Itchy cat and vet issues

[Lemonbreath]

I am getting really frustrated with this issue.

My cat is 11 and scared of everything, she is an indoor cat and never goes out. Visiting the vets is very traumatic for her she gets absolutely terrified. She is fine just with us indoors but doesn’t like a lot of noises like washing machine, bin lorry, doorbell etc. I had her from a little kitten so I am not sure why she is like this, nothing bad has happened to her she just is anxious but she can attack you quite badly when she is afraid so we all are a little wary of upsetting her. We try to give her a nice life though is what I am saying.

She is a very licky cat and we thought this was anxiety but she scratches a lot too (kind of relentlessly constantly itching and I mean constant) so about a year ago we took her to the local vets for a check up. We live rurally and there are only 2 vets in a 10 mile radius. I am reluctant to put the cat in a car to go further because it traumatises her being in a car and she attacks me for days after. She is very fussy eater so it’s hard to get her to eat different foods etc.

I’ve been to both vets locally and all they try to do is convince me she has fleas. She doesn’t go out and has no flea dirt on her but I do what they say and I buy their expensive flea treatment and put it on her. She’s still itchy. I take her back, they can’t find any fleas but tell me change her food to buy their expensive hypoallergenic food. I tried that she didn’t eat it. I ask about mites they say she just has dry itchy skin like a dermatitis. Try to bathe her or spray her in this ointment. I can’t do this she would probably scratch my face off. They say she is physically otherwise completely healthy.

I don’t know what to do. She keeps everyone awake all night as she is itchy, and she runs around the house itching herself and often yowling. You can’t shut her in a room as she gets upset. I don’t want her to be upset. I want to help her.

Does anyone have any itchy cat suggestions?

Stress? Or it could be an allergy to something other than fleas.

One of our cats has a flea allergy, gets really twitchy and washes himself bald in no time at all, but that appears to have been ruled out with your cat.

I just googled 'causes of itching in cats' and there can be a lot of other reasons, by the look of it, including thyroid problems.

Has she been neutered?

Itching in both cats and dogs is RIDICULOUSLY hard to diagnose and manage. Basically she could be allergic to anything. Food, something in the environment. The only way to know is to put her on a (yes very expensive) hypoallergenic diet for a minimum of 6 months and if it clears up it’s food she’s allergic to. If it doesn’t clear up then it’s something in the environment. Which involves a whole load of allergy testing as well. So you’re either all in or you mask the symptoms with steroids. Which isn’t great for the long term health of the cat. But many opt for this, however it’s going to mean many many trips to the vets. Alternatively you can try something called cyclavance which is another form of immunosuppressant and also hellishly expensive.
There is unfortunately no easy fix to this I’m afraid and I say this as a vet nurse who has worked within specialist dermatology referral practice for many many years

Buy hypoallergenic food from the pet shop not the vet. Is there anything in the house like candles, flowers, perfume etc they could be allergic to?

Is the night time running around maybe normal cat zoomie behaviour?

(My cat is terrified of everything as well, don't think there's anything you can do for that though).

She just will not eat any other food apart from one single brand and one flavour. She is so terrible for this. She will just starve herself she is so stubborn. She can’t seem to tolerate dry food she vomits constantly.

I’m not mad at the vet or anything I am just frustrated about the whole situation because I am not sure what to do.

Looking at her skin it’s dry skin, it’s all flakey, dry and irritated so it is an allergy but like you say it could be literally anything!

The nighttime is her just not being able to get comfortable. She will come in peoples rooms then lick and scratch all night and keep everyone awake and we are up down trying to get her to settle down she ends up running about yowling. She is a right character.

I can’t put her through more stress going to the vets so was going to try another strategy. She is otherwise healthy

The vet just says fleas but it’s not fleas. She is mostly white haired. I can see the pink skin clearly. She is pretty bald now too. She leaves no flea dirt anywhere and she is flea treated

Having gone through similat remedies suggested by a surgery I changed practices.
The incredibly lovely vet suggested ovarid tablets and this cured out cat.
The vet had to get a licence to import the drug as it wasn't recognised for veterinary use in the UK ( or something like that ) .
She said that they used it all the time for itchy cats in New Zealand where she came from .

I can’t identify what is in the house, I got rid of plants and we don’t use air fresheners. I use non bio and the really gentle fabric softener (for babies) on our clothes as my DD has a skin allergy too.

Have you changed your washing powder or softener? I changed our softener in the summer and our cat was pulling his fur out. All our bedsheets and his blankets were washed in it. Anyway I changed back to old softener and hes stopped. So it could have been that. But i dont really know
The vet said to us about flea allergies too. They also recommended a feliway plug in. Have you tried one to calm your cat?
We also changed his food. Took him off Felix which has terrible reviews for cats and changed to Harringtons.

The Harringtons is grain free? I might try that again. The dry food is no good at all if she does decide to eat it, she throws it back up about 15 mins later!

She could be allergic to our laundry, I try to use the sensitive stuff but I could try ecover

She'll eat only one brand of food and one flavour? Hmmm... which brand?

One of my old cats used to get a bald patch on his back in the spring when getting a summer coat. I used an earlier version of this stuff:

www.stinky-stuff.co.uk/product-cat/cat-remedies/

It worked for him BUT he was a very tolerant cat who loved to be groomed and carried about.

Your poor thing sounds stressed out. Can you get some Feliway all over the house?

