Sofi is scratching her fur out.

[Mrs Kane]

UPDATED June 2016 : please scroll to bottom to read latest problem

Hey guys,

I'm in need of some advice. My cat Sofi has been scratching her fur out over the past 3 days on her head and a little on her neck.

The patches are all clean of scabbing and crustiness. There's a minute amount of blood in the latest patch she's torn out at some point this evening but other than that they look fine and don't show any sign of redness or irritation.
(See pictures for proof. Sorry about the horrible quality, I took them on my phone while she was asleep on me. Circled the spots she's made over the past few days for you because her dark head fur makes it hard to see.)
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc13 ... G_1221.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc13 ... 1224_1.jpg

When I saw the first little bald spot I thought possibly it was something she'd had for a while that I'd missed. But after the others have begun appearing I'm starting to get concerned.
She does seem to be scratching herself more on her face but I don't know if that's just me noticing it more because I'm worried or she genuinely is scratching more.
So of course I've gone to the most reliable source in the world for information: "WebVet!" and they've made me think that Sofi either has cancer or is morphing into the latest installment of the Alien VS Predator franchise. I kid of course, but all the answers they're coming up with have me stumped for why she's doing this and the symptoms don't match up.

So just to be clear; Sofi is a house cat in a city. She's at very little risk of the normal fleas and mites you'd normally see in cats. We also don't have carpets in the flat so there's no risk there either. Nothing has changed recently in our apartment in terms of moving or bringing in new furniture. There are no new guests around and no new neighbours that I'm aware of. We haven't changed her food or litter brands in months either and I'm still using the same cleaning products I've always used for everything.
She's perfectly fine in herself. She's still as active and affectionate as ever, still gets into all sorts of mischief and loves to be a lap cat and sleep on either me or my OH. Her eating is fine (she's a little plump but she's been like that for a while, she looooooves food!) drinking is fine and toilet habits are normal.

Anything you'd advise on this type of thing? I'm loathed to take her to the vet because sadly it's January and we are incredibly low on cash. (Like, "if we take her to the vet we won't be able to pay rent" low) Any other time of year I'd take her in a heartbeat because normally we always have vet back up funds for her. But then Christmas happened and I needed to buy a lot of presents and well... the debit card took a little whack.

So long story short, I'm a dumbass that can't be trusted with a debit card and my cat is slowly self-balding herself to death.

Please tell me my cat has decided that "army style" is the new mode for the season!

[Lilith]

Hi there Been there done that in my time and prayed for no vet visits, as I'm sure many others have, and hope the finances improve with the new year.

The only thing I can think of is (worst case scenario and I hope someone can tell me I'm wrong) ringworm - but the lesions are said to be scaly/inflamed, and though it's an airborne infection Sofi and her environment just don't 'tick the boxes' for it - it thrives on overcrowded conditions. (I've never actually seen it and hope never to.)

It certainly doesn't look like fleas; larger patches of fur tend to thin with flea irritation, and there's often a speckled rash known as miliary eczema. Also you'd see flea dirt, flea eggs, fleas...and she really would be scratching like mad...ugh, itch at the thought!

Have you still got biting insects around in Spain in January? Although no, there'd be a red mark.

They can sometimes pluck patches of fur out with over-grooming - but not on her head...

As things are at the moment, she's not overly troubled by it by the sound; it's not a life or death situation and the vet visit could wait till the finances have picked up? Alternatively (and I know it's embarrassing to ask) would your vet agree to see her and let you pay the bill off by instalments?

Again very sorry to hear of your dilemma and hope things, both fur and finances, improve soon, all the very best

[meriad]

I'm with everyone on the "hope the finances improve" bit - Christmas is a lovely time but boy can it hit the finances hard

First off I would flea treat, just in case it is a flea allergy. They are very sneaky little critters and all it takes is one bite of one flea (that you may then never ever see again) to set off an allergic reaction. Were you somewhere recently where you may have totally unwittingly picked up a horrid little friend and maybe bought it home - it happens a lot easier and quicker than you think.

Another thing to consider is that Sofi may, after all this time, have developed a possible food allergy. Not sure what you feed at the moment but have a look at all the bits and bobs and see what the ingredients are and maybe look at cutting out the usual culprits - cereals and certain proteins. It seems that some cats develop an intolerance to one particular protein group, ie all of a sudden they can't have chicken but are fine with game, lamb and beef etc... Don't do what I did and try cut out both at the same time - it's a nightmare trying to find foods, but one after the other . In my case (with Harry) I suspected he has either a flea or fish intolerance because he'd scratch and itch and pull fur something horrid. Once I realised that cutting out fish and cereals together was nigh on impossible I tried to cut out the fish but he wouldn't eat most of the foods that I could find so I then cut out the cereals and I do think that has helped quite a bit; he still nibbles and pulls fur but not as much as he did.

