Excessive self scratching - help

Hi, my aunts cat, 12 year old female has been scratching herself waaay too much. She is causing the skin to break and bleed. She is an indoor cat and is not exposed to any other animals.

She has occasional matting on her rump accompanied by flaky white skin we assume, which we brush out and problem is eliminated.

What can be causing her to scratch so much?
Nothing in her environment, or food or other behaviours has changed.
Shes a happy cat but keeps hurting herself, if you try and persuade her to stop scratching herself she gets upset cause youre bugging her......lol

She is a very nervous cat and wont let anyone near her to trim her nails, and if a vet is called she hides and if caught gets so upset she has a fit.
What can we do to help her?

Does she have fleas? Those pesky little buggers can drive a cat crazy.

No thats the problem, all the usual stuff, she doesnt have. No fleas, no mites, no bumps, no collar, nothing new

Has her food been changed lately? What about her litter? Maybe she's got an allergy to the food or litter...I dunno.

Sounds like a Vet check might be the best answer for you. I wish I could help you more, but honestly I don't know what could be causing this. I wish you & the kitty the best of luck! Hopefully Hissy or Sandie will pop in here and give you some better suggestions or ideas.

Because of her age, I would take her to the vet and have the vet look at her. That would be the safest thing to do.

I'd take her to the vet too just to be safe. Ask about allergies.

She could have developed allergies to the same food or enviroment so ask the vet about that. Allergies in cats can develop over time according to my vet. Sphinx has allergies and Kuce might as well to food and dust. (Sphinx is 17 years and Kuce is 10-12 years we think).

I'd definitely have a vet check out the cat. Food allergies generally are a reaction to a food the cat has been consuming over a long period of time, according to what I've read and been told, and there is also the possibility that the cat has eosinophilic granuloma complex, an auto-immune disease. My cat has it ("rodent ulcers" - cause still unknown), and my sister's six-year-old cat was just diagnosed with it - he has been licking himself bald on his stomach and rump. One vet thought it was "nerves", but another vet did a skin biopsy and is now treating the cat with cortison, with great success.