I have a cat who has always had skin trouble, she's nine and recently it's been getting a lot worse. She gets patches of skin that she licks until she bleeds and right now about three quarters of her fur has gone and she's covered in open sores. I've been to 4 different vets who have given various injections and pills (cortisone and the like) but nothing seems to work. We've even been as far as customising babies clothes to protect her from licking her sores and putting a lampshade collar on her but that just makes her miserable and only works until she figures out how to remove the obstacle.
We have never been able to get her neutered because of this, so just have to give her the pill at certain times of the year which isn't great for her health according to the vet.
I've now reached the point where I am seriously thinking about getting her put to sleep just because it has spread over so much of her body that it must be awful for her. DH thinks we should just carry on and let nature take its course, so the jury is still out and I would like some objective views on the situation.