My cat is 1.5 years old, here recently the past couple of months, she bites, scrathches and pulls her hair out. I cannot afford to take her to the vet but I like to know if someone out there can tell me what I can do to relieve her discomfort, I do not like seeing her biting and pulling her hair out and she has bald spots/paches all over her back area on the tail and back legs. I need someone to please tell me if its fleas or some kind of allergy my cat has?
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
My Cat Scrathes & Pulls Her Hair Out
- Thread starter wickedcube
- Start Date
It could be fleas or it could be an allergy. The most common allergies in cats seem to be flea allergies and food allergies. You should be able to find out if she has fleas by using a flea comb. If she does, she will need flea medications. The safest and most effective are Advantage, Frontline Plus, and Revolution.
What kind of food are you feeding her? If she has a food allergy, you may need to try several different foods to figure out what she is allergic to.
What kind of food are you feeding her? If she has a food allergy, you may need to try several different foods to figure out what she is allergic to.
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2005
- Messages
- 6,437
- Purraise
- 2
It could be a number of things from allergies to fleas,to ring worm,to mange.............ONLY a Vet can diagnose it.
Have you changed her food lately?Did you notice she started soon after the change?
Have you changed her food lately?Did you notice she started soon after the change?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
I usually use the brank of Special Kitty food from wal-mart and I use to have her on meow mix but she seemed like she got tired of that food. I know frontline, advantage or revolution is expensive and I cannot even afford to get the flea repellent so can u tell me what kind I can buy over the counter that would help her relive the scratching and I will get her a flea comb to see if thats the case. My other two cats do not have bald spots/patches like Tiny-Tiny does and it was about 5 or 6 months ago when it happened the first time but I use to keep a flea collar on her would that help too?
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2005
- Messages
- 6,437
- Purraise
- 2
Over the counter stuff is very dangerous for cats.
I would get a flea collar and cut it up and put it in a vacuum bag.......not on your cat.
Have you tried using Dawn dish soap to bath her in? If not, that helps kill fleas if that is what she has.
I would say if your other cats don't have it, it may be an allergy.But, I'm not a Vet so I can't be sure.
Mine have bald spots right now.But, it is from ring worm which is HIGLY contageous.So, I have to have them treated every 2 weeks at the Vets.
I know you said $$ is tight,have you looked into buying the brand Maximum for kittens?It's much better than the kitten chow...........or special kitty.
Alot of members here say Meow Mix pouches are really good for cats.
I would get a flea collar and cut it up and put it in a vacuum bag.......not on your cat.
Have you tried using Dawn dish soap to bath her in? If not, that helps kill fleas if that is what she has.
I would say if your other cats don't have it, it may be an allergy.But, I'm not a Vet so I can't be sure.
Mine have bald spots right now.But, it is from ring worm which is HIGLY contageous.So, I have to have them treated every 2 weeks at the Vets.
I know you said $$ is tight,have you looked into buying the brand Maximum for kittens?It's much better than the kitten chow...........or special kitty.
Alot of members here say Meow Mix pouches are really good for cats.
One of my kitties seemed to have an allergic reaction to either the fleas that Smeagol brought in the house, or to the OTC meds that I used on him to get rid of them. :/
I didn't realize about the OTC flea treatments until I had used them. It really irritated the hell out of all the cats and they ended up with hair loss and didn't really get rid of the fleas.
If your cat has fleas, use a flea comb and the dawn bath on them. To relieve the itchiness, I used pure jojoba oil on Morris' back and he really seemed relieved immediately!
I didn't realize about the OTC flea treatments until I had used them. It really irritated the hell out of all the cats and they ended up with hair loss and didn't really get rid of the fleas.
If your cat has fleas, use a flea comb and the dawn bath on them. To relieve the itchiness, I used pure jojoba oil on Morris' back and he really seemed relieved immediately!
I would guess it is an allergic reaction to the food. The brands you feed are very very poor quality which leads to a much greater chance of her needing to see a vet as you now know from the current problem
Paying more for better food is a much better idea all around. I suggest saving for a huge giant back of premium brand food and then it will last a long long time. A food with no by-products and low grains is really important, wet food is better to feed or in addition to dry and also meat shoul be the first few ingredients (not meat by-products).
Also never ever ever use a flea collar on an animals neck. They do more harm then good. It is a shame they are still being sold. The only good thing for a flea collar is to cut up and put in a vacuum bag. OTC flea meds are extremely dangerous too.
Also never ever ever use a flea collar on an animals neck. They do more harm then good. It is a shame they are still being sold. The only good thing for a flea collar is to cut up and put in a vacuum bag. OTC flea meds are extremely dangerous too.
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2005
- Messages
- 6,437
- Purraise
- 2
If your cat is 1/5, which I over looked, then I would get the Maximum CAT food that they sell at Wal-Mart or there is one called Natures Variety?Something with Nature in it that is suppose to be REALLY good.It only comes in cat food not kitten food.
I know you didnt post to hear about choice of food for kitty, but I have to agree with alot of what is being said about food for kitty. I fed my cats walmart, friskies etc. forever then I lost my 12 year old to kidney failure and when I brought in 19 year old for check up right after that vet said she was beginning stages of kidney faliure. This, I was told, is due to kitty eating poor quality foods for so long. My 19 year old is stable now and eating expensive K/D and Renal LP...HOWEVER, after all my trauma with my old kitties Ive taken the advice and my new kitten gets "MAX CAT" brand foods from PetCo. They arent TOO expensive, couple dollars more per bag and every ten cans or so. Probably costs me an extra 20$/month overall. I was told they shouldnt be feed anything that is 'by-products'. You should check ingredents
...NOW as for the biting out fur thing....I had a friend whose cat did that. I used to see the cat all the time and he seemed OK except for that. Their vet told them it was a sort of behavorial thing and that cat was/had schitzsophrenic/ OCD (over compulsion disorder) or something like that....this may or may not be true and sound like a quack, but I would always see the cat when I visited and he seemed ok, with exception of that. Kind of makes sense too with the OCD, he cant seem to be satisfied with cleaning himself, he keeps doing it over and over.
...NOW as for the biting out fur thing....I had a friend whose cat did that. I used to see the cat all the time and he seemed OK except for that. Their vet told them it was a sort of behavorial thing and that cat was/had schitzsophrenic/ OCD (over compulsion disorder) or something like that....this may or may not be true and sound like a quack, but I would always see the cat when I visited and he seemed ok, with exception of that. Kind of makes sense too with the OCD, he cant seem to be satisfied with cleaning himself, he keeps doing it over and over.
