Excessive scratching on the neck - just a mess. Vet appears to be running out of ideas. Help

[bellinisurge]

She has purina hypoallergenic kibble plus applaws kitten wet food as a snack. She's 9. She's not a pedigree. She has monthly arthritis jabs because nothing else was helping her joint pain symptoms.
But what started as a bit of scratching on her chin has now turned into an inch square of bald sore skin.
She had a steroid jab it made little difference. She had antibiotics on her wet food which cleared up an infection. We clean it twice a day with some generic antibacterial liquid the vet gave us.
A cone of shame would irritate the area because it would sit on top of it. I'm taking her back to the vet tomorrow. All advice/suggestions welcome.🙏🏽

I had a cat that scratched and pulled fur. He was on a hormone treatment which eased it as his was a stress reaction to changes in environment after rescue.

Honestly though, look at your home, air fresheners, washing stuff, your handcream, things you use that kitty touches like bedlinen. Look at their collar (don't have one) flea treatments, litter, grain free food, if they go outside where and what plants

Has the vet tried an anti allergy med.

She's an indoor cat who gets lots of playtime-.

Excessive scratching can be due to lots of things and it becomes a process of elimination.

Why is she on meat free kibble? Cats are obligate carnivores; therefore, depend on meat. The kibble you are feeding, whilst marketed as hypoallergenic, isn't having a positive impact. Perhaps consider using a better quality kibble such as Lily's Kitchen.

Also, as a 9 year old, why is she on kitten food as a snack? It would be better to ditch this and feed a diet of 'complete' wet food, not an 'incomplete/lacking in essential nutrients' wet as a snack.

Has your vet suggested using Piriton anti-histamine? If not, when you go to the vet tomorrow ask about this and don't buy from the vet, you can buy Piriton (use the branded one, not a generic anti-histamine) from the likes of Savers and Home Bargains. Ask your vet about dosage (you can split the tablets with a pill cutter).

Excessive scratching can be stress related - have you tried a Feliway plug in?

I meant grain free kibble. I'm sorry. What an idiot I am

Christ I must sound like a fecking idiot. Of course it's not meat free. That's animal cruelty

😄

Hi, we’ve had the exact same thing with our youngest cat. For years we thought they were ‘hot spots’ like dogs get and treated him with the cat version of the medication for it. But slowly over the years we’re realised these sores only appear when spring starts and have realised the poor lad has allergies. We’re not sure what to yet but we have noticed that it is getting less as he gets older (4 now). Not sure if that helps

Its a common known side effect of solensia, the arthritis injection. Speak to your vet, they should know this.

Thank you @Iforgotagain , I did wonder

I wouldn’t touch Solensia.
It seems to be the ‘next big thing’ being heavily promoted by vets (mine is a Medivet practice so what else would I expect 🙄).

My cat had one dose after seemingly going suddenly very sore lame and was ok by the same night (so probably wrenched something jumping). However, I googled the drug when I got home from the vet and didn’t like what I read, so she hasn’t had another shot (and hasn’t needed one, which makes me realise she probably didn’t need the first one but the vet seemed to think it was necessary 🤔).

Get the vêt to trim the back claws. This makes the scratching ineffectual and gives the would time to heal.
My vêt also shaved around the wound so I could put a soothing cream on it.

Have you tried honey? My stepmum had the same problem with her cat's neck, it has to have a blood test every month for diabetes, and it would then scratch the area, it was so sore, never healed. She tried putting honey on the wound and couldn't believe the difference. It's now totally fine.

I also used it on my dog when a cyst burst and wouldn't stop bleeding. It healed very fast.

For less sore hot spots we use veterycin which definitely helps, but I think it's worth trying honey first.

Thanks all. I went for the arthritis jab because, despite being so young (only 9), she seemed really affected by arthritis. She couldn't jump anymore. We tried something on her food but it didn't really help. She can't take pills - or I can't give them.
Any suggestions for arthritis?

