Kittybits
05-13-2009, 03:45 AM
So it's me again... I have yet another question to ask, but this time it's for my mom. This forum is so great that I really love to have everyone's input.
So my mom has several cats and all of them are healthy except for one. His name is Itten (because he didn't quite have all his male parts...) and he is about 7 years old? So he is getting on the older side. However, he has been getting these strange skin problems in the last year or so. At first, it wasn't too bad. Just a little hair loss here and there. Then it got progressively worse. Eventually we realized it was because he had a bit of an OCD problem. He would basically lick himself RAW. When I say RAW, I mean red, all the fur gone, bleeding raw. My mom has taken him to the vets and they only prescribed him antibiotics for possible infections, but nothing to stop the actual problem. He was getting better, but then it go warmer and then it got bad again. My mom and I decided that it could be an allergy of some sort that makes him go nutty and keep licking himself. The problem is, what? It's not fleas because my mom stays on top of the flea problem pretty well. If she didn't, everyone would be infested and miserable. He also hasn't always been like that so it's weird that he would start up. There's the possibility it could be his diet, which she's going to try to change, but again, we have no clue what it is exactly.
My mom is going to look for another vet because the current vet doesn't seem to help. However, she lives in a very small town in New York and doesn't know where to find one that is decently priced. If anyone has any recommendations on vets in low cost vets in New York, that would be really helpful.
Any clues or ideas as to what it could be would be helpful too. Maybe if we can get some ideas she could ask the current vet to really take a look into a specific problem. For now, she's going to try to bathe him in a gentle oatmeal type shampoo bath and even maybe put a cone on his head (not at night so he hopefully sleep). It just has gotten really bad and the vet is kind of useless. Not really looking for a home remedy (though those are helpful too), but just an inkling as to what it could be so we could direct the vet in the right direction... Lol.
So my mom has several cats and all of them are healthy except for one. His name is Itten (because he didn't quite have all his male parts...) and he is about 7 years old? So he is getting on the older side. However, he has been getting these strange skin problems in the last year or so. At first, it wasn't too bad. Just a little hair loss here and there. Then it got progressively worse. Eventually we realized it was because he had a bit of an OCD problem. He would basically lick himself RAW. When I say RAW, I mean red, all the fur gone, bleeding raw. My mom has taken him to the vets and they only prescribed him antibiotics for possible infections, but nothing to stop the actual problem. He was getting better, but then it go warmer and then it got bad again. My mom and I decided that it could be an allergy of some sort that makes him go nutty and keep licking himself. The problem is, what? It's not fleas because my mom stays on top of the flea problem pretty well. If she didn't, everyone would be infested and miserable. He also hasn't always been like that so it's weird that he would start up. There's the possibility it could be his diet, which she's going to try to change, but again, we have no clue what it is exactly.
My mom is going to look for another vet because the current vet doesn't seem to help. However, she lives in a very small town in New York and doesn't know where to find one that is decently priced. If anyone has any recommendations on vets in low cost vets in New York, that would be really helpful.
Any clues or ideas as to what it could be would be helpful too. Maybe if we can get some ideas she could ask the current vet to really take a look into a specific problem. For now, she's going to try to bathe him in a gentle oatmeal type shampoo bath and even maybe put a cone on his head (not at night so he hopefully sleep). It just has gotten really bad and the vet is kind of useless. Not really looking for a home remedy (though those are helpful too), but just an inkling as to what it could be so we could direct the vet in the right direction... Lol.