why does my cat have scabs

help there are red tiny swirl bugs on my cats blanket emergence what is it

That's flea poop. It's red because fleas eat blood. Wipe it with a damp paper towel and if the towel comes out with red streaks you'll know for sure. Fleas are sneaky so sometimes you don't see them on the cat but flea poop on the bed is a sure sign. Don't use store-type flea treatments because they're very toxic. Ask your vet for a recommendation.

oh no I cant belive it

Hello, my cat had the same thing!  she was beautiful then she started getting scabs and losing fur.  but strangely it didn't affect the other cats.  but she is doing tons better now.   I just need to know some things to see if its the same thing

• Do you have fleas? A little or a lot doesn't matter. Some cats can have allergic reactions.

• Do you use plastic bowls? For some strange reason this affected our cat.

• Do you give her wet or dry food? Our cat was eating dry and we had to give her wet. She actually wouldn't eat it. And if this is a problem DONT think its the food. If they have been eating dry food for a long time then wet food seems gross and scary. Just mix in some dry and lessen it Every few days.

It will also help to, hated or not, wash her. Give her a nice warm bath an for the cheapest method use Johnson baby shampoo. DO NOT USE YOURS!!!!  Cats have more sensitive skin and you will damage and even hurt her by using your shampoo.

You can even get some salmon and thinly slice it and put it in her food.

But if that all doesn't work then it may be your detergent or something you sprayed in your house.

   GOOD LUCK

What you saw are flea larvae. Look like tiny curled up worm things.

Yuck! Gross huh?!

Yep, your cats badly need repeated flea treatments.

That's actually good news, the easiest to fix

Be SURE to get the advantage 11, it is their newest formula and kills the eggs and larvae as well as the adult fleas.

Repeat the dosage I recommended in the former post, now that we know they have a flea infestation, I will revise it. Treat with 0.8 mls every 2 weeks for 2 straight months, then go to every 3 weeks a couple times, then monthly without fail.

Problem is solved! 

I agree with the above ^^, but, when I actually SEE fleas or evidence of fleas, I think also giving a Capstar at the same time as applying the Advantage II is a good idea, to knock the flea popluation down so the spot-on gets a head start. You can get Capstar for a pretty reasonable price from Amazon.

I do agree that capstar is great!

However in her case there are surely lots of fleas/eggs/larvae in the house as well, and seeing as capstar is good for killing the adult fleas on them for 24 hours, they will be right back on. Cost for capstar is about $10.00 per pill too, not that it will hurt! But you are tight on money now and would def. suggest spending the 40.00 on some advantage 11.

Advantage works fast too, within 4 hours the majority of fleas will be history, within 12 hours they will all be dead, and kill all the newcomers as they hitchhike a ride on them. AND the eggs and larvae will be killed too. You must stick with the program with treating every 2 weeks continuously to clean out the house too, then on to the monthly dosing.

I also want to suggest (highly) to vaccuum daily for a couple weeks.

This helps with the fleas/eggs/larvae in your home, furniture, and so on.

I meant to give both . I always first give the Capstar then apply the Advantage. Gives the Advantage time to spread through the skin while the Capstar takes care of the live ones.

And yikes! $10 for one Capstar?!? It's less than $4.50 a pill here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00552KNUK/?tag=&tag=thecatsite and I've found it cheaper too, as low as $3.50 a pill if I look around. I definitely couldn't use it if it were $10 a pill .

But, yeah, I love Capstar. Once my brother's cats had a terrible infestation (trailer court in the summer. . .ugh), and I gave them Capstar. Within just a couple minutes dead/dying fleas just started falling off the cats by the hundreds. We could only watch in horrified fascination :tongue2:. So yeah, I think it's terrific.

Wow! And that is my price where I get very discounted costs since I have a non profit cat rescue...who knew??! Huh, I'd use it more knowing I can get it cheap

Thanks @Willowy!

A secret. . .I buy the large dog size and cut it in quarters for the cats. This makes it even cheaper ($1-$2 a dose). Not sure if that would be against the non-profit rules, and I don't recommend it for regular owners with only 1-2 cats (I think the whole pill should be used as soon as it's opened) but just a tip .

And, actually, the large size can provide minimum dosage for up to 8 cats, but it's very hard to cut into 8ths :lol3:. But for ferals, you can crush it and put it in their canned food, and it can be enough for 8 cats.

Boil your sheets too.
Regarding food. Just because the food has been eaten for how ever long does not mean no allergy. One can become allergic to something that you've never been allergic to before.
I never had hay fever ever then suddenly orange blossom started to make me sneeze and have a blocked nose. This happened when they started to blossom and then passed.
I've never heard of capstan. It's possible it's not available here. I'll have to find out. My vet also gives injections. My late Lotto who never left the apartment was suddenly infested when he was about 18 years old. I was amazed. I used after I'd advantaged! You can turn anything into a verb nowadays. After that I bought a special spray from the supermarket instead of calling the exterminator.
My head has now started to itch.
Good luck

