Cat Hair Loss/over Grooming

[teestro]

Hi all,

My cat recently had his second monthly dose of frontline flea/tick medicine behind his neck and once I gave it this past Saturday, he immediately began trying to lick off every bit of it that he could reach and scratch.

Just for some background, again this was the second dose I gave, as the first dose last month I gave following my vets recommendations after he had been over-grooming, sneezing a lot, and has hair loss from scratching (big round bald spot on back and under chin, red from scratching). He didn't seem to mind the frontline this time. She also prescribed prednisone and did a skin scrape (no parasites or anything of that nature- all results were negative). We thought it could have been from a new food introduced or maybe an environmental allergy. After the prednisone, his symptoms went away other than some on/off sneezing for a bit. She also suggested trying to give him benadryl, but that was a fail as he would not eat any of his wet food that I crushed the pill in, nor would he keep the liquid down when I put it in his mouth with a syringe my vet gave me. After a week though, the sneezing stopped and all was well anyway.

Currently, it's been two days since the frontline was placed, and my cat now has a tiny bald spot on his upper back, and a tiny bald spot behind one of his ears. Hoping he will stop scratching and licking (hasn't been sneezing), and not make the spots worse as I don't want to keep giving him steroids. He also recently had some teeth extracted (no issues, everything has healed well), so he's been through a lot these past few months. Just wondering if anyone has similar experiences, and if I should take him back to the vet or not. Also, after the first occurrence of the over-grooming/hair loss incident, starting giving him lysine as per a recommendation from one of the women at the shelter I adopted him from. Any suggestions/advice are greatly appreciated

 

[ej x]

try changing flea treatment to an oral one, take him for a second opinion. It might be an allergy and everything else is a coincidence. So try this:
Change flea treatment
Bath him with a shampoo that has colloidal oatmeal or for sensitive skin
Buy a desinfectant spray and apply to wounds so they don't get infected
Buy a spray with hydrocortisone and apply in red areas per instructions (topical cortisone if used as directed has a minimal systemic absorption not enough to generate problems)
If he keeps scratching change him to a novel protein diet (such as instincts rabbit) for at lease 8 weeks, 12 to be safe
If you need to inject him again, ask to go for minimum dose and keep track how long it lasts
If you want to medicate him try claritin, if it doesnt work try cetirizine, doesnt have a high effective rate but when it works it works wonders and they arent as bitter as beandryl so they might eat it if in the food, but if you change food to novel protein make sure you feed NOTHING else like pill pockets and what not. I like instinct rabbit becuase there is kibble and canned, so you can give both and it is the same food. But I pill my cat, but be extremely careful with the water after the pill
Good luck my friend.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

For localized itching, brew a cup of Chamomile tea from commercially prepared tea bags. Chill in the fridge, and swab on the itchy spots. The prepared tea bags are made from German Chamomile, which is medicinal and safe for cats. All too often, what grows in gardens is the English variety, which is almost useless medicinally and toxic to cats.