Ideas to help itchy cat

[Ditsy79]

Hi! For almost a year, my 13 year old cat has been scratching so much. Particularly her face, and eyebrow areas (which are now starting to look bald). She is quite feisty and won't let us bathe the area or put ointment/gel on the sore bits. She doesn't have fleas. We took her to the vet about 8 months ago (which was a trauma in itself as she is uncooperative) and they gave her a steroid injection. It worked for a few days, then the scratching started again. She goes through phases of not scratching that much and her face recovers, then it's back to constant scratching again. No idea what to do! Does anyone have any advice?

It could be her diet? Have you tried changing her food? Brushing can help if she will tolerate it.

Oh, also cats can be allergic to candles and room scents.

Thanks for the advice @Overtheatlantic She's been on the same food for years -James Wellbeloved senior - although I know they changed the recipe recently. We've switched to a new food a few days ago in case this was the cause. We don't use candles or room fragrances etc, and haven't changed washing powders or anything like that. Initially.we thought it.was Bravecto (flea and worming treatment) so the vet changed it to Prinocate about 6 months ago. I've just attempted to apply some Arnicura gel, but she scratched me and wouldn't let me anywhere near her!

We have this with ours - she’s now on royal canin anallergenic food in which the food proteins are broken down so that they don’t trigger allergies as much. It’s working, along with oral steroids, so we think she’s likely allergic to fish proteins. (Poor cat, as she really loved fishy wet food!) Can you try a trial with that food (about six weeks seems to work)? The vet can also prescribe oral steroids, though they aren’t ideal for more than short term use so the goal is to calm the allergy so that steroids can be stopped as soon as possible.

Feed her salmon oil

Thanks for.fhe replies @catontheironingboard and @Tibby99 . We give her YuMove oil each day in her food. It's so frustrating because it looked like her face was getting better yesterday morning, but then she must have had a big scratching session at some point as now it looks sore again. I might try the food recommended if it doesn't clear up in a few weeks (we've just switched her food)

I had a foster cat that was literally scratching her face to pieces. She moved on from me as it was short term but had to be on a hypoallergenic diet. She has the royal canin

Joining as we have a similar problem with our 13 year old cat. She has had it on and off for a few years now and we’ve been back and forth to the vet. The vet thinks it’s an allergy and she ended up on steroids (prednisolone) for longer than she probably should have, came off them for around 8 months and it’s just started up again. We’ve done a (very expensive) flea/mite treatment and a short course of steroids, neither of which seem to make any difference. Trying hypoallergenic food is a good idea.