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our cat keeps scratching
My wife and I need some advice on what is going on with one of our two cats.
For some reason she keeps scratching her neck and face. We cut her nails every two weeks and I used a flea comb on her last night which came up negative to everything but little white hairs. The problem is that she continually has scabs around her neck and she has gotten something with her eye causing it to redden slightly on the eyelids and causing the area to swell. It doesn't cause her any pain, but it's hard to tell since she starts purring if you get close to her. There is another cat involved. They get along most of the time (mainly at night when they have to sleep together when the heat is off), but they do have theeir moments so we can't really rule out that it isn't the other cat behind the small scabs. But then there is the scratching... We have insurance and any ideas at all will be appreciated. Thanks. |
#2
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"Corey" wrote in message ... My wife and I need some advice on what is going on with one of our two cats. For some reason she keeps scratching her neck and face. We cut her nails every two weeks and I used a flea comb on her last night which came up negative to everything but little white hairs. The problem is that she continually has scabs around her neck and she has gotten something with her eye causing it to redden slightly on the eyelids and causing the area to swell. It doesn't cause her any pain, but it's hard to tell since she starts purring if you get close to her. There is another cat involved. They get along most of the time (mainly at night when they have to sleep together when the heat is off), but they do have theeir moments so we can't really rule out that it isn't the other cat behind the small scabs. But then there is the scratching... We have insurance and any ideas at all will be appreciated. Thanks. Sounds like allergies to me. Try vacuuming and dusting EVERY day for a while. If you own an air purifier run it. If things improve, it could be inhalent allergies. (If so, vacumming and a good air purifier do wonders to keep the twitchies down.) If not, try food elimination. Your vet has special foods with the protein completely broken down. You have to feed it for about 8 weeks to see a difference. If it improves then you add different foods back in until the behaviour recurs, then you know which foods are the culprits. If the scabs are too bad, you must see a vet, who will put the cat on antibiotics to keep out secondary infections. They might also try depo shots, as that helps allergies, but I would not want to try that unless I knew I coudln't control it through environment or food. Karen |
#3
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"Corey" wrote in message ... My wife and I need some advice on what is going on with one of our two cats. For some reason she keeps scratching her neck and face. We cut her nails every two weeks and I used a flea comb on her last night which came up negative to everything but little white hairs. The problem is that she continually has scabs around her neck and she has gotten something with her eye causing it to redden slightly on the eyelids and causing the area to swell. It doesn't cause her any pain, but it's hard to tell since she starts purring if you get close to her. There is another cat involved. They get along most of the time (mainly at night when they have to sleep together when the heat is off), but they do have theeir moments so we can't really rule out that it isn't the other cat behind the small scabs. But then there is the scratching... We have insurance and any ideas at all will be appreciated. Thanks. Sounds like allergies to me. Try vacuuming and dusting EVERY day for a while. If you own an air purifier run it. If things improve, it could be inhalent allergies. (If so, vacumming and a good air purifier do wonders to keep the twitchies down.) If not, try food elimination. Your vet has special foods with the protein completely broken down. You have to feed it for about 8 weeks to see a difference. If it improves then you add different foods back in until the behaviour recurs, then you know which foods are the culprits. If the scabs are too bad, you must see a vet, who will put the cat on antibiotics to keep out secondary infections. They might also try depo shots, as that helps allergies, but I would not want to try that unless I knew I coudln't control it through environment or food. Karen |
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"Karen" dumped this in
on 23 Mar 2004: snip If it improves then you add different foods back in until the behaviour recurs, then you know which foods are the culprits. If the scabs are too bad, you must see a vet, who will put the cat on antibiotics to keep out secondary infections. They might also try depo shots, as that helps allergies, but I would not want to try that unless I knew I coudln't control it through environment or food. A week or so ago I posted that Shamrock was starting to get lesions again after 2 months on antihistamines, EFA vitamin pills, and a depo shot. I don't like to bring him in for another shot unless it gets really bad because he just gets so many of them. I almost discontinued the antihistamines thinking they weren't doing any good, but one thing that I did a week or so before the lesions showed up was give him a food with fish. I suspected fish in the past but he'd been doing so good, and he loves fish cat food. Instead, I'm back to keeping fish out of his diet and surprisingly the lesions are going away, with a little help from a topical steroid spray. They never go away without a depo shot, ever in his history. I now think the antihistamines are working, but not to the point of making an allergen a non-allergen. No more fish for Shamrock, ever. Poor boy. -- Cheryl |
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"Karen" dumped this in
on 23 Mar 2004: snip If it improves then you add different foods back in until the behaviour recurs, then you know which foods are the culprits. If the scabs are too bad, you must see a vet, who will put the cat on antibiotics to keep out secondary infections. They might also try depo shots, as that helps allergies, but I would not want to try that unless I knew I coudln't control it through environment or food. A week or so ago I posted that Shamrock was starting to get lesions again after 2 months on antihistamines, EFA vitamin pills, and a depo shot. I don't like to bring him in for another shot unless it gets really bad because he just gets so many of them. I almost discontinued the antihistamines thinking they weren't doing any good, but one thing that I did a week or so before the lesions showed up was give him a food with fish. I suspected fish in the past but he'd been doing so good, and he loves fish cat food. Instead, I'm back to keeping fish out of his diet and surprisingly the lesions are going away, with a little help from a topical steroid spray. They never go away without a depo shot, ever in his history. I now think the antihistamines are working, but not to the point of making an allergen a non-allergen. No more fish for Shamrock, ever. Poor boy. -- Cheryl |
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From: "Corey"
The problem is that she continually has scabs around her neck and she has gotten something with her eye causing it to redden slightly on the eyelids and causing the area to swell. It doesn't cause her any pain, but it's hard to tell since she starts purring if you get close to her. Keep in mind cats are very stoic by their nature as predators, so will often not exhibit pain. We have insurance and any ideas at all will be appreciated. Since you have insurance, I would most definitely get your kitties to the vet for a thorough examination. Lauren ________ See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm |
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From: Cheryl
No more fish for Shamrock, ever. Poor boy. Give Shamrock a big hug from me. I can relate, I also have a fish allergy and can never have fish. Lauren ________ See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm |
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