you could give me an estimated cost for the testing. Thank you!

Answer 1

Vets usually start with a simple blood draw and allergy test the bood. If that leads no where and the owner is willing to go further, then a skin prick test is done where small drops of the "allergin" are dropped onto the skin and then a needle is used to prick and break the skin open. If the body reacts to the allergin and a welt forms... then the allergin has been found.

I don't know how much this runs these days for a cat, but I know the skin prik test for a dog runs about $200.00 to $400.00 depending on how extensive you go.

Good luck!