Not horse related-cat related.please help :(

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midnight mayhem

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I know this isn't horse related but I didn't know where else to turn as my vet is unhelpful. I've had my little cat for three years now. A year ago she had fleas, despite being an indoor cat. Treated her with frontline. But then she begun itching really bad, she scratches herself at her neck and top of tail area, losing all fur at these areas the skin is now bleeding and sore. Vet put it down to fleas every time. For almost a year I've had my cat living with a cone around her head to stop her attacking her poor skin, I've tried various products and vet advice. But I'm at my wits end, as soon as the cone comes off she goes at herself all over again. What could be the cause?!
 
some sort of allergy. you could treat for fleas/worms/mites with advocate to start with. If it doesn't go away, you need a vet to give the cat some anti-allergy drugs, unfortunately, from what you say, you might need to change vets :o
 
Could be fleas or mites or an allergy or an immune problem.

What have you treated the house with?
Does she go outside?
What do you feed?
 
It can be caused by stress sometimes - stress alopecia. To be honest though it sounds as if you really need to be getting a second opinion, or a referral to a skin specialist at a large clinic/hospital.
 
Most important change is a new vet. It could be any number of things, but without a proactive vet that will try different treatments/do different tests/refer you to a dermatologist then you will get no-where. Poor little cat :( I hope she gets better soon.
 
midnight mayhem said:
I know this isn't horse related but I didn't know where else to turn as my vet is unhelpful. I've had my little cat for three years now. A year ago she had fleas, despite being an indoor cat. Treated her with frontline. But then she begun itching really bad, she scratches herself at her neck and top of tail area, losing all fur at these areas the skin is now bleeding and sore. Vet put it down to fleas every time. For almost a year I've had my cat living with a cone around her head to stop her attacking her poor skin, I've tried various products and vet advice. But I'm at my wits end, as soon as the cone comes off she goes at herself all over again. What could be the cause?!
Click to expand...

TBH it sounds like a flea allergy - I have been there with an indoor cat and just could not understand it. Can I ask, are you worming with something like drontal as well as treating for fleas, if not then it is a never ending cycle. Try frontline again along with drontal dosed exactly to her weight and something like aloe or sudocreme on the sore skin to try and break the cycle of itching.
 
have you thought whether your cat is allergic to any household cleaners/products that you use ? my parents love all these room freshener sprays, they make me gag and I un-plug them - maybe your cat is allergic to something you use in the house ?
 
My little Birman went like this. The Frontline actually made her worse. She lost so much weight I was almost too embarrassed to take her to the vet. Her tail had hardly any hair left on it as did her backend. She had little scabs all over her neck and chest. We bathed her then Frontlined her again with the spot on. I was at my wits end.

I changed her diet to a 'sensitive stomach ' one - Royal Canin or Hill's Science (have used both now) and my vet gave her an antibiotic jab and de-wormed her. They agreed that she was likely allergic to the fleas themselves even. The antibiotic was precautionary. The stress made her lose weight. Her eyes are still always gunky, despite a course of drops I think she is just highly sensitive (indoor cat too).
I started using Lavender oil on the back of her neck to deter any fleas rather than Frontlining yet again.

Anyway it's been a long slow haul but 4 months on and she has gained loads of weight and her hair is noticeably growing back. The flea population is small and she is a happier cat. So persevere OP and like others said change vets. :)
 
My little cat who's now 15 has had a similar problem for the last 3 years. First the vet thought it was sensitivity to flea-bites, but now they are not so sure. I was already using Frontline and the first autumn it happened (autumn 2009), I went all round the house with flea treatment, especially spraying wooden floors, under beds etc. I also had duvets and bedspreads drycleaned. She kept over-grooming all winter, with a big bald patch at the base of her tail. And then suddenly, in the spring of 2010, she stopped and her lovely coat grew back.

Sadly, come October 2010, the over-grooming started again. This time, I searched online and came up with an Omega3/Omega6 oil supplement. It was £20 for a bottle that lasted about 5 weeks, but it did seem to give the car some relief. Her skin looked less inflamed and she grew some coat round her tail, albeit on the short side. Again, come springtime a year ago, the licking stopped and the coat grew back.

