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I have a 3 year old neutered male house cat. He has been very healthy up until about 4 months ago. It all started when he scratched his forehead with his back claws and made it bleed quite a bit. It scabed over but it would not go away. I brought him to the vets to see what they thought. Well as you can guess they gave him a course of that sickening bubblegum flavored antibiotic. They also had me change his food to Science Diet duck and pea formula thinking it was alergy related. Everything was ok for a short while but he did not like that antibiotic and because of the stuff we had to go through to give it to him (wrap him in a blanket so he would not scratch us) he started hiding under furniture and it seemed that shen we would find him he would find another place to hide. Well I changed his food and his litter to a newspaper kind with no scent that might cause a reaction. But now he is licking the fur from his chest and it is so raw and ozing. Can you help him?

Submitted: 542 days and 20 hours ago.
Category: Cat
Value: $15
Status: AWAITING CUSTOMER ACTION
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Optional Information

Optional Information:
Age: 3; Male; Breed: cat

Already Tried:
vet-chang diet/antibiotic changed litter dinovite food additive for healthy skin

Posted by Dr. Angela 542 days and 20 hours ago.

Answer

At this point, if he is mutilating himself to the point of raw and oozing skin, I would recheck him at your vet. They should make sure there are no skin mites (skin scraping) and no fleas, make sure everything else is fine, especially his heart, and then consider giving him a steroid injection. This should make him feel better really fast if his problems are truly being caused by an allergy. He needs some pretty quick relief if he's mutilating himself this badly. This is what I would recommend, again, providing the rest of his physical exam is normal. Let me know if you have more questions about this. Best wishes.

542 days and 18 hours ago.

Reply

Reply to Angela K. Duke, DVM's Post: I don't really want to use steroids. Is there any other natural product that you would recomend

Answer

I'm sorry that I do not have a recommendation for a natural product that will work as fast or effectively as steroids. Your vet will make the final determination of whether or not steroids are a good idea. When a cat is tearing himself up this badly, he needs a good and fast solution. He is miserable. I understand your concerns about steroids, but I will tell you that cats tolerate steroids VERY WELL and respond beautifully to their use when it is indicated. Please consider this and discuss it with the veterinarian who will be evaluating him. Best wishes.

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Expert: Dr. Angela
Pos. Feedback: 100.0 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 5/29/2008

Cat Veterinarian

University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine

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