Though Alex’s overall health remains fine, his skin condition has taken a turn for the worse during this past month.
We noticed that the small “bumps” had turned into crusty, scabby lesions all over his body.
As mentioned in last month’s update, this condition is usually caused by food allergies.
But, as we also discussed, Alex is very picky when it comes to food: he won’t eat dry food & he would only eat “junky” wet food.
This had so far made it impossible for us to feed the type of food that had a chance of curing his dermatitis.

But, when we saw how bad his skin had become, we decided to revisit the food issue.
So, we did some more research and found that one of the preferred wet foods for Alex was now being made in additional flavors.
With a little experimentation, we found that Alex would eat two of the flavors, as long as we alternated them, so he didn’t get tired of either flavor.

So, for the past 2 weeks, we have been feeding Alex exclusively with wet food that should be good for his skin condition.
So far we have not noticed any improvement.
But, it can take 6-12 weeks on a new diet to see a change, if one if going to occur.
So we need to give it more time before knowing whether the diet will help his skin.

During this past month I’ve been spending more time in the FIV+ Suite, trying to get to know Alex better.
I must admit that he is a funny little guy.
He ios quite vocal, but his meow is very “whiney” sounding, so it seems as if he is always complaining.
He also remains quite timid.
Even though he knows me, I have to sit quietly in the room for a good five minutes before he will approach me and let me pet him.

I still worry about Alex.
There’s something about him that feels fragile.
I am going to increase my time with him again this upcoming month and see if I can get him to come out of his shell.

Meanwhile, thanks so much for caring about ALex and helping us to care for him as he needs and deserves.