Cat skin ailment - help needed!

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catfella
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Cat skin ailment - help needed!

Post by catfella »

Hi!
My parents have a cat, named Kiki, that's had a long-term skin ailment for at least a year. I'm hoping someone can help.

I've posted a few photos online at http://imgur.com/a/2KVjY.

They've had the cat for 18 months to two years. The cat was a stray, found in a farm field as a kitten. It followed my mom home, but had fleas, and bumps on its neck that my parents felt were related.

They took it to the vet, which spayed the cat and examined it. The flea treatment eliminated the fleas, but the bumps on her neck have remained.

My parents are poor, and they're reluctant to incur the cost of taking the cat to the vet again - especially since they've already been, and the problem remains. This is their first cat in about 25 years, but they're decades-long dog owners, and in their experience, the vets in the area aren't great. Kiki is the only pet they currently have, and she's an indoor cat.

Aside from the raised bumps on her neck, Kiki also has occasional red, bite-like marks elsewhere on her body. She's reluctant to be touched and doesn't rub against the furniture. Starting more than a year ago, Kiki has been licking out her fur, starting at her rear and moving upward along her body. Most of her coat is now underfur; she has stripped out her main coat over about 2/3 of her body.

My hope is that, if someone here can provide some guidance, they may be more willing to take the cat to the vet. If they have some strong indications of what the problem may be, I think they'd be less likely to feel like a trip to the vet is a waste of time that will cost money without yielding any health outcomes for their cat.

So: what do you think the problem is? Any thoughts?

And thank you for your help!
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Mayday21
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Re: Cat skin ailment - help needed!

Post by Mayday21 »

Hi Catfella if Kiki has a skin ailment it may be a worthwhile for a vet to take a skin scraping & examine under a microscope for what's causing the irritation. Is she an outside cat it may be something in the garden or a food allergy. People may have other ideas. Vivian
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meriad
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Re: Cat skin ailment - help needed!

Post by meriad »

if poor Kiki has a flea allergy then your parents are going to have to flea treat her regularly, ie monthly and with a treatment bought from the vet and not from the pet shop as they don't work very well and very often have horrendous consequences... and please whatever you do make 100% certain that you parents DO NOT use any flea product for dogs on the cat - it will kill the cat as the ingredient in the dog one is highly toxic to cats. I know you said your parents are poor, but please make sure they buy all meds from the vet.

Other things that could be causing the issue with Kiki is food intolerances. Do you know what your parents are feeding Kiki at the moment. Most cheaper dry foods (GoCat, Whiskas etc) have cereal as their main ingredient, and often with colourants - and very little meat content; everything a cat really doesn't need really. If Kiki isn't a fussy eater, then ask your parents to buy Butchers Classic tinned food - it's very high meat content, cereal and chemical free, and really good - and best it's less than £3.00 for 6 tins.

But I hate saying this - poor or not - Kiki will need to be seen by a vet again and most likely prescribed some steroids to help her with the itching until the c cause can be found.
zavvy
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Re: Cat skin ailment - help needed!

Post by zavvy »

hi catfella my little tilly had nearly the same thing over the Christmas period, she has had this before and was given steroids to help from the vet. but I also read up on this thing and you can put savlon on this area, very little and rub it ever so gently, it is not poisons to the cat and it does take the itching away. the cat may try to lick this cream so if you can put a Victorian collar on it to stop this. good luck but you may have to take it to the rspca.
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