Chewing tail

We have 6 year old medium-haired female tortie. We got her in August 2007. In the summer of 2009 she started chewing the fur off the end of her tail, had some scabby dermatitis issues at the base of her tail, and she developed a lump on her left flank. The lump was drained, we put her on Frontline Plus thinking it was a flea allergy, and she got better. She hadn't had any more major issues until this year, and she's had some of the same scabby dermatitis but around her head now (this had gotten to the point where some spots were not healing so she's been to the vet a couple of times for shots to help her heal), she's developed another lump, and she's chewed the fur off the end of her tail to the point where it's raw and a little bloody. We've given her Frontline but that hasn't seemed to help. The vet thought it might be food related so we went to a hypoallergenic food (but we fed her the same food for the last several years), but after several weeks of being on that, we're not seeing any results (other than our fat cat losing weight!). We have not yet drained the lump on her side, as the vet thought it was from the shots he had given her and may go down on her own. Anybody have any experience with something like this that is so intermittent? (During the intervening years, she'd get a little of the dermatitis around her head and we'd give her Frontline and it would clear up; now the Frontline doesn't seem to be doing anything for her). We'll call the vet tomorrow for chewing solutions tomorrow. Any experiences would be helpful!

It sounds like it could be a skin allergy and I agree with the vet that it may be the cause. The problem with most of the rx foods is that they are filled with grains which is often the cause of allergies in the first place. In my opinion a good species appropriate diet can help with some skin allergies. If you would like to learn more about feline nutrition check out the nutrition forum and read this great site written by a vet who is actually an expert in feline nutrition (www.catinfo.org). 

Good luck and keep us posted

Franksmom said:

It sounds like it could be a skin allergy and I agree with the vet that it may be the cause. The problem with most of the rx foods is that they are filled with grains which is often the cause of allergies in the first place. In my opinion a good species appropriate diet can help with some skin allergies. If you would like to learn more about feline nutrition check out the nutrition forum and read this great site written by a vet who is actually an expert in feline nutrition (www.catinfo.org). 

Good luck and keep us posted

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  I'm guessing the hypo allergenic food is dry, right?  Sometimes those do actually work, but as Franksmom suggested, sometimes they don't.   

This sounds like classic miliary dermatitis, which is typically brought on by fleas, but can be from food, other parasites (mites, lice, etc), fungus, even allergies to dyes.  And they can become allergic to something now that they weren't allergic to earlier, just like WE can.  

Did your Vet give her anything to help stop the itching while you are trying to figure out the problem?  Is there ANY evidence of fleas?  If not, i would definitely try to get her on a limited ingredient diet, which means no grains, low carbs, mostly protein, SINGLE protein (at least until you figure out if she is allergic, say, even  to chicken). 

No evidence whatsoever of fleas on her or our other 2 cats. She went back to the vet yesterday, and was given another shot to help with the itching, but those only seem to work for a couple of day. He put her on an antibiotic as well. She had lost about 1.5 in 2 weeks and was dehydrated, but she ate and drank well yesterday after she returned home. Has given us nothing long-term for the itching. He doesn't want to do anything with the lump until we figure out the allergy stuff. Quite frankly, I'm about done with this vet. Although he is very friendly and obviously cares about animals, he doesn't explain things well and always seems distracted in an "absent-minded professor" kind of way. I'm positive it's an allergy of some sort, but it would be nice to find a way to deal with the symptoms while we figure out what it is so she isn't miserable 24/7!

Given that there is no evidence of fleas and that the hypoallergenic diet is not working and that the shots are only helping temporarily, I would try the novel protein limited ingredient wet food diet that mrsgreenjeens recommended. Since food is something you can control, try to eliminate everything possible that could be causing the reaction.

If she is already dehydrated then I do worry about continuing on dry. You may want to try a limited ingredient wet food like nature's variety to add more moisture to her diet (http://www.naturesvariety.com/Instinct/cat/can/LIDDuck).