skin issues of unknown cause

Please Help!! One of my cats keeps developing bald oozing spots- the other is totally fine. After multiple trips to the vet, antibiotics and steroids shots, change of diet- nothing helps more than a week. What is going on? 
She scratches her face neck a lot, red bumps develop on her head between her ears and eyes. Her ears turn red and get crusty, she develops sores on her face. Usually on her nose, but now a worse spot showed up overnight on her cheek. My other cat has no symptoms of anything. Doesnt scratch, no lesions.. She has been treated for ear mites even though she had no brown gunk in her ears, she is on a monthly flea and tick regemine, so no fleas. Vets gave her and 8 week antibiotic, helped some, 2 weeks after treatment was over its back full force. Her diet has had all wheat and poultry removed. No help. Steroid shots from vet help for a temporary time, but I hate giving her them. Too harsh on their bodies. Vet is out of ideas...... what is wrong with my baby?

I don't know what flea med you are using but I would stop all meds as it seems she is allergic to one of them. Don't give her anything unnatural. If she has a few fleas - so be it until you figure this out.

There could also be some additive or preservative in the food that is setting her off. I suggest you buy Radcat frozen raw turkey if you can find it in your local petstore. It's pure food - no additives/fillers. Otherwise online at naturalpet.com. Feed this for about 2 weeks. If diet is the issue she will look better than ever and this problem will have cleared up.

Does your kitty go outside? Has the vet done a skin scraping to check for certain types of parasites, fungal infections, bacteria and yeast? Are the red oozing spots, bumps and sores a result of her scratching her face raw? Or are they showing up out of nowhere? I know that food allergies can cause a lot scratching around the neck, face and ears. What kind of diet changes have you tried?

Pemphigus is a type of autoimmune disorder of the skin in cats. There are four types of pemphigus that vary in severity and can affect different areas of the body. A TCS or Google search will yield results. Here's a general article about autoimmune diseases of the skin in cats:

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pe...mal-health/autoimmune-skin-disease-in-cats/56

The vet has tried skin scrapings. Did not reveal anything. We first tried blue buffalo- grain free. No help. She just recently switched to natural balance- salmon and green pea. It is completely poultry free and grain free. I have ensured her treats are poultry and grain free as well. She has been on the new diet for one week.
She does not go outside. Completely indoor kitty. The red oozing spot appeared overnight. It would surprise me if this was a re Ault of itching. The bald flaky spot does not ooze. It looks like it could be a result of itching.
I wish this thing would let me post a picture. It keeps saying image too large....

That is a good idea to stop all unnatural meds. She doesnt go outside so it would be hard for her to get more fleas. I would have to bring them in.
I will try the frozen food with her. At this point I just want her better! You said if it was a food issue it should clear up in a week? I have always read food trials should be 8-12 weeks long.

If it's a reaction to food it can actually take several weeks to clear up. The new salmon and pea diet sounds good, if those are ingredients your cat has never eaten before. Keep her on just that for at least 6 weeks to give it time to find out if this will help. I agree with stopping medications for a while to see if that helps, she could be sensitive to one of them.

When did this start? What was she eating at the time? Was it during flea season, or in the winter, or ...? What flea meds has she been getting, and has it changed? Is there anything in the environment that has harsh chemicals or strong scents, like fabric softener on her bed/blanket?

RyderNeedsHelp said:

That is a good idea to stop all unnatural meds. She doesnt go outside so it would be hard for her to get more fleas. I would have to bring them in.
I will try the frozen food with her. At this point I just want her better! You said if it was a food issue it should clear up in a week? I have always read food trials should be 8-12 weeks long.

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What flea med are you using? I hope it's not a harts flea collar or some type of powder. At any rate stop all meds of any kind. No shampoos. No treats. If you can make your own raw food great- otherwise get radcat. All the other commercial foods have additives, preservatives, food coloring, or other junk that your cat is sensitive to. I said you should see some improvement in 2 weeks and continually better from there.

Do you give her clean water from a clean bowl? Or something else?

She drinks filtered water from a stainless steel bowl. Changed daily.
She has never eaten the new food before and it has only been a week. I am using advantage flea and tick. Not a collar- the kind you put on their neck. Its been a year long issue. Nothing special about seasons.

so sorry.. our Mikki gets hot spots on her back and we tried the diet thing too with no luck but didnt try raw so will be watching this post in hopes you figure it out.

We adopted her from the pound a year and a half ago. She has scratched since we got her. We were feeding iams food. When it started making her stop playing to scratch, we knew something was wrong. Took her to the vet and they thought she may have fleas. Startedmonthly flea and tick. When the bald spot on the top of her nose developed we took her to a different vet she did skin scrapings to test for yeast and bacteria and gave a steroid shot. The shot helped the redness in her ears go away and the bald spot go away. She stopped scratching for a few weeks, so we witches to blue buffalo grain free food, thinking it was a grain allergy. Eventually the bald spot came back. Took her back to the vet ( this was 3 months ago) gave another steroid shot and prescribed 8 week treatment of antibiotics thinking she had ring worm. During weeks on treatment it was better and on weeks off it would flare up. She has been off the medicine for 4 weeks now. Its back. The picture was from last night. Switched to the grain and poultry free food a week ago. Hasn't helped any.

Well the drugs do help...but only the symptom, not the cause as we had to get Mikki a shot as well as her one spot got so deep with her licking it she almost required surgery but the shot did help her then we put her in a shirt to keep her from licking. she doesn't itch a lot...the spots just appear as a scab then she goes after them and makes them worse...frustrating. She's never had one on her head or face.. her shoulder and down the spine are the areas she gets them.

My cat right now started with that stuff, the vet treated him the same but he has gotten considerably worse... The skin right now is horribly infected...

aww...so sorry for both of you...it's so frustrating as you keep thinking...oh maybe this is it..and change something...then it's not helping...ugh.