Regarding the spots at the moment - hopefully someone here can confirm if it is indeed OK to use - but I gather Savlon cream is OK to use on minor wounds provided they are in an area where the cat can't lick at them. But as said; I'm not 100% sure on that


Best of luck, I do hope you get to the bottom of what is causing your girl to itch

[Jan]

Have bought and sold the T-shirt on Blackie's scratching episodes! On one occasion, when the vet didn't want to give him an anti-inflammatory, she suggested I try putting a small dab of Vaseline on the bald spot which he had scratched raw. Unfortunately that didn't work for Blackie, but might be worth a try for Sofi?

[Mrs Kane]

Fingers crossed I think I've found the problem. On Monday morning we received some spam mail from Whiskas with cat treats attached. (Occasionally our local supermarkets do this in Spain, they send new products based on purchases from the value card, I've had some weird things come through the mail, for example, an "infused" brillo sponge because I bought Cif and a spicy guacamole sample because I bought Old El Paso...Although some are really neat! I got a Head and Shoulders Citrus sample once and a tiny packets of Cheetos and an Ariel liquid tab!... I'm getting off topic aren't I?) I opened it and gave Sofi 3 nibbles and put the rest on the shelf for later. That evening she started scratching her fur out.

I HOPE that that was the issue because I haven't given her any since Tuesday (I gave her a few more for lunch with her food) and now she's completely fine, just a little bald. She hasn't scratched any fur out since Wednesday. I honestly didn't think about the treats because when I read the ingredients they looked so benign I didn't question it.

Fingers crossed she was allergic to something in the treats. I'm not really a "treat" owner in terms of those you find in the store anyway. I think they're overpriced here (4€ for a tiny bag? you're joking!!!) so normally Sofi gets ham, chicken or tuna as a treat.

So I think the problem is solved! She's been fine so far. I'm still very aware of her when she's grooming but she hasn't been overzealous yet.

PS: Mayday21 - I'm aware you've messaged me, but the site won't let me access your message. Maybe my account is bad, I don't know, but I'm sorry I haven't replied. I can't read it atm.

[Mayday21]

Mrs Kane I emailed to see if any update on Sofi but now have it. Fingers xd you've solved the issue. Vivian

[meriad]

Oh, fingers crossed it was the treats - in which case, monitor your regular food as cereals could well be the culprit

Fusses to your Sofi x

[Lilith]

Yes - do hope it was that!

Wish manufacturers would be more careful!

Hope Sofi continues ok now, best wishes

[Mrs Kane]

Hey guys,

Well... there's only one reason for reactivating this thread. The Sofi scratching has started again.

This time I have a few culprits. As opposed to last time where I had almost nothing to go on.
I'll make a short list for you guys just to give you the gist of the changes I've noticed. As always, any advice is appreciated. Even if it's to say "perhaps you're getting a little too obsessed over your cat, MK" (She's my little baby, I can't help it!!)

1. We have a new roommate who is staying until December. She arrived on Saturday. (Perhaps Sofi is a little worried about this, although we've had guests before and she's never been bothered. Also, she knows the roommate because she is a close friend of ours and has been over to our flat a number of times)
2. Said roommate came to us from a holiday in Morocco, where she stayed in a hotel that had bedbugs. She boiled everything she owned in Morocco that was fabric to make sure they weren't transferred to anyone else, but I'm wondering if some after scent or anything would make Sofi do this. (We haven't seen or felt any trace of bed bugs since roommate showed up on Saturday and she's a meticulously clean person so I'm sure she would say something if she felt there were any bugs in the apartment.)
3. We've had a very sudden spike in temperature over the past week. Sofi is still shedding a lot and her coat change is a lot later than last year. (The reason I know this? I'm a sad git that keeps a diary. I do it to keep up my writing skills in this deluded fantasy that I may actually finish writing a book in my lifetime ) She seems to groom herself a lot more when the weather changes so I wonder if that is upsetting her. In January the same thing happened (diary ) but I've never known a cat to rip out fur because the weather got colder before.
4. We had to change her food. They stopped making the normal Chicken flavour we normally buy and so we had to start buying the salmon flavour. She took to it fine but I realised that we changed her over on Saturday and the scratching started on Sunday.
5. Roommates sister was here temporarily and REALLY loved Sofi. She wanted to be around her all the time and teased her a little by constantly wanting to play with her (I should stress, roommates sister is 41 so she's not a little kid that would be mean to a cat in that way). She left yesterday morning but I wonder if Sofi got a little upset by her presence? She is still scratching so I'm not sure either way.


