FIV cat with Eosinophilic Granulomas

Hello everyone, Our cat Bear was diagnosed with FIV when we adopted him. He is 4 years old now and has been suffering from Eosinophilic granulomas on his lips (sometimes his paws) all his life - picture for reference. We took him into 3 different veterinary clinics and all of them pretty much agreed that it’s probably Eosinophilic granulomas due to his FIV state although he was never officially tested for it. Our latest major vet visit was when we removed his teeth except his canines because he was also getting bad lesions on his gums. During this visit, our vet advised us to put him on a hydrolyzed protein diet to rule out food allergy. So far it has been pretty ineffective. Seems like it comes and goes every 2months. Has anyone had experience with treating eosinophilic granulomas on their cats? I would love to know what we can do for our next step to treat this. So far, we have been on this new diet for about 6 months. Our vet has been prescribing him prednisolone any time he get his swells. Seems like it’s effective, but we would love to figure out all the alternative treatments before relying on steroids. thank you for your time! 

Hello - my understanding is that some EGC lesions can be treated with topical steroids, ie ones applied to the surface rather than being given eg as tablets, that circulate round the body and affect the cats' whole system (so called systemic treatment).  There are also steroid - equivalent drugs such as cyclosporine that are given to avoid steroid use, frequently when treating skin disease.   Antihistamines may or may not be appropriate.   However. I have no idea how the use of these drugs would suit your own cats' particular case.  They may be something to ask your vet or, failing that, a referral skin vet, about.

Please will you let us know what happens in the end with this case?