Would cancer cause cats to smell bad?

[TheVeryHungryPreggo]

I'm back to the vet again this morning with my scabby tortie. She's had intermittent skin issues for a year now but has started to smell bad now. She gets raw patches but they scab over and heal eventually with AB shots and steroids. We were away for the whole week for half term and when we returned, the raw patches were bigger, not bleeding but blistered looking - and I notice that she pongs. They're all indoor cats and the other two just smell of cats - but I'm wondering if they've noticed it too because they are really stressed the last 2-3 weeks, to the point of constant snarling at each other. They've lived together 6 years up to this point.

She seems happy and healthy enough otherwise apart from wanting to stay near us and sleep in our bedroom (she has to be kicked out at night where before she was very independent and liked "her" private area of the flat). And she did try to drink the dregs of my red wine at 4am and smashed the crystal glass in the sink, but that could just be her... she always prefers to drink out of glasses if they're left about!

I don't know if allergies (previous diagnosis) would make her smell this way, so I might be jumping to the wrong conclusions... But I'm starting to think it's worse than we thought.

I think things like yeast infections can make them smell strange. Antibiotics wouldn't work on that. What sort of smell is it?

Hard to say. I don't know how to describe other than "smells like unwell cat" - it's not vomit or vinegary or dirty-smelling, just a scent of wrongness that comes from her whole self... unmistakable ill-health. Like something slightly decaying? Cat, but gone-off cat.

My cats have smelt bad when they've had an infected bite from fighting so it could just be from the blisters if they've been left for the week you were away (Im not accusing you of neglect! Just bad timing on the part of the cat :))

Leukemia makes cats smell atrocious. It's not a mild smell though - it smells horrific. Like death and decay. It's usually after they are notably very ill, though.

Does she have lesions in her mouth?

Sadly they were left for the week we were away...

And yes, the sores were previously only on her neck/chest/ears but there is one on her mouth now.

I don't mean I neglected her for the week either! Just that from the appearance they probably have been worsening for quite a few days and my pet-sitter was visiting all three but may not have noticed (she doesn't like to be picked up and she's so dark that even I miss them occasionally as you can't see them unless you get close).

Secondary infections (both yeast and bacterial) of allergic skin disease can make cats smell. The most effective things for controlling allergies I find in cats is cyclosporine and the cat wearing a baby grow or baby t-shirt.

Keep us posted once you've been to the vet

I have just snorted with laughter at the mental image someone trying to stuff a cat into a babygro :) how on earth do you do it without gauntlets, full body armour and at least three people? Or a general anaesthetic for the cat.

OP, I hope you had a positive visit to the vets.

Haha I laughed out loud and startled the baby at the image of babygro-cat-stuffing in full body armour!

She apparently has fleas/mites of some kind. Vet found traces of blood on the hairs on her back. Says it's probably a combination of allergies and stress but the surprise is that she's still getting bites. She's had the 6-month anti-flea shot 2 months ago and the boys have just had their third dose of spot on so who knows where it's coming from as they are all indoor only and we have a flat they don't go outside. So he's sticking with the parasites/allergy diagnosis (he said the sore lips are classic allergic symptoms) but she might yet be on antihistamine tablets for the long term.

I'm going back in 2 weeks so he can monitor how they are healing because it takes a lot to get rid of them.

Oh and if they're not showing signs of improvement after this, he will do a biopsy but as that requires a GA and costs about £400 he wants to be pretty sure this won't work before he tries that.

Could you try spraying the house with something like Indorex?

Is the spot on stuff actually effective?

I already have indorex as the vet recommended it a couple of months ago. He said the spot on stuff should be effective (he gave it to me for the other two cats and they seem fine, they're not even scratching themselves and their fur is coming back into condition after being a bit dry/brittle) so it's a bit of a mystery where she could be getting bites from. But the 6-month anti-flea treatment is stronger so he thinks I should bring the other cats in for that too. After all of she's that allergic, she doesn't need to have more than one bite to come out in an allergic reaction to it.

The 6 month flea injection does not kill live fleas it only prevents them from breeding in the house, so if any cats in the house are going outside you need a spot on that kills live fleas on all the cats in the house.
You would be surprised at home relatively easily cats wear t-shirts and baby grows and it makes a massive difference to how these lesions heal. Much better than the cone of shame.

I put a baby vest on one of my cats once, in desperation, as he had what was probably a flea allergy + stress - he would lick himself absolutely raw on his chest & under one front leg. It was the only way we could stop him over grooming (he had some cream from the vet & we were trying to stop him licking it off). The vest worked quite well - much better tolerated than the cone (which he absolutely hated)