I was so sad for her that she has become affected by arthritis so young (9). It's in her hips.
We tried Yumove but it didn't really make a difference.
I know arthritis is only going in one direction but it's a shame she's been affected so early.
The jab really seemed to help her but not if it's at the expense of her skin

Solensia works very well for a lot of cats, it's unfortunate that some will have these side effects.
There are definitely other options. Liquid nsaids, or liquid gabapentin are often used. Your vet will be able to advise.

Thanks

I was about to ask about the Piriton.
What about wound powder, to help dry it up, alongside blunting her claws?

I also agree with upping her high quality meat intake. Might she like salmon oil on her kibble? My son swears by it, for his boy, who is allergic to flea bites, and gets dry, scabby, itchy patches.

Mine have been scratching their chins and necks, recently, so I've been obsessively researching. They also offer their chins up to me, to be combed, so they're fairly tolerant of me trying things out. I've been bathing both of their chins with vinegar and putting a bit of coconut oil on it. It hasn't got any worse. There's nothing much to see, so I don't think it's acne. It's not mites, as their vet treatment covers that. Presumably, your vet has ruled out acne and mites?

Here's hoping the poor girl gets some relief, soon.

My vet suggested trying steroid eye drops on the raw skin, on the grounds that it was the least invasive way of getting steroids to the affected area. It didn't remove the irritation but it did help it to heal.

At this point you have nothing left to lose by trying dietary supplements, I always used to think they were snake oil but the difference that the Vince the Vet supplements have made to my arthritic dog is amazing. They come as drops or a powder that you sprinkle on their normal food, it's hardly noticeable. I didn't know about them while I had the cats so I can't speak from experience there, but my dog went from struggling to get up in the morning to running around like puppy in less than a week.

We had this with our cat. Multiple steroid injections which helped until they wore off.
We couldn't keep her on the steroid injections so the vet suggested Apoquel. It's an immune response inhibitor prescription medication, and while it is only licensed for dogs, the vet was happy to try it for my cat.
It worked. I had had visions of having to have my cat put down, her skin and her tearing at it was that bad.
I didn't want to use them long term, so after about six months, I reduced the dose, tapering off. The cat seems
totally better apart from one little patch near her leg.

If the kibble is Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets Kitten & Adult Hypoallergenic Dry Cat Food then it is in fact virtually meat free other than some pork fat. It's very carb heavy.

Ingredients are: Purified rice starch1, hydrolysed soya protein2, soybean oil, minerals, cellulose, hydrolysed digest2, pork fat, fish oil. 1 Carbohydrate source ; 2 Protein sources

Unless you cat has diagnosed allergies and this is vet recommended I'm not sure why you are feeding her this? In fact cat could be allergic to soya, which is a main ingredient. I'd talk to the vet and look at better quality alternatives. Similarly there are better complete wet foods than Applaws.

As others have said, an antihistamine may help more than special foods. The scratching may also now be entrenched in that the original cause of the scratching has gone but because it's sore and irritated cat keeps scratching the area and continuing the problem.

I do hope you find a solution.

My cat had an allergy he was scratching until it bled. I used calendula cream and it cleared up quickly and stopped him scratching. Just a thought, although it obviously doesn’t help the root cause of the allergy.

@TemporaryCatSlave , my cat had fleas - brought in my DDs pal whose parents had a "relaxed" attitude to flea prevention. Cat's skin reacted to the fleas.
Even rescue moggies are delicate.
I have a vet appointment for tomorrow- none available today. Really appreciate everyone's input

How did you get on at the vets Bellinisurge? Hope they could help.

And yes, rescue mogs can be very delicate! TempCat is on very expensive special fibre rich cat biscuits due to his constipation (which was only discovered when he came to me and became an indoor cat using a litter tray).

Try a single protein cat food. Not chicken or fish which most cat foods have in them and lots of cats have allergies to. One of my cat has IBD and was on steroids. We started him on Hills Z/D and moved on to a cat food with rabbit he is now completely well but also his sister who had always scratched her stomach so it was bare has her fur growing back.