Please help, what's wrong with my cat?

katerinasol

Hi all,

I'm cat mother to a lovely little boy of 3 years old. We've had some problems with fleas in the past but Frontline has sorted all that out. Last week is when it got really bad - he kept scratching non-stop, then his ears got covered in scabs in the space of about 3 days and he became really lethargic and listless.

We rushed him to the vet who said he had a bad infection from the flea allergy. He gave him three injections to keep the temperature down (Delvosteron, Metacam and Synulox) and told us to bring him back the next day. He was apparently too weak for any medication to do with the allergy at the time.

The next day we brought him back, the vet gave him a shot of Convenia and prescribed some Hibiscrub (chlorohexidine) for the ears. We have to dilute the Hibiscrub in water and rub it into his ears twice a day using cotton wool. Needless to say, he hates it and seems to be in quite a lot of pain when we do it, and it doesn't even seem to be working! The scabs do come off when we rub the stuff in but they always seem to grow back within the space of about a day. Just tonight he scratched a scab off and splattered blood all over me!

I dabbed hydrogen peroxide on the bit that he scratched off and it seems to be ok now. Would it make sense to maybe use a diluted solution on the rest of his ears?

I googled the ear condition and by the sounds of it, it could be feline scabies and I mentioned this to the vet when we took him in but he just seemed to ignore that. The first time, he said he would take a tissue sample and send it to a lab to see what it was but the second time he didn't mention that at all, and I wasn't there so I didn't mention anything.

We're going back to the vet next week to deal with specifically the fleas as at the moment apparently he's too week for medication but I'm a bit annoyed that at the moment nothing has been done about the fleas (we were specifically told not to use anything yet) and he's still scratching all over the place.

With regards to his ears, the vet said if the didn't work, then he would give him a steroid injection to see if it clears up and if that doesn't work, we could be looking at a biopsy. My husband took him the second time and he's not too good with asking questions so I don't know if he meant biopsy as in taking a sample or as in removing the ears.

If anyone has had anything similar happen to their poor cat, what did it turn out to be? And am I just being paranoid or does the vet seem a bit useless? So far not a lot of the stuff seems to be working

blossomhill_2

If you don't trust your vet then you really should get a second vet's opinion

Re the fleas, you can remove them pretty well by making partings in the fur and picking them off with sellotape (fold it back to back so it has stickyside outards) and press onto flea and then seal flea inside. He will probably pick up more if there are some in the house but if he is weak you can't safely spray the home yet

Does he have white ears? White ears can get scabby from sun damage which may need a small area of ear tip removed

There is a very good pet skin product called green cream that heals scabby areas well but I wouldn't recommend using it while under vet treatment, especially as it could hide the cause by managing the symptoms
http://www.galensgarden.co.uk/shop/green-cream

RacyRed

One of my cats scabs up if the fleas get out of control.

I wouldn't have thought the shot the vet gave on the second visit was hibiscrub, which is an antibacterial cleanser. The shot was more likely to be something strong to deal with the fleas. Can you check with the vet? That was what happened with my cat. Painkiller (metacam) and something to deal with the infection on the first visit and a strong flea treatment injection on the 2nd visit, when the first lot of jabs had kicked in and brought her temperature down

Scabs serve a purpose, new skin forms underneath them and they fall off when the area underneath has healed sufficiently. Bathing the ears with Hibiscrub will keep the scabs and the wounds underneath them clean while they heal, it is not a healing agent in itself. I'd advise you to check with the vet that they meant you to use it to remove the scabs, as that would be quite painful.

Have you tackled the fleas which will now be living in your soft furnishings and carpets? Be relentless with the vac (and empty it after every use) then, if your vet agrees to it, use one of the once a year flea treatments everywhere. This will help stop your cat getting re-infested.

You might find THIS thread useful.

Hope your boy is well again soon.

katerinasol

RacyRed wrote: »

One of my cats scabs up if the fleas get out of control.