I have been dealing with a cat with allergies. Flea allergies are typically at the hind end of the animal. Food allergies are typically around the head and neck. If the cat is experiencing allergies to fleas specifically there may not be a clear pattern because the fleas live on the animal, in the bedding, and in your home. I have battled fleas more than one time on my cat that is just an inside cat NEVER goes outside. I had been using frontline on my two cats and my dog. The two vets my animal see believe that fleas in my area have become tolerant to this flea treatment. I use Vectra. Its a little costly but entirely better than dealing with the fleas. It can take a couple months to get rid of fleas. My cat has became sensitive to things she has been exposed to her entire life. Just a thought if you can buy free and clear laundry soap and wash their bedding with that. Food allergies can be completely spontaneous. This was extremely hard for me to believe. I was always told not to change food. Well this is not true you should be giving them a variety of proteins. My cat became allergic to gluten. It is a pain but you need to read every ingredient in both wet and dry food. My cat just got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Stay diligent in thinking about any new products introduced into the cats environment. if you use hand lotion that could be irritating her. Candles you burn could bother her. Any frangrance sprays. I totally understand your frustration as I have been going through this similar thing with my cat. I have found a wonderful product for the open wounds and scabs its called vetericyn hot spot treatment. I did pay $33 for a bottle. It has worked wonders. I put it on a cotton ball and rub her sores, she is scared of the spray bottle. My kitty is fighting flea allergies, food allergies, and an autoimmune disease that product has been a heaven sent for her and I. Hope my information helps. If you have any specific questions about allergies I would be more than happy to answer to my best ability. You can send me a private message. When I found out my kitty had allergies all I wanted was someone to talk to that had a cat with allergies.

I have a question, is it ok to give a cat benadryl.  I can't afford expensive vet bills and I have two cats the alpha cat has not scabs but my smaller fluffier cat has them all over his body.  Is this flea allergy? 

My female cat just in the last couple month has had scabes show up around her neck. She is an inside cat gets baths once a week and flea treatments onece a month. She is a year and six month and this is the first time she has had scabes like this. She housedto go inside and out a year ago and was bit by a rattle snack. Did good through the at home therapy we did cleaning the wwounds. But now she has scabes around the neck and I have no clue y

Many many years ago I brought a siamese in for a favour to the vet. I'd presumed, wrongly, that she was flea free. Not. I was badly bitten and my little tabby cat, gentle, were bitten badly. When I discovered we had fleas I returned the cat, who was also jaundiced, to the vet and got an exterminator in. Gentle and. Lotto spent the day at the vets. We put advantage on them before we went home. Everything was ok except gentle was washing herself and washing herself etc till she was half bald. It took many months for her to stop.
My blighty has just about stopped licking a sore on his leg. Most of the scabs have gone and fresh fur is growing but I think he's started licking in other places too. He's a very nervy cat. I've had him for a year now. He came from the streets. I don't know what to do or why he does it. Any suggestions.

Did you ever get the problem solved?  My cat has all kinds of scabs under her chin.  The vet checked for fleas,, but didn't find any.  I don't remember what they said as she had other more serious problems.

Well, the scabs are worse now.  One thing I thought of is that I switched vets because I got angry at my old one.  The old one used to trim her back claws, and the new one doesn't.  I just checked, and her back claws are quite sharp now.  So, I'm thinking that she is just itching like cats and dogs do, but her claws are so sharp they are giving her scabs.  She sleep on my bed, and I haven't seen any red curly things.

I don't have a job, an am having no luck finding one.  I will soon run out of money, so can't afford a vet bill.  I never seem to get away from there for less that $100, and this vet does not take credit cards.  I could order Frontline on the Internet, but I think they have to call my vet to get a prescription, and then my vet will tell me to buy it from him (they will match the priced).  I'm guessing $50 for that.

It is strange that I rarely see her scratch.

@BlakeRamon  if the scabs are just under her chin it could be feline acne. What kind of bowls do you feed her from? Take a look at this article, it might help.

 [article="29983"]Feline Acne​[/article]  

Thank you Norachan. I use a regular china dish for her food, and a glass bowl for her water.  I try to wash the water bowl regularly.

She is a white Persian cat, so has long hair.  I can't see the scabs, but can feel them I with some work peel them off.

I have changed her food a couple times. The vet sold me some expensive canned food after some liver enzymes were high.  It didn't change her liver enzyme levels, so I went back to Iams.  The grocery store I go to carries a variety for sensitive stomachs, and she has been throwing up the past few months, so I've been buying that.  She still throws up, but it's pretty much all a big hair ball.  Her hair is long now, but I don't like to have her shaved.  She gets cold and lays on top of me to keep warm at night.

I ordered some Advantage II out of desperation.  I'll see how that goes.  Hopefully I can find a job soon so I can afford to take her to the vet.

We started shaving my cat. Every time we shave here she heals up around her tail and neck. We don't shave her head or most of her neck. But from half way down the neck to her tail. Even the belly. When her hair starts getting long she starts scabbing up again. We still can't figure out y. But this has been a great help with her

Thank you for your post, sweatheart.  Do you have a long haired cat?  I think you must if you shave her.  I had my vet shave her once, but they stayed away from the head.  Like I mentioned in my post below, she was cold all the time and slept on top of me at night to try to keep warm.  She doesn't look pretty when she's shaved, but it got rid of all the knots.  Right now she doesn't have knots, but she did start shedding again and is throwing up hair balls.

I ordered Advantage II out of desperation from Pet Meds, but I have not received it yet.  I found a comb like the vet uses to check for fleas (after I placed the order), and did not find any fleas.  I gave her water dish a good washing, and her chin has fewer scabs now.  I'm hoping that Pet Meds will let me send back the Advantage II.  I've never used a flea repellent on her because she is never outside.  She is 14 years old, and has never had fleas.

I tried several different web sites suggested by SPCAI for financial assistance, but haven't had any luck.  One site responded with advice to give her cranberry tablets for the blood in her urine, and said that she doesn't need any vaccinations at her age.