cat skin problems

findingmyownway

Hi guys

When my cat was about 6 months old i noticed she has some small scabs on her back. I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with FAD (flea allergy dermatitis). So we have to do our very best to keep her flea free. I use the front line drops.

She is now 2 1/2 years old, she has always seemed to get a few small scabs when its coming up to frontline time but they have never seemed to bother her.

Last week i noticed she has a lot more of them, in new places too. She also has a large sore on 1 side of her neck where the fur is gone and it is red and inflammed. She is quite long haired so you can only see it when you part her fur and look for it. Anway, i took her to the vet and she said she had a skin infection, cleaned the sore & gave her antibiotics for 10 days.

We are now on day 5 and there doesnt seem to have been much improvement, In fact there is now a bit of scabines / blood in her ear (not coming from her ear, just has if she has been scratching it).

I have a vets appointment on thursday. Does anyone have any ideas what i should ask them? Or any suggestions as to what could be wrong with her?

She seems to be fine in herself, a bit whiney maybe. I haven't seen her excessivly scratching.

orlao

I had a cat with FAD from about 3 years old until she died last year at 15!

I found the frontline combo spray much more effective than the drops, I used to saturate her once a month all year round, you can imagine how popular I wasn't:D . I was also really careful to treat the other animals and house too.

She had predinisolone tablets too when she started itching which I eventually got to recognise when she needed them before she scratched enough to scab.....she used to get "clingy" and I knew then she was uncomfortable so could treat her before she damaged herself......it took a couple of years to learn to spot it quickly.

What my vet told me was that everytime you react to something you're allergic too, the next time you will react quicker as you become more allergic to the allergen with every attack.....if that makes sense? So it's important that you try to reduce the scabs that she gets as that's a reaction, also every flea bite could make her allergy even worse!!!

On Thursday maybe ask your vet if steroids could help and ask them to explain possible side effects. They can do skin allergy tests, not sure that's the right term but not sure if that would help as I really don't know much about them....but I was offered them for my cat but it was a few years ago

In my experience, day to day management was the most sucessful way of dealing with FAD

ka7e

One of my Maine Coons appears to have allergic dermatitis, but it's probably not flea related. He is regularly Frontlined and the vet couldn't find any trace of fleas or flea dirt on him. I also have 4 other cats and a FAD dog so we're pretty sure it's something else he's allergic to!

Instead of tablets, he has a bolus steroid injection when it flares up. The injection allows a slow release of the drugs over a certain period of time. They are supposed to last up to 3 months, but .mine needed one every month for 3 months as the symptoms were so severe. He's been fine all winter, so it may be a particular pollen that set him off.

Psykicpup

I found mine was also allergic to the front line drops - she was also sick as well as the scabs not leaving after frontline

findingmyownway

Thanks for the comments guys. I'll see what the vet has to say tommorow. My cat was sick this weekend too, she's never done it before, although OH reckoned it had the remains of a slug in so maybe thats what caused that!!

Karensteps

Do scabs on cats mean there is something wrong?!!

My cat, has a scab at the side of it's neck, it's not been scratching or anything, I just assumed it had scratched itself when playing vigorously with some string.

ka7e

If the scab isn't itchy then it's probably nothing to worry about. Keep an eye on it to make sure it isn't infected and heals properly.
My cat gets scabs that look like very big insect bites with red skin around them. You can see them through his fur where it is thin, like his face and ears - but you can feel them all over his body!

paula7924

my cat had allergic dermatitis. i used frontline drops to keep the fleas away and also gave him half a piriton tablet (the usual human hayfever ones!) (crushed onto food). this kept it in control most of the time. if he had a flair up the vet gave him steroid jabs to get it back under control. check with your vet to see what he thinks.