So, onto autumn 2011, six months ago. This winter, the overgrooming has been sporadic, not constant. She has had three bouts of stripping hair of her back and base of her tail, with inflamed skin showing. And each time, after a couple of days, she has stopped and the coat has regrown. (I did not use the oil this winter.)

The little cat was at the vets a few weeks ago on another matter. As I was seeing the senior vet in the practice, I updated him on the dermatitis and overgrooming, and how the oil had helped. He was very interested and said that the seasonal pattern suggested that it was not a flea allergy. But he didn't know what it could be.

I am sorry that the OP's cat has had to wear a collar for so long. I think cats hate collars. When mine have had them after operations they have managed to get them off within minutes of arriving home, and have seemed so miserable with them that I never put them back. But maybe Omega 3 oil will help her cat, and also I hope that the cat will grow out of it, whatever it is.
 
Asides from the allergy thing, collodial silver is great for wounds, sores etc.

When my dog gets hot spots (know it's not the same thing but just an example) I wash the sore patch in collodial silver, pat dry and puff on athletes foot powder - works fantastically, and we were trying everything before discovering this!

Try popping the cat on some white paper and grooming her - gently obviously. If you get little black dust specks on the paper, add some drops of water. If they go red, it's flea droppings.

I found normal frontline didn't work on our animals and had to go for the Frontline combo or Plus; I think they changed the formula, and now the normal one is useless.

Calamine lotion is very soothing (I have severe eczema so I know what it's like LOL), although she will look very silly :D
 
Hi, I have afew cats and know how difficult it can be to get rid of a flea infestation. Unfortunatley once a cat gets fleas they lay eggs at an alarming rate (the fleas not the cat LOL) They can get them from other cats or dogs or even if a human brings one into the home unwittingly. You have to treat your whole house as well as the cat, hoovering every day and always empty the contents into outside bin and possably put some anti flea powder in the hoover just in case. They will also feed off humans and breed around the home in beds etc. Sorry don't really intend to alarm you too much but I went thro this years ago and I spent a small fortune on flea killer. I ended up spraying wasp killer on carpets matresses all soft furnishings etc, You have to leave the room for a while and keep animals and children out till the fumes go, but it does work better than the ones sold for flea killing.( you have to keep at it as eggs turn into tiny pupae and they burrow into warm soft places to turn into adult fleas, and the eggs can stay dormant for a long time.) Fleas do tend to bite around the cats neck and tail as well as the rest of its body. Fleas don't care if you are the cleanest person around, as long as there is a blood suply and you are unlucky enough they will move in.
Sorry this sounds like an essay, just wanted to help if I could.
I hope you and your cat get relief soon.
PM if you want any more info or you want a chat, I've been there and it isn't nice!!
 
Our little rescue cat was similar. She goes outdoors and is a fab hunter, so we had an endless cycle of fleas, and she was licking herself so much that she went bald all around her back end.

We sprayed the whole house, and treated the cat with Advocate from the vet for fleas, but because I suspected it might also be diet-related I also changed her diet to one for more sensitive cats - within a week she had stopped licking and her coat was growing back.

Still don't know whether it was the fleas or diet, or both.

Good luck.
 
midnight mayhem said:
I know this isn't horse related but I didn't know where else to turn as my vet is unhelpful. I've had my little cat for three years now. A year ago she had fleas, despite being an indoor cat. Treated her with frontline. But then she begun itching really bad, she scratches herself at her neck and top of tail area, losing all fur at these areas the skin is now bleeding and sore. Vet put it down to fleas every time. For almost a year I've had my cat living with a cone around her head to stop her attacking her poor skin, I've tried various products and vet advice. But I'm at my wits end, as soon as the cone comes off she goes at herself all over again. What could be the cause?!
Click to expand...

Are you using prescription Frontline, or the stuff from petstores? One of mine was the same, and it wasn't til I started using the proper stuff that his skin cleared up and he stopped scratching himself raw. Now use Advocate and Drontal spot ons, and he is fine.
 
