update on kitty with allergies
We took a second trip to the vet. The steroid shot did not take care of the itching and I had put her on Benedryl, but Dr. Kaye put her on another one which is better for cats: chlorpheniramine. And another eye ointment and Clavamox because it definitely has a secondary infection going on.
Two days out and she seems a little better; is not hiding under the bed at least. I made the mistake of letting her go outside yesterday (escorted) and it looks like that makes her scratch her head more, so we won't be doing that for a while. Even with the antihistamine she is still acting itchy.
The vet wants her to try a hypoallergenic diet, but that will have to wait until August when we are back from vacation. Either that or the change in outside allergens around here might be the answer.
I looked at Chewy.com and they have the special diet available cheaper than what they quoted me at the vet clinic.
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This is Little Kitty four and a half years ago, age 9:
Here she is today, age 13 1/2. You can see that the hair above her eyes is a little scratched away, but it also looks like that from the ointment. The eyes are still sore; right eye is the one that was worse. Her forehead stripes got merged together after her 2012 surgery to try to fix the abscess she had! (The wound was right below the stripe, between the eyes, and by the way it wasn't a good idea to do that surgery and we have changed vets since then.)
It did not close up for almost four years, no matter what we tried--antibiotics mostly-- but recently has apparently closed up. Before it was scab-over-then-open-up-and-drain, over and over. The only thing that has changed is that I'm feeding her better canned food than before. Fingers crossed that it stays that way. There might be a scar there, but I'll settle for that!
She's doing better than a few days ago! She's not hiding under the bed for one thing. These things come when a cat gets older--sigh!
But it wouldn't hurt to try it. I recently did give her some Fortiflora that had been left over from my fosters and which was going to expire anyway.
She has no diarrhea; rather she is constipated. I put that down to her age. For that I'm trying a few things, like more liquid in her food and vaseline on her paw! So many things to bother Kitty with! 
True that now she is on Clavamoxx so it would be good to add some probiotics.