Just a quick final note to say that she's perfectly happy in herself. She's still hungry, still playful and she's over the moon about our friend coming to stay with us. (She's with her almost every night in bed)
And the bald spots are appearing in EXACTLY the same places as in January. Although I haven't found any blood in or around the areas, nor any trace of mites, residue or anything out of the ordinary like bites, etc.

Any advice is always appreciated. I'm leaning towards the sudden bout of insufferable heat being the issue, but I'm really not sure. I've considered getting Sofi shaved because there's a pet grooming/pet shop 3 doors down. However I'm not sure I want to scare Sofi to death by shaving her or inflict those lovely owners with a willful, "claws out now, ask questions later" cat like Sofi.

Human moment: Hope everyone's week is going well! My work load has finally eased up so I can do some of the things I want to do for a change. I've just finished my bookcase project. I found a bookcase on the street about a month ago that was in need of love so I sanded it and this week finally primed and repainted it! I also repainted and drilled in a new shelf for the bathroom. Sofi was not happy to be disincluded in my projects but I think both look pretty good considered I'm self-training myself. Next stop is sorting out the coffee table we rescued off the street, which is in dire need of some TLC. Kinda boring news but I feel proud!
PS: Sofi is used to a paint smell being around her and I never EVER let her enter the room I paint in before I thoroughly clean it and make sure all toxic chemicals are put away. they'll all on high shelves I built on the kitchen balcony so she can't get to them no matter how high she tries to jump.
hashtag good catDIYowner

[Crewella]

Hiya, nice to see you back again!

Though I'm sorry it's because poor Sofi's scratching again. Because of the history, and the timing, my first thought is that it might be to do with the change in diet. In your shoes, I'd try her on something else for a few days, preferably something she has been eating without issues. Good luck, I hope it's something simple like that. xx

[Lilith]

Hi there and welcome back (I've been away a while myself, missed everybody.) Sorry to hear Sofi's still itchy but honestly I wouldn't have her shaved because although she'd be cooler that could make her itch more than ever when it's growing back...lol I have a very vulgar sense of humour and could make some very naughty jokes here about errm depilation... but better not But it's itchy!

Great to hear about your DIY. That's the best kind of decor, the secondhand street find...a woman after my own heart; no skip used to be safe from me and I have a gorgeous little basket chair that I first saw rolling up to the local tip on the back of a pickup. It never got there

Good luck to Sofi, give her a love from me x

[Jan]

I wish I could offer some advice on this ... or have found an answer ... I'd make a fortune saving the amount of money we've paid to our vet over the last 4/5 months. Nothing seems to work. All I get from the vet for reasons - well actually, they aren't even reasons as she's checked him for everything you can think of. I went in with a long list of possibles - some were dismissed out of hand (politely it has to be said), others were 'possibly'. Its been narrowed down to 2 or 3 real possibles - none of which we can really do anything about.

Mrs K .. if you come up with any definite answers, plse do let me know!

[bobbys girl]

Hi Mrs Kane, and welcome back.

A combination of 3 and 4 sound likely to me. When I buy mixed sachet foods, our lot avoid the salmon ones (wonder if there is something they know that we don't?).

My friends in Southern Spain said their cat became quite miserable and could not settle if there was a sudden spike in temperature. She usually spent a good deal of the day under her favourite olive tree, moving around with the shade. But if there was a particularly hot few days, she would lie on the tiles in the kitchen or go to the far end of the plot to take advantage of the breeze that comes up the valley most afternoons. Also her gekko chasing stopped completely.

As for skip-dipping, we started a business on the back of it! It was never a big money spinner (you can't charge for the time it takes - at least not in rural Ireland!) But it was very satisfying and led to other opportunities. I sometimes think I am the original 'Second-hand Rose'. Even my 'Jake the Plumber' (Dave, the Polymer Chemist/Engineer doesn't have the same ring.) was married before.

At the moment I am stripping down two old, upholstered dining chairs that belonged to a friends mum. There was a time I would have done the whole thing but I don't do so much now, so she will get them upholstered elsewhere. Keep up the good work and post some pics of your work. I'd like to see them.

I really hope Sofi's discomfort is a passing thing and she is happier very soon. There is nothing worse than being uncomfortable in your own skin/fur. It is something you can't escape.

[Mrs Kane]

Well she's stopped scratching but there is a noticeable bald patch around her head and on her stomach like before. Thankfully she hasn't created any wounds for herself.

Looking back over my diary notes the only thing that matches up is the weather. So I'm pinning it down to that. Unfortunately, we don't have the cash to put in air conditioning or central heating so Sofi is just going to have to lump it. (Sorry Sofi, I don't have a money tree)

[Crewella]

I'm glad to hear she has stopped scratching, at least. xx