Excessive Grooming And Scratching To Blood

Hi, I’m in desperate need of help. I’ve tried googling this and went to the vet twice.

I have a 1.5 year old Himalayan cat who grooms himself to the point of raw skin and scratches the same spots over and over. It started when he was around 1. We had to put a cone on him and shirts occasionally to give the spots chance to heal, but now he basically lives in shirts (they’re comfortable roomy cotton shirts). If I take the shirt off, he starts to go nuts at his chest and armpits.

The first vet didn’t seem to be concerned. He just gave us a cream. The second vet said it’s most likely allergies. So we switched his food a couple times but it made no difference.

I honestly don’t know what to do. I just want him to be calm and playful again and not obsess over cleaning and scratching non stop. Has anyone experienced anything like this before? I don’t know if this is anxiety, or a serious health issue? He seems calmer in shirts, but I don’t know if it’s healthy for a cat to always be wearing clothing.

Any help is appreciated..

Anxiety could be another possible cause of overgrooming. Have you tried a Feliway diffuser? I’ll attach some articles that explain more about stress in cats:

Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats
Potential Stressors In Cats - The Ultimate Checklist
Is Your Cat Stressed Out?

It may still be a food allergy or sensitivity of some kind. What was the original diet? What brands of foods have you tried since the raw skin issue happened? How long did you try each diet for? With food allergies / sensitivities, a cat has to be on a diet for at least a couple of weeks before any improvement might be seen. Have you tried limited ingredient diets and novel protein diets?

LTS3 said:

It may still be a food allergy or sensitivity of some kind. What was the original diet? What brands of foods have you tried since the raw skin issue happened? How long did you try each diet for? With food allergies / sensitivities, a cat has to be on a diet for at least a couple of weeks before any improvement might be seen. Have you tried limited ingredient diets and novel protein diets?

Click to expand...

Hi, thank you for your reply. He was on Royal Canin Persian Cat food when we got him from the breeder, and my other Persian cat has been on the same food for 8 years, so I was giving him that until the vet told me to switch. I tried a natural food from Pet Smart, the pieces were big and hard for him to eat so I switched after a bag to Blue Buffalo Indoor Health Adult Chicken which was recommended on A Cat Food Guide For Your Himalayan Cat He has been on that food for the last 3 months or so, and it made no difference in his scratching and grooming. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

His scratching and grooming also significantly worse after we took both cats for a summer haircut. We do this for our older cat every year and he loves it, so we did it for the little guy too, but he didn't take it very well. I think might have a more sensitive skin..

abyeb said:

Anxiety could be another possible cause of overgrooming. Have you tried a Feliway diffuser? I’ll attach some articles that explain more about stress in cats:

Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats
Potential Stressors In Cats - The Ultimate Checklist
Is Your Cat Stressed Out?

Click to expand...

I thought anxiety might be the cause too, but I think I should rule out everything else before I decide it's psychological. He does seem a lot calmer when he's wearing a sweater, I'm just not sure if I can keep him in a sweater for the rest of his life because I know cats need to groom.

Try one of these limited ingredient diets:

Blue Buffalo Basics
Merrick Limited Ingredients
Koha Limited Ingredient
Nature's Variety Instinct
Natural Balance LID

Instead of chicken, which can be an allergen even if a cat has been eating it for years with no problem, try a novel protein like rabbit or vension. Your favorite brands of "novel protein" canned cat food

This has more info about food allergies: Update on Feline Adverse Food Reactions - MSPCA-Angell Some of the pictures of severe skin issues caused by constant scratching are graphic.

LTS3 said:

Try one of these limited ingredient diets:

Blue Buffalo Basics
Merrick Limited Ingredients
Koha Limited Ingredient
Nature's Variety Instinct
Natural Balance LID

Instead of chicken, which can be an allergen even if a cat has been eating it for years with no problem, try a novel protein like rabbit or vension. Your favorite brands of "novel protein" canned cat food

This has more info about food allergies: Update on Feline Adverse Food Reactions - MSPCA-Angell Some of the pictures of severe skin issues caused by constant scratching are graphic.

Click to expand...

Thank you, I will try one of those foods. I'm also going to take him to the vet again next week.

I also have a very allergic kitty. We went thru a ton of things as well with her. Steriods are not good - they can cause diabetes ( I have a diabetic cat, it's not fun to manage ). I ended up taking her for full allergy testing and she too is allergic to dust mites, storage mites, and various trees. We tried zyrtec and claratin ( Never give a cat the ones with the D in them - that is toxic only regular ). Discuss dosing with vet. That can help. In our case that didn't help so we had to turn to atopica. We are using the dog version off label in the 25 mg tablet only because she is very easy to pill. We also decided to move forward with allergy shots at home which started off quite frequently but have since been tapered down to 1x per week. It's only been about 5 months - not sure if I can say there is any difference yet. I can tell you that her licking and itching has been very well controlled with the atopica. The company offers a rebate, it's currently valid thru March 2018 so when you buy 2 boxes at your vet and submit the rebate thru the atopica site, you get a $30 visa card in the mail which I just use to buy more atopica. Makes the cost more manageable that way. My poor cat suffered like you wouldn't believe. I also feed rad cat raw but also canned food as well. She wouldn't participate in the hydrolyzed food trial, hated the stuff and the dermo felt confident that her issues were more environmental than food. It can even be stupid things like what laundry soap you use, dryer sheets, room sprays - floor cleaners - all of those things can set off a sensitive allergic kitty.

My cat has bare spots from allergy. What I did was treat for fleas, changed to unscented litter, reduced stress, stopped antibiotics, clipped his nails, and changed his diet. He is on a novel protein diet with no chicken, no fish, no grains, no dyes, etc. He is on raw meat diet of rabbit, venison or lamb because he will not eat prescription canned food. I also found freeze dried food and a special dry food (Royal Canin rabbit).

The diet seems to be the main issue as far as I can tell. Plus he loves the raw food. I tried to reintroduce tuna and he started scratching again. There could be a number of allergy triggers, but fleas and food allergens seem to be more commonplace.