New Unexplained Rash On Tortie? Help.

[pevsfreedom]

Our civvy Tiana developed this rash seemingly out of nowhere. Any ideas? All I can think of is we've been ordering our food from Chewys and like a month ago it started to come in a different can - same food but maybe they changed the formula and she's allergic? I'm gonna call Chewys/Friskies to see if they changed it.

 

[valentine319]

I would get a vet check up. There looks like some hair loss so I'm wondering if a skin infection or something else is going on.

Any new scented litter being used? Anything else changed?

 

[pevsfreedom]

We're broke as a joke right now unfortunately... will take her in if it does get worse. Food formula hasn't changed, I called them. Nothing else is new. Well nothing at all is new. She's indoor cat. Has FIV.

 

[pevsfreedom]

We have amoxicillin which I read is good for skin infections in cats. We will give her that for 10 days or so and try to see improvement; if not we'll switch her food. If it gets worse we'll do to vet.

 

[valentine319]

We have amoxicillin which I read is good for skin infections in cats. We will give her that for 10 days or so and try to see improvement; if not we'll switch her food. If it gets worse we'll do to vet.

Please don't use human medications for your pet. If it's from the vet specifically for your cat then it's safe. Human needs medications can be dangerous.

You mentioned she has FIV maybe someone can chime in if this may be some kind of side effect.

 

[pevsfreedom]

Amoxicillin is amoxicillin. And yes it's for cats. We've had her for years nothing changed but I'm sure FIV complicates things.

 

[valentine319]

Has she been on any medications lately? Have you seen her over grooming or pulling out hair? Scratching?

If it were a food allergy I'd expect scratching, over grooming and such but it can vary. I'm not familiar with it just being in one area but that doesn't mean it can't.

The reason I mention a vet is if it's a skin infection sometimes a scraping and looking at it under a microscope to determine the correct treatment is needed.

The reason I mentioned the amoxicillin from a vet is human and vet meds can be different in size as dosage (while you may be aware of this a newer pet parent may not).

 

[jinxybean]

Did you host family for the holidays? FIV weakens the immune system and new stressors can doubly-impact her normal response to allergens. What I'm trying to say is that her body might be tolerating her normal diet when her world is normal, but react with dermatitis to the same food when she (and her body) is under stress.

Antibiotics might not work if this is an immune/histamine response. From the pictures, her skin looks reasonably clean and normal....just no fur. Is she grooming the area bald or is she losing fur on its own accord?

 

[pevsfreedom]

No meds. She kinda always the grooming queen. She is separate from the other 3 crazy cats. I have a diabetic cat so I'm very keen to cat dosing and medication, etc. We hosted nobody. She is grooming the are bald. I do not think it's happening like that by itself, i.e it must itch.

 

[valentine319]

I know this sounds simplistic but maybe unscented pet wipes to that area. Or rinse her leg? Diluted blue Dawn is safe for cats. Maybe she just got into something. It just seems really localized to one spot.

 

[pevsfreedom]

Thanks. It's on both legs, but 90% on one side.

 

[pevsfreedom]

We drugged her with some benzo's the vet gave us and are going to wrap it in gauze so she at least leaves it alone.

 

[lavishsqualor]

Unless she's experienced this exact same outbreak before and your vet prescribed amoxicillin for it, I would not give her anything without first speaking to a vet. She really does need medical care, especially given her FIV status.

 

[pevsfreedom]

Well in theory that sounds fantastic but we're about $10,000 in debt right now from moving states and buying a house. Doing what we can. If it spreads or gets worse we'll take her in. Doesn't help we also have a diabetic cat who takes up a good chunk of our income.

 

[pevsfreedom]

If I listened to a vet for everything our cats needed I'd be $100,000 in debt and our diabetic cat would probably be dead so I'm a bit reluctant to incessant testing and misdiagnosis's. Amoxicillin is the treatment for bacterial skin infections so I'm gonna go with that for now.