Has anyone dealt with persistent skin-related or itching/scratching related issues? My 7yo Male has some sort of allergy (?? we assume) and it causes him to scratch himself, rather aggressively in my opinion. First it was mostly around his ears, which caused some hair loss or cuts on the spots he was scratching. But his whole face must be affected because he will occasionally scratch at his face so much that the hair above his eyes will lose hair or he cuts a gash into his eyelid. This has happened multiple times but it’s not super consistent - as in, the cut will heal, his hair grows back and for a month or two he has no issues until it starts all over again and he cuts his eye or his ears. Even though we feed him quality wet food, he drinks and uses the boxes regular - he seems to have a lot of dandruff. It’s not noticeable till I groom him with a brush but it’s a lot and I find the spots on the ears/eyes/face to also be flakey/dry; not sure if this is the cause of his itching.
He’s the type of cat that does not and will not let you pick him up, this has made cutting his nails at home impossible. In the past he has climbed up a flat wall before he’d let us hold him down. So the only way to clip his nails is taking him to the vet where they manage to do it - but that involves cornering him, forcing him into his crate, spending $ on a cab to/from the vet then another $50 for the visit and nail trim (I live in a HCOL city). And after every visit he acts traumatized for a week, like won’t come out from under the bed bc he thinks we’ll try to trap him again.
It’s frustrating for everyone, I’d prefer to figure out the cause or a solution for the scratching instead of only trimming his nails, it solves the cutting problem but only until they grow back.
For reference here is what we feed him:
"I and love and you" Naked Essentials Canned Wet Cat Food - Grain Free, Rabbit Recipe, 3-Ounce, 2x a day. No dry food. It’s grain free, has the proper amount of moisture and minerals for a healthy coat. When we thought it could be a food allergy the vet recommended cutting out common allergens like Chicken, Fish and Beef. This is rabbit with no other animal proteins. I’ve tried rotations of different proteins to see if anything solves the issue, I’ll usually do 3 months of 1 type before moving on and still the scratching persists.
We use Dr. Elsey's Premium Clumping Cat Litter - Clean Tracks. Not sure if litter could be the cause, I have used different brands of the clumping type in the past and he still has the same scratching issues no matter the brand.
If anyone has dealt with anything similar - how did you manage, did you ever figure out the exact allergen? Did anything help relieve the itching?
Attached are some photos of the hair loss/scratches from the past. It seems to be localized to his head/face. Last photo is most recent eyelid scratch this week, other photos are from prior episodes.
He’s the type of cat that does not and will not let you pick him up, this has made cutting his nails at home impossible. In the past he has climbed up a flat wall before he’d let us hold him down. So the only way to clip his nails is taking him to the vet where they manage to do it - but that involves cornering him, forcing him into his crate, spending $ on a cab to/from the vet then another $50 for the visit and nail trim (I live in a HCOL city). And after every visit he acts traumatized for a week, like won’t come out from under the bed bc he thinks we’ll try to trap him again.
It’s frustrating for everyone, I’d prefer to figure out the cause or a solution for the scratching instead of only trimming his nails, it solves the cutting problem but only until they grow back.
For reference here is what we feed him:
"I and love and you" Naked Essentials Canned Wet Cat Food - Grain Free, Rabbit Recipe, 3-Ounce, 2x a day. No dry food. It’s grain free, has the proper amount of moisture and minerals for a healthy coat. When we thought it could be a food allergy the vet recommended cutting out common allergens like Chicken, Fish and Beef. This is rabbit with no other animal proteins. I’ve tried rotations of different proteins to see if anything solves the issue, I’ll usually do 3 months of 1 type before moving on and still the scratching persists.
We use Dr. Elsey's Premium Clumping Cat Litter - Clean Tracks. Not sure if litter could be the cause, I have used different brands of the clumping type in the past and he still has the same scratching issues no matter the brand.
If anyone has dealt with anything similar - how did you manage, did you ever figure out the exact allergen? Did anything help relieve the itching?
Attached are some photos of the hair loss/scratches from the past. It seems to be localized to his head/face. Last photo is most recent eyelid scratch this week, other photos are from prior episodes.
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