I wouldn't have thought the shot the vet gave on the second visit was hibiscrub, which is an antibacterial cleanser. The shot was more likely to be something strong to deal with the fleas. Can you check with the vet? That was what happened with my cat. Painkiller (metacam) and something to deal with the infection on the first visit and a strong flea treatment injection on the 2nd visit, when the first lot of jabs had kicked in and brought her temperature down

Scabs serve a purpose, new skin forms underneath them and they fall off when the area underneath has healed sufficiently. Bathing the ears with Hibiscrub will keep the scabs and the wounds underneath them clean while they heal, it is not a healing agent in itself. I'd advise you to check with the vet that they meant you to use it to remove the scabs, as that would be quite painful.

Have you tackled the fleas which will now be living in your soft furnishings and carpets? Be relentless with the vac (and empty it after every use) then, if your vet agrees to it, use one of the once a year flea treatments everywhere. This will help stop your cat getting re-infested.

You might find THIS thread useful.

Hope your boy is well again soon.

Thank you for your reply! The shot he was given the 2nd time around was Convenia, the Hibiscrub was prescribe to bathe his ears in, sorry. Husband says the vet was quite, to quote him, 'brutal' when using it on the cat's ears the first time, so we were doing kind of the same thing but now I'm starting to think he misunderstood - oops! Feel really guilty now that we've been hurting him for no reason

I'm thinking of rebooking the vet for a weekend (I work Mon-Fri, husband's shifts are all over the place) and going in with a list of questions to make sure everything is answered, definitely going to ask him about flea treatments and might do a giant 90 degree wash this weekend to make sure everything is clean and flea-free.

We have another cat, who is about 12 years old and he seems to be completely fine, really not sure why the little one is suffering so much.

Sorry my post is all over the place, it's a lot to explain/take in! I've been reading the other flea threads on here and have about 20 tabs open with the names of all the different treatments etc

katerinasol

blossomhill wrote: »

If you don't trust your vet then you really should get a second vet's opinion

Re the fleas, you can remove them pretty well by making partings in the fur and picking them off with sellotape (fold it back to back so it has stickyside outards) and press onto flea and then seal flea inside. He will probably pick up more if there are some in the house but if he is weak you can't safely spray the home yet

Does he have white ears? White ears can get scabby from sun damage which may need a small area of ear tip removed

There is a very good pet skin product called green cream that heals scabby areas well but I wouldn't recommend using it while under vet treatment, especially as it could hide the cause by managing the symptoms
http://www.galensgarden.co.uk/shop/green-cream

He very much does not have white ears



I will bookmark Green Cream and see if I can remove the fleas manually, thank you for the idea my main concern at the moment is his ears but hopefully that will be resolved by the bathing and the trip to the vet next week.

RacyRed

No problem, I have 4 cats, one is a long haired flea magnet and comes home covered in them no matter what I do, but isn't allergic to them. (He is also a slug and spider's web magnet, not to mention bits of bush, and whatever else - I want a cat flap with a flea comb right round the edges for him)

One short haired girl just rarely seems to get fleas.

The other long haired boy has a good scratch then a really good shake and sends them flying in all directions :mad:.

The little girl with the allergy doesn't go out and catches them from the flea magnet boy, who always runs straight up to her and licks her head.

Mostly I can keep on top of it, but sometimes fleas just seem to go ballistic!

I'm thinking about trying capstar on my flea allergy girl as it kills the fleas very quickly.

ETA, he is a gorgeous boy

Waterfalls

poor kitty, but alot of the spot on treatments cant be applied if the pet has wounds. capstar is a tablet and maybe ok, it stars to kill the fleas within 15mins but is not a very good long term product. and use a household prroduct like indorex or RIP fleas

KiKi

If you don't trust your vet (and he was 'brutal') with your cat, find another vet. Not worth the health of your little kitty!

Hope he's better soon.
KiKi