Cat skin condition, worried!!

[thatgirlsevil]

Up until just 2-3 weeks ago we had 2 very happy, healthy 2 year old female cats (neutered, all jabs up to date, wormed and spot on flea treatments etc.) but recently the smallest, more timid lkitty has developed a skin condition that seems to be worsening at an alarming rate.

At first we noticed a bald patch forming at the base of her tail and small crusty scabs along her spine and around her ears. The scabs started becoming larger and more noticeable and tonight she has small open wounds around the front of her head and a couple around her ears.

Now comes the part where I sound like the most irresponsible pet owner around...

We are broke. We won't be able to afford the vets until the end of the month at a push, even then we'll have to make some huge basic sacrifices with food and bills.

But I'm really worried about the cat even though she doesn't seem to be in any obvious physical pain. These sores just look so tender and The way things are developing I am concerned that this condition might do irreversible damage to her body. She's tiny and quite skinny and has also thrown up a couple of times this week.

Do these symptoms sound familiar to anybody and if so, is there anything I can be doing NOW until we acquire sufficient funds for treatment somehow?

I feel shit at the moment to be honest. I'm sleeping on the couch hoping she might snuggle up to me and forget about the irritation for a while. She is over grooming and seems a bit skittish and all I can do is put a bit of sudocrem on the raw skin and worry myself to death.

I'm really not a terrible pet owner, this month (and the 3 months prior to it) has just been really difficult financially. I know we'll have to come up with the funds as its our duty as responsible pet owners but I just wondered if anybody had any advice or knowledge of what this might be down to for possible home treatments in the meantime...??

She definitely doesn't have fleas as far as I can tell, but I've retreated her tonight (on clean unbroken skin) just in case.

Thanks in advance.

I've no idea what may have caused it and your vet will have to do some tests I imagine. However the initial treatment will probably be a steroid injection to settle her skin down and make her more comfortable. I think you need to find the money from somewhere. I would also avoid using human creams on the skin as these might do more harm than good.

As the cat neutered said it is worth avoiding human creams as some can actually be irritant to cats. Have you treated the other cat for fleas? As it maybe the one without the problem who is harbouring the fleas ( fleas are at the route of about 80% of these cases).

They are both treated on a monthly basis with frontline and I've checked the other cat and she appears to be flea-free and her coat is lovely and shiny...she's also a much healthier weight.

I haven't put anything on the affected cats skin today (I thought sudocrem would be ok as it's quite mild, non 'chemically' ) and she's been out and about since 9am so she's certainly not moping about indoors.

I'm concerned it might have something to do with food, so I've bought another brand of dry food today that is of a better quality than what we have been giving them both recently. Like I said before, money is tight so we've been feeding them Tesco own brand wet and dry food...but this is a fairly recent thing - last 2/3 months - so I'm worried that it may be down to an ingredient or additive, colouring or preservative.

Thanks for all advice. We'll definitely take her to the vets ASAP.

It could be a food allergy. Can you ask the vet if you can have an appointment just to get something to make your cat feel better and then pay in instalments? And then take the cat back for more tests later when you have more money if the situation hasn't resolved itself?

thecatneuterer, I'm going to look into that as I can't see any way of treating her soon (as in now) otherwise. We are registered at the local RSPCA but even so, the treatments don't exactly come cheap and they refuse to allow payments plans of any kind.

I've spent the afternoon researching symptoms and I'm almost certain that she has miliary dermatitis as the pictures look identical to her condition and the symptoms are a fairly accurate match as well.

She will probably require tests for ringworm, food allergies etc...and steroid injections seem to be a common treatment amongst affected cats.

I'm crossing my fingers that by some small miracle it might actually be a food allergy and we shall see a tiny improvement in her skin at some point. She's asleep next to me right now and seems calm and settled even if she's does look a bit scabby and unkempt.

Just wondering how this panned out for you and your cat thatgirlsevil? sounds v like my cat, vet is talking about poss food allergy.