This is interesting, thank you. I have a dog with allergy itching. It started with his ears, but now the most affected is his anus with thrush which the vet insists is all part of the same, unknown allergy response.

We have 4 dogs and they share food/ insist on eating together - well, the boys won't touch a new dish of food until the female has approved/ eaten first. Hypoallergenic food has been ruled out by the vet as virtually impossible to manage to attempt with the 4 dogs.

We have considered blood allergy testing, but it is very expensive and if the allergen is found, it is apparently highly likely to be environmental and something we can't avoid. The vet's anecdote though is that in one week, 2 dog patients did the testing and were both found to have an unusual allergy to bananas!

My dog is on Apoquel which seems to be a similar immune suppressant to Cyclavance. It works really quite well to reduce the itch significantly. He still scratches a bit, but is no longer scabby and is generally a lot more settled.

It's so hard to see your precious one suffering, I hope you find a solution OP.

We’ve had similar. Vet suspected flea induced dermatitis which it could be a our cats go out doors
anyway they gave us a course of steroid tablets (crush up and put in his food) and clears up really quickly.
it might be worth a try and maybe she’ll need continuous low dose to keep everything in check if its not that.

The idea with blood allergy testing is not to eliminate the allergen (virtually impossible) but to create a vaccine to lessen the symptoms over time by giving the dog a small amount of that allergen and increasing to build its own natural resistance. It does work well in many cases however not all and again it’s expensive. Unfortunately dogs and cats with atopic dermatitis (basically an unknown allergy causing itching) will always have flare ups and will never be fully itch free. It’s about managing the symptoms long term without killing the dog with steroids

We used to use it all the time too back in the 1980’s and early 90’s. But then veterinary medicine moved on significantly and we realised that filling your cat with hormones is not only bad for the cat but also incredibly dangerous for the humans handling the tablets. There is a reason you cannot get ovarid in this country anymore.

Yes Harringtons do a grain free wet food. Surprisingly so do a few supermarkets, including Morrisons so not only the posh ones.

For calming generally, many cats do respond to Feliway. There's a new brand out at well called Calmex, but I can't see that for sale on line just at the vets. I've also used Zylkene to good effect - it's a natural based remedy that comes as a powder in capsules - you can open the powder & sprinkle it on their food and most find it quite palatable.

My boy has just had to have a number of vet visits to find out why he's had the runs for months. He's an ex street cat who was almost feral when he was rescued, and near enough impossible to catch & crate. We asked the vet nicely, and they now prescribe Gabapentin for him, taking 2 tabs the night before and 2 in the morning. Obviously there's no way we can give him tablets, or at least not without ending up in A&E ourselves even with me & DSis together, but you can crush them to powder & sneak into a treat or something.

Works like Valium, so he gets too stoned to do more than vaguely wave a paw at us without even the claws out. He faintly struggles, but very half heartedly in that state really more showing he doesn't really want to be picked up & crated

is not only bad for the cat but also incredibly dangerous for the humans handling the tablets.
Our cat did go on to live until 21 and she didn't become ill.
Perhaps we were lucky.
Why is handling the tablets incredibly dangerous for humans ? I presume it's not meditated by wearing gloves ?

I am just about old enough to remember ovarid being used but regarded as ‘old school’ - I mentioned it to some of the new grads at work and they haven’t even heard of it, I felt like a dinosaur!

In answer to the OP, there are lots of ways to control itching in cats but most of the drugs have side effects (mainly immunosuppression, because all allergy medications act on the immune system) and the development of diabetes. However, if you have ruled out fleas and diet (as you can address these allergies by avoiding exposure) then medication might be something you need to consider to ensure a good quality of life.

I’d advise you to go back to the vet, explain to them you’ve done the flea control / diet to the best of your ability, and are ready to discuss the next steps. Please be aware that managing allergies in animals is hard, expensive, and there isn’t an option for a one off cure, so you will need to go back to the vet repeatedly for check ups (just as your GP doesn’t fix all your issues for evermore in one visit!)

She will only eat fish flavour felix cat food

which stinks and I would rather she didn’t

I am going to try grain free

I give my cat half a piriton tablet a day and this usually controls his itching, occasionally this needs to be increased to half a tablet twice a day if his allergies are worse. I had heard about using Piriton after googling treatments and my vet agreed that it was worth a try. I buy the tablets from the pharmacy and tell them that they are for me as they are not licensed for pets.

It’s a hormone based medication which has been linked to several types of cancer, infertility, harm to unborn child, harm to breast fed children. You should certainly be wearing gloves for any handling of the tablets and if you haven’t been I would start immediately but even then it’s not a drug I would feel safe handling on a regular basis even with gloves

This was my question is it safe to give them an antihistamine?

Yes I was told to give dcat half a piriton, it makes her sleepy though.

What kind of cat food do you feed her. Not sure it will help but look into a cat food called Untamed. It’s only available by ordering directly from them online but was set up by three cat owners and their cats having health issues. The website has loads of information and you wouldn’t believe what rubbish goes into most cat foods. Untamed is expensive but is human grade meat and vet formulated. I have been feeding my cat this food since she was a kitten and she is thriving.

Antihistamines are safe but obviously check with the vet and dosage etc
If you swap food maybe avoid chicken as that's a common allergen
Mine throws up dry food - but only on an empty stomach, if he has wet food first he's fine
Ask about a steroid injection? Mine had them for overgrooming