Purina LiveClear to reduce sinusitis in cat owners

This is a quick note on a product which has been around for a while now, Purina LiveClear, a dry cat food which coats the cat allergen which causes an allergic reaction in people. This is a protein called Fel D1. And in coating this protein it prevents it having the same effect and irritating people who are sensitive to it. 

And one of the effects of cat dander on people who are allergic to cats is that their sinuses become inflamed. This is sinusitis. There are other symptoms such as sneezing and watery eyes et cetera. It depends upon the severity of the reaction in the allergic person.

But the point I want to make here is this: there may be a lot of people who are not formally diagnosed as being allergic to cats but their sinuses might be inflamed by the Fel D1 allergen without the person realising it.

Sinusitis is a very common condition as it affects around 10%-30% of people in the United States and Europe with chronic sinusitis affecting about 12.5% of people according to Wikipedia.

Purina LiveClear review

But as I said, there are different grades of severity of sinusitis and some people might suffer from minor sinusitis and it may be caused by cat dander

And what I'm proposing here is that in order to check if a cat owner is suffering from mild sinusitis they should purchase some Purina LiveClear and test it. Test whether their sinusitis decreases in severity while they feed their cat with this product.

My research indicates that the product is reasonably successful in its objective. That's based on reviews you can read online.

My feeling is that there are perhaps many thousands of people living with cats who don't know that they are in a minor way allergic to them. That's because their symptoms are so low level that they don't recognise the problem but their sinuses may be affected and this test will at least tick that box to make sure that they are not suffering unnecessarily..

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Can cats get sinusitis?

Cats can, indeed, get sinusitis just like their human caregiver. Respiratory infections (URIs) are common in cats. They can lead to secondary, bacterial infections of the frontal sinuses. These occur with some frequency. The signs are the same as those that you would expect to see with people. 

Cat with a headache head-pressing to alleviate it. Pic in the public domain.

The symptoms include a persistent, purulent, nasal discharge, often just from one nostril accompanied by sneezing and sniffling. The cat will probably have a headache although they can't tell you that. Once again, you can deduce this from the fact that people have headaches when they have sinusitis. Sometimes cats 'head-press' when they have headaches.

The cat may appear to sit with his eyes partially closed and his head hanging. He will suffer from a diminished appetite and lose weight. This is all very typical with humans except humans although feeling bad with sinusitis continue to eat normally.

An abscessed tooth can also lead to an abscessed frontal sinus. There may be a swelling below the eye. But this is uncommon in cats.

Sinusitis in cats can also be caused by a fungal infection but this is uncommon. The fungal diseases concerned are cryptococcosis and aspergillosis. Cryptococcus is often associated with exposure to pigeons. This may occur when dust from pigeon poop blows in through an open window.

A veterinarian will diagnose feline sinusitis through external symptoms and demeanour as mentioned above confirmed by an x-ray which may show increased density in one sinus.

Also, the treatment is the same as for people namely antibiotics which should be chosen carefully and based on culture and sensitivity tests. Surgical procedures can be performed but I would expect this to be as an absolute last resort.

Turning briefly to people, as I understand it, sinusitis can be caused by allergens and minute foreign bodies such as pollen being inhaled. A cat might be particularly sensitive to environmental, airborne, particles such as pollen which may cause sinusitis in that individual cat. If that is true, I would expect the owner to run some tests to see whether keeping the cat inside, in a filtered environment, alleviates the condition.

In people, there are a number of treatments that can be used without the intervention of a doctor such as NeilMed sinus rinse. It's a question of using all one's means to prevent the inhalation of particles which can trigger the production of fluid in the sinuses because they irritate the membrane in the sinuses.

Cats have two frontal and two sphenoid (wedge-shaped) sinuses. My book tells me that the small sphenoid sinuses don't often cause problems.