Self Inflicted Or Play (photos)

[lavishsqualor]

My beautiful female tuxedo, Thirteen, who will be four years old on Valentine's Day, has food allergies. Several years ago we learned that chicken is an absolute no-no for her. Her ears fill up with wax and she will scratch herself into oblivion if she eats it. I had her on a rabbit only diet for quite some time and then she got tired of it so we went to a pork/beef combo.

Thirteen, along with my other cats, are raw fed.

I ended up rescuing a new born kitten who was stuck in a structure at work and Thirteen and the female kitten, now about four months old, have a love-hate relationship. They play pretty rough together. Lately I've been noticing these bloody spots at the front of Thirteen's ear. I'm pretty sure they are self inflicted from scratching but I wanted the Cat Site's opinion too. Thirteen actually got into the fridge and ate a lot of boiled chicken about a week ago ago.

Do you think these abrasions are from Thirteen scratching because she's itchy or from playing with Bella Roma, the young kitten, who has been known to scratch others? I ordered a TON of rabbit from Hare Today and gave Thirteen her first portion today. I was afraid that maybe the beef/pork combo was causing her to itch.

Is it the boiled chicken she ingested that's causing her to scratch; an allergy to the beef/pork combo; or Bella Roma, the new kitten, that's responsible for the blood shed? I'm curious as to what the Cat Site thinks.

 

[duckpond]

My cats scratch each other occasionally during rough play, but its not usually in that spot, but i imagine it could happen.

However it really looks, to me anyway, like a self inflicted injury, from scratching. Good that your changing up the diet, but if it continues then a vet visit may be in order? Her ears look clean, but i know when one of mine was scratching this area a lot it was from a fungal infection, and her ears looked fine. Few days of drops fixed it right up for her.

Best of luck to Thirteen, that the food change fixes everything right up.

 

[neely]

Do you think these abrasions are from Thirteen scratching because she's itchy or from playing with Bella Roma, the young kitten, who has been known to scratch others?

Although I've obviously never seen the two of them play but from your description I think it's probably Bella Roma, the young kitten. Does Bella Roma get near Thirteen's head or face when playing? It could possibly be self-inflicted as well but you are the best judge of that. I agree that you're wise to change up Thirteen's diet and see if that makes a difference.

BTW, thank you for rescuing Bella Roma. Good luck, please keep us posted on their progress.

 

[Kflowers]

Sniff Thirteen's ears that way if they aren't filling with wax you'll know how they smell if they're okay. If the vet sees the beginning of wax building up you'll know what that smells like.

It looks like a playing scratch to me, but with Thirteen's history, I'd take her in for a check. I'm thinking the more wax in her ears the less she hears. The less she hears the easier she gets freaked out and with Bella Roma that might not be good.

Here's why - cats hold back with they play. They even hold back when they fight with the cats they live with and hate. This is true even when blood is involved. When they think they are attacked by a strange animal they can rip a flank open -- seriously. This happened in our house. One of the cats ran around the corner and rammed another. the rammed cat struck one blow in instant reaction and ripped the first cat's flank open. Then he recognized the first cat and drew back. Everyone recovered, but you want to avoid it if possible.

 

[lavishsqualor]

Thank you for all the input! I really am grateful. Something else I just noticed: The toothpaste I use on my cats contains poultry digest! I knew it was "poultry flavored" but I thought they used some sort of synthetic flavoring, not animal digest, so now her toothpaste is also suspect. I sent the above photos to my vet who is convinced that they're self inflicted. She thinks Thirteen is scratching herself, and she wants me to stop using the toothpaste and feed Thirteen nothing but rabbit for the next month. If the scratching hasn't calmed down then we'll have to move on to other options, but for right now she doesn't want to give her anymore steroid injections. Fingers crossed.

 

[duckpond]

Keeping my fingers crossed for you guys, that the diet change will fix the problem!

 

[lavishsqualor]

Thank you, duckpond! You're very kind.