Cat help

Now my cat about 12 years old has a very sensitive back, won't stop licking ANYTHING until I stop touching her back, seems to be the symptoms of fleas but my house would be crawling with them. I used a flea shampoo on her 2 days ago and problem hasn't gone away. Any help?

Flea shampoos are toxic and not terribly effective. Try a decent brand of spot-on like Frontline or Advantage and that should take care of any fleas (you don't always see fleas, and even one bite can set a badly allergic cat off for weeks). Vacuum the carpets a lot, and wash bedding in hot water. If it's not fleas, it may be an allergy to something else. Food, laundry detergent, carpet powder, really anything in your house. It can be a pain to narrow down the exact issue, but worth it.

Ok thanks, ill post again on a few days.

shawnham said:

Now my cat about 12 years old has a very sensitive back, won't stop licking ANYTHING until I stop touching her back

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Whoa!!!!!!! Hold everything!!!!!!!!

First of all, welcome to the forum, shawnham!

Are you saying that your cat's behaviour when you touch her back is suddenly different from what it used to be?

How did she previously react to you doing the exact same thing?

Does she at any other time do this licking thing (or, is this a brand new behaviour?)

Also, when did she last have a checkup at the Vet's?

What is the name and manufacturer of that shampoo you used?

I'll leave it there until you reply, except to urge you NOT to use any flea treatment products that don't come from your Vet clinic. Thousands of cats have been poisoned and harmed by these things bought at pet stores, huge numbers fatally. And, there's a "new" one sold only by Vets, "Assurity for Cats", that has had many severe adverse reaction reports. So, be aware.

You only find fleas on a cat when you already have quite a flea problem.  The eggs they lay drop off into the environment and so the adult fleas are the tip of an iceberg of eggs, larvae and pupae.  Have you checked your cat for flea dirt?  Stand her on some white paper, comb with a fine tooth comb (polite name for flea comb in the UK) and if any specks of dirt come out, put a drop of water on them.  A pink stain indicates flea dirt which is flea faeces and the pink/red colour comes because it's mostly dried blood.

If there are fleas, just cleaning your house probably isn't enough.  There are a number of safe and highly effective flea sprays for the house on the market and you need to use one of those as well as using a safe, effective preparation on your cat.

Lots more at:

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/fleas/info.html

Brand names maybe different in the US, but the names of the active ingredients will be the same.