Girl cat smells of wet dog...help!

[Funnyllama10]

funnyllama10 said:
Hi everyone! New here! I have 2 cats - Toby and Rosie, both part Maine Coon (we think due to their characteristics).

I was wondering if anyone call help me out regarding Rosie.
In the past few months she’s developed scabs on her skin, and every now and then her fur will fall out and is very thin. She grooms a lot too. Toby isn’t like this, he grooms the normal amount and his skin is completely fine.

Ive taken Rosie to the vets, who said a flea allergy, which I expected due to being the most popular reason for a cats skin to become the way hers has. However - she’s had fleas before and her skin was fine, this is recently and as far as we’re aware she has no fleas (we check both cats weekly). Toby let’s us bath him so we use flea shampoo and cat shampoo so he smells great and is fluffy, however when we attempted this with Rosie she clawed my neck and face badly.

Today I noticed she smells bad - like wet dog. And I’m very worried about her. Im
wary of taking her back to the vets to only be told it’s fleas and receive nothing in terms of treatment for her and another £80 bill. We aren’t looking into getting her a body suit to shop her grooming as much.

Has anyone got any thoughts to this?

Thanks

[Janey]

Hi and welcome. My cat suffers with flea allergy dermatitis, so we were told by the vets, as she gets itchy pimples which she scratches and bleeds turning into large scabs, usually round the head area. It’s worse in the summer time. The vet said to use Advocate monthly which we did, otherwise she has to have a comfy collar on to stop her scratching, and we were using some antiseptic powder, bought from a pet shop or Amazon. However we noticed last year she was getting these pimples after two weeks, the vet said it could be a different insect biting her causing a reaction as Advocate won’t cover every type of insect, especially with her being a bit of a hunter, it could be something off mice etc. Or it could be a different allergy, such as to pollens, which come out on the skin when inhaled, and she gave me some steroid cream which you only use a tiny bit of as and when. Anyhow during this winter I’ve stopped the Advocate as I don’t like giving her too many meds, and we will see how she goes when the weather gets warmer. I’m hoping that keeping an eye on her, if I see any pimply spots, to pop a dab of the cream on and nip it in the bud, without having to use Advocate so often. Btw, she doesn’t have fleas it’s the insects which bite and cause a reaction, and we’ve never bathed her with anything, just used vet prescribed flea treatments which are supposed to cover everything.

[Funnyllama10]

Thank you! I’ll look into getting that and seeing how she goes with it. I did also forget to mention - she’s a house cat due to living on a main road in a city centre.

We’re just finding it very odd as she doesn’t have fleas and she’s acting as normal before she got this. Yet she just seems to come up in scabs, mainly her tail and all along her back - none on her sides, tummy or head.

I’ll give the cream a go and see what happens. What kind of collar is it that you put on yours?

Thanks again!

[Janey]

Thank you! I’ll look into getting that and seeing how she goes with it. I did also forget to mention - she’s a house cat due to living on a main road in a city centre.

We’re just finding it very odd as she doesn’t have fleas and she’s acting as normal before she got this. Yet she just seems to come up in scabs, mainly her tail and all along her back - none on her sides, tummy or head.

I’ll give the cream a go and see what happens. What kind of collar is it that you put on yours?

Thanks again!

Cats can come to you with fleas, or you can bring them in with you on your shoes etc, so it’s worth spraying the house with something like Indorex just to make sure. The other thing, as you say your cats are house cats, are they ok with that? it’s just that stress e.g. of being kept inside (especially if they have been allowed to go out in the past), or allergies can cause irritated skin and over grooming, My own cat was originally kept locally as an indoor cat and kept escaping and coming to us (that’s actually how we came to take her on) and we kept taking her back. One time she came was after a year and her fur was nearly bald, they said due to either fleas, or stress of being kept in. We took her on in the end as the owner felt she’d be better here. We live in a cul-de-sac and she is free to go out when she likes now and much happier. I’m not saying that’s the problem, and wouldn’t recommend letting her out near traffic, but it’s just a thought as to what may be the problem. I only put a collar on my cat when she goes out, as she’s a hunter and I put a couple of bells on to alert the birds and try and stop her catching them! The collar I always use is a safety collar, i.e. quick release one, at the moment it’s by Ancol, and I take it off when she’s indoors as that too could irritate their skin as could certain foods. It’s really difficult trying to pinpoint allergies/sensitivities unfortunately.

[Ruth B]

Everyone else has given advice regarding the fleas, but I wanted to add something a bit different and regarding the smell.

We used to have a Ragdoll cat and one time, when he was in his early teens, I noticed his scent had changed. He was the type of cat you could pick up and cuddle so I was probably aware of his normal scent than i would be with a cat that was less cuddly. There were also other indications that something wasn't quite right but we couldn't quite pinpoint what. We took him in for a vet check anyway, and i felt a right fool standing there and telling the vet that we thought something was wrong because he smelled different. He did have some dental work needed, but that wasn't what i was smelling, when they did the blood tests prior to the dental work they found out he was in the early stages of kidney disease, that was what I had picked up.

In the end the kidneys were struggling because of the dental infection and with treatment and medication he recovered and the kidney problems actually reverted, he lived for another 3 to 4 years before succumbing to old age.

If we hadn't been concerned about the smell and had the blood tests done, the kidney problem wouldn't have been picked up until it was possibly too late. I have never worried about saying something that might sound a little foolish at the vets regarding my cats since. I would suggest that you take Rosie to the vets again and mention that she is smelling different and enquire about blood tests.

I will also add that fleas aren't the only thing a cat can be allergic to, cleaning products, washing powders, indoor plants etc, could all be the source of the problem, but if she is suffering a bad allergic reaction to something then it could be affecting her in other ways.

[Funnyllama10]

Thank you! I think I’ll most definitely take her to the vets just to make sure - I’ll be trying a different one though as my previous vet literally shrugged it off as fleas, didn’t check her over and charged me £80.

I understand cats can come with fleas and we can bring them in, however as previously mentioned we check both cats weekly, they’re on a strict flea treatment schedule and the house is sprayed once every 3 months (as the can recommends) - this is because when we first got them as kittens they had no fleas as the lady who sold them to us had caught them all and we started weekly with them then. We then moved into our current house who has signs of a dog previously and they then recaught fleas. My girlfriend absolutely hates them (as many do) and she is very OCD with ensuring the cats don’t have them.

The cats have also never showed signs they want to be outside. Infact Rosie is the least interested and Toby just likes to chirp at the birds. Also, because we’re in a terrace house (which is huge so defiantly big enough for them both) and literally on a main road they’re pretty scared of the cars and the noise they make when we open the door to get in and out. So I doubt she’s stressed over being an indoor cat as that is all she has ever known.

I’ll give the vets a call and explain the situation and see if they can get me in with her soon to see what’s going on as I honestly believe this isn’t a flea situation anymore.

Thank you again