Cat is Excessively Scratching and Grooming

[Karbs]

Thank you for taking time to read my post. I've been to 3 different vets with no signs of improvement and can't afford another visit so any of your feedback would be greatly appreciated. So a little background about my kitty... She is a 6 yr old domestic shorthair who has been healthy her whole life up until about July 2020 when I noticed she had begin to scratch more than normal. I was living with a dog at the time so I assumed she just had gotten fleas and it was an easy fix. After I determined fleas weren't the issue I took her to the vet. The vet couldn't find anything wrong and gave me 3 possibilities. It could be either food allergies, stressful location with the dog, or seasonal allergies. I switched her food to a vet prescribed food, moved into a new house with no other animals and bought a air purifier to clean out the pollen in the house. After about a month or so nothing worked... She would continue to scratch around her ears and under her neck and clean herself all over. And when I say all over, I don't think there's a moment when I looked over at her she wasn't doing one of the two things. So I took her to a new vet. They found nothing wrong with her and prescribed her Atopica. That didn't work either. So I tried my chances again with a new vet. They ran blood test and the results came back negative.

Currently I'm at the point where I have little options left. The poor cat is still constantly grooming or scratching. But now, almost every morning I wake up to vomit somewhere on the floor. It looks like a clearish / greenish liquid with fur.

If anyone has any idea or suggestion that I might have missed, please, I'm open to anything!

Thanks!

[Mollycat]

Green vomit is potentially serious so money could become a big problem if you can't afford another vet visit. So at this stage no vets are aware of the green vomit? And is your cat eating ok? Do you know what they were looking for in the blood tests?

[Karbs]

Hey Mollycat!

Thank you for replying!

I looked up the vomiting thing and I guess its a hairball? They stated "Green bile or a yellow, foamy vomit is normally caused by a hairball." Which would make sense since is constantly licking herself. The cat is eating fine, she didn't seem to mind when I switched over to the vet prescribed food. From the notes I could find, this is the test that was done:

Feline Senior Wellness Screen
Complete Blood Count and Chemistry
Urinalysis
Thyroid Screen (T4 and free T4)

I read some other forums that allergies could play a big part. I'm currently seeing if switching tap to purified water will make a difference.

[Mollycat]

It's normal for a cat to bring up a furball once in a while, for some as often as once a week, but it's not normal daily and it's definitely not normal with bile. And obsessive grooming and scratching isn't normal either.

Do you give her any obvious allergens like milk, does she have dry food, what do you feed her? You could also take a long look at the cleaning and laundry chemicals you use, what does she sleep on? Cat beds and cat fleecy materials are ok, some cheap materials generate static with cat fur which can be quite a problem. Plants, air fresheners, what you was her dishes with, those are all more likely than her food to cause issues.

Does she have flakes of dry skin like dandruff? If so, where on her body is it? Does she get little mini clumps of fur falling off with a scab-like large flake of skin attached?

Sounds to me more likely the problem is topical and has become internal as she ingests more fur, but the bile thing is worrying.

Does she have set meal times or is she free-fed?

[Ruth B]

I have to agree with Mollycat you need to take a good long look at what is around the house, particularly anything changed or introduced June or July time, did you bring anything into the house at that time, or did you change washing powder/liquid, did you do any extra cleaning that meant you used new floor/carpet cleaners, did you change your soaps or shampoos, or try an new type of air freshener. It may not be anything that has obvious contact with her, but something that is in the air and is irritating her.

The other thought is a stress reaction that has become habit, she had a dog invade to her territory, then she was taken out of the territory she knew into a new one, both stressful for her, even if done with the best intentions, not to mention three trips to the vets. If it is a behavioural issue then breaking the pattern may not be quite so simple as a course of medication, but could be a lot cheaper. Try distracting her from her grooming sessions with play, or get some brushes and combs and join in grooming her, it might sound daft but if you are grooming her she might not feel the need and will relax a bit, if nothing else it will help get the loose fur out and stop her swallowing it. You can also get hypoallergenic cat wipes (make sure you get the unscented ones) that just wiping her over with one as part of a grooming session might help her relax and remove anything that might be irritating her.

Finally I will add that if the prescription food isn't doing any good, there may be no point in carrying on with it, normally it is far more expensive than normal cat food, and the money you save could possibly be better spent.

[fjm]

I had a cat lick herself bald from stress. For her the solution was a mild tranquilliser from the vet, and a rather counter intuitive program of desensitisation at home. For a day or two I confined her to one small, safe room, and then let her gradually re-explore the house and her outdoor territory. That broke what had become a habit and she never did it again.

But environmental allergies sound very likely in your case - I would think hard about new furniture, carpets or cleaning products.