The only sure way to treat the house completely (vac and spray will only get accessible areas) is to use one of these. Make sure all animals are shut out, click down the fogger and leave the room for however long it says (mine is 2 hours). Everything will be dead once you come back, no fleas, flies nothing. It makes a huge difference to the success of treating the animal if you can clear the reservoir of reinfestation. You will still need to treat the animal (use vet stuff for that side of things, much more effective)

http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/bob-martin-home-flea-fogger-plus_1_18273.html
 
Many moons ago I showed/bred cats at the time we used an orange coloured aerosol, can't remember the name, anyway it stopped being effective and we had a flea problem.
I got enviromental health to spray the house, the suggested Coopers Fly Spray, but most fly sprays work, spray a room and leave it preferably overnight, then roll
a ball or can accross the floor, without going in, any eggs hatch thinking it's feed time, hatch and starve to death.
Ditto BigRed, shake and vac caused similar symptons in one of my cats.
Hope you find the cause
 
Same problem with mine. Not fleas, though vet sure it was. Stress related over grooming (we finally were able to link each episode to a change in the household routine).

Steroid injection to calm the irritation and prescribed ovarid to help manage the stress. At frst, he was on a reguar dose of ovarid, but We are now able to spot the first signs and medicate accordingly. Sorted!

But seriously you need to change your vet!
 
Don't bother with frontline it's the biggest waste off money out.
Stronghold is great and also treats for roundworms but better still treats the area where the cats sleep etc.
I will place money on it being flea ezema ( spelling)
these little fleas course a lot off problems as we found out working for the cpl for 25 years
 
Ok - you poor thing, poor cat....sound like change vet if first thing. New pair of eyes on the situation.

Rule out fleas by using stonghold and doing a spray in the house (just so you can rule it out) Also if vet suggests it get them to use a flea comb and see if they can find ANY evidence of fleas.....my vet did this and couldn't find anything.

One of my vets suggested that mites was more likely. We had a stronghold spray which worked...but my cat was not as bad as yours.

Food would be a good thing to try....foods without preservatives, my vet suggested a chep brand...I think it was called 'classic' and is in tescos.

Pure Aloe sound like a grand idea....I do not know if aloe is safe for cats to ingest...would have to do some digging.

Good luck...so hard when you want to help them and nothing is working.
 
sounds like stress to me. Slightly controversial, but I would recommend feeding a raw diet. I've got all my cats on raw and they thrive on it - they are much healthier to look at and much less stressed because they are not having to try and process the sugars in the manufactured food. A friend of mine had a cat with the same problem as yours and tried everything. I eventually persuaded her to try raw and 6 months later the cat has a beautiful glossy coat and is much healthier. There are quite a few good pre done mixes available if you don't want to make your own - PM me if you want more info :)
 
I'd recommend treating with something other than frontline too, it is often ineffective, Advocate or Stronghold are better.

I have a cat that has a food allergy, her face and eyes swell and she gets itchy with crusty weeping sores and then hair loss.

We've found that she seems to tolerate whiskas sachets, but they have to be in jelly, but cats can be allergic to cereals, beef, eggs, milk or anything else! We found through a process of elimination which foods she seems able to tolerate, but each food takes 6 weeks to trial to see if symptoms stop. We also try to get some hydrocortisone cream on to ease it, can be prescribed by the vet, but also bought without prescription from a pharmacy.
 
I am having this ATM, dog is upset as now is the only dog and cat is the only cat, after being being bottom of pack they have sadly found themselves at the tip, I bought tea tree oil spray from PAH amd has certainly helped calm down their skin:) x
 
poor thing...my cat suffers from the same. Vets can't figure out if stress related, fleas or just an allergy. We only know he will scratch and lick himself bloody.

What finally seemed to make a difference is Cortavance. Got it from vet and it's a cutaneous spray solution for dogs :eek: I only use a tiny bit whenever he gets itchy and it seems to give him some quick relieve.

Good luck and hope kitty will be better soon.
 
Thank you so much to everyone who posted, I'm overwhelmed with all the advice and so pleased that now I have several options to try and loads of lovely advice to consider-so many things I hadn't thought of! Thanks again all you lovely people, I feel so much more positive now :) xxxx
 
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