at my wits end - why are my cats itchy?

lentilsmom

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Hi guys, I've read almost every post on here that has the keyword "itchy"... I've been looking on here for WEEKS just in case so I wouldn't have to bother you guys. Here is my story.

My boyfriend and I adopted a 3 month kitten, Lentil, in October of last year. She ended up getting diagnosed with herpes (squinty eyes, sneezing, Uris.) it is very well under control right now with lysine. At the 6 month mark, we got her fixed. She had fleas. We had her treated but the itching never went away 100%. It would be really good one day, and horrible another. She itches her face, licks, and suckles and bites. Fast forward to her being 11 months old. We are still struggling with her itching. She now has bald patches by her hind legs. Her neck is totally scabbed up. We have treated her for mange, did a few food trials, gave her steroids (only thing that helped), tried antihistamines, and have her on flea protection. She had a skin scraping and nothing came back.

Here is the twister. A few months ago, we took in another cat. He had no previous history of itching. 3 days later, he starts itching. Over time, it has become as bad as Lentil. We took them to 3 different vets. All are stumped. It can't be behavioral or food related because my other can "caught" whatever it is, right? We also had an exterminator come in and he couldn't find anything. I'm getting itching just looking at them. I don't know what to do. All they do is lick and itch until they fall asleep.

They will play, the eat and poop fine.

At my wits end here :(
 

irinasak

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Just a wild guess here, since both cats are itchy, I'm thinking it's environmental - maybe the stuff you wash your floors with, or if you have room refreshners, or the stuff you clean the furniture with - all could be allergens for your kitties.

My second guess would be the food - an ingredient in the food. What are you feeding them?
 
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lentilsmom

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I mostly vacuum, I don't clean the floors with stuff often (I know this is gross. This is my first apartment and I'm learning..hahaha). I can't think of anything else I use that would upset them. I feed them Friskies turkey and giblets pate. They used to be fed Purina one, and I had given them grain free blue buffalo, all of which they showed no improvement! I just touched lentils neck and its REALLY bad now. The poor thing is all scabs and doesn't want to be petted. I am so determined to figure this out but I feel that I have been going in circles with no improvement :(
 

mnm

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wouldn't by chance be any mold in the apartment would there? I have searched probably every article you have searched for my Mikki and Minnie. They both showed different types of itching though. Zyrtec totally cured Minnie as she had the patterened baldness on her lower tummy and hind legs that she licked off. However, zyrtec didn't help Mikki..whose allergies are different..they show up in scabs then she gets after them and it turns into leasions.. all on her back. So frustrating..we've tried eliminating different food proteins....with no luck. She was tested as well for mites, etc. I feel bad for your kitties... Mikki doesn't itch all all that much...until she comes across one of the spots bathing..then she works at it and irritates it. This is what I'm sure you already have known:

Flea allergy is the most common allergic skin disease in the United States. Cats with flea allergy tend to scratch their back ends leading to lesions on the rump, hind legs, tail and belly. Since it takes just one flea to make the cat react, the presence of fleas on the cat may be minimal to absent.

Atopy is a reaction to airborne allergens such as pollens, house dust, house dust mites and molds. Cats with atopy tend to scratch their ears and face and tend to chew and lick at their feet. The condition is often worse during summer months when pollen and mold levels are increased.

Food allergy is a reaction to one or more ingredients in their food. These cats tend to scratch in the same places as those with atopy.

Insect allergies (insect bite hypersensitivity) are less common than other allergies. Lesions are evident in areas where insects such as mosquitoes are likely to bite (bridge of nose, ears).

Contact allergy is a reaction to an irritant that touches the skin, often the belly or chest. Allergies of this type are rare.
 

rlavach

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I'm no expert, but thought I'd throw this out there. What about the surfaces that they sleep on? So not the floor, but what about furniture or bedding, sheets...so the laundry detergent, softeners & things like that. They have ones that are fragrance free & sensitive. I know that's for human allergens, but maybe it would help the kitties? 
 
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lentilsmom

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MnM, so sorry to hear you are dealing with the same hell I am! There very well could be mold that I can't see... but I don't smell anything. I forget the antihistamine I'm trying out for Lentil right now, its Chlor something. How long did it take for the meds to kick in for your kitty? They itch and bite their feet... similar in pattern to atopy and food allergy. But why would two cats get a food allergy upon entering my apartment? Ugh!

rlavach, I'm thankful for any input given, don't worry!! Unfortunately, I DO use unscented detergent. They sleep everywhere... but the only area that is cleaned is my bedding, which has fragrance free detergent. I don't use dryer sheets either
 

mnm

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the zyrtec worked within a couple weeks .. I started using it after reading about it online being a goid one to use for cats so it wasn't perscribed by my vet. Just wished it worked for Mikki too unless the dose wasn't enough for her.. so many possibilities to consider is overwhelming!
 

randomhero1747

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Aww so sorry for your poor kitties! I can only say that takes some days to watch all they do, where they travel, what they lay on, and maybe that way you can figure something out, pattern or whichever. Could be many things, so that's why it's so hard to tell. Give it a good week and even write it down to keep track and maybe you can stubble upon something interesting. Hope you figure it out! :)
 
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lentilsmom

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MnM, that makes me VERY hopeful because I have only used antihistamines for about a week and then got discouraged...I will keep trying!

Randomhero, that is great advice. I will gladly spend my day off from working stalking my kitties :) sounds like fun, honestly!!

I got a coupon for a free vet visit and VCA animal hospital tomorrow... this vet takes special interest in skin. Will update!
 

beccagore

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Have you thought about ringworm? It sounds exactly like what the kitten we rescued had, after another vet visit she did indeed have ringworm, and it can easily be spread to other animals, and humans. 
 

peaches08

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MnM, so sorry to hear you are dealing with the same hell I am! There very well could be mold that I can't see... but I don't smell anything. I forget the antihistamine I'm trying out for Lentil right now, its Chlor something. How long did it take for the meds to kick in for your kitty? They itch and bite their feet... similar in pattern to atopy and food allergy. But why would two cats get a food allergy upon entering my apartment? Ugh!

rlavach, I'm thankful for any input given, don't worry!! Unfortunately, I DO use unscented detergent. They sleep everywhere... but the only area that is cleaned is my bedding, which has fragrance free detergent. I don't use dryer sheets either
What were they fed before you got them?  When you did the food trials, what did you try and for how long for each food?  Sometimes it takes being on a novel protein for a month or more before things calm down.

I can only imagine your frustration.
 

mnm

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well they ate dry when we got them at just over 2 pounds from the shelter. We "thought" Mikki was a boy so added a spoonful of frisky wet every 6 hours to her diet for urinary health... then she got in some funk and wouldn't eat the dry at all as we noticed she was losing weight..here she was ONLY eating her spoonful of WET, thus switched them both to mainly wet food.... and kept dry out all the time... then after moving to AZ from Ohio... they ate Fancy Feast for a couple years... then that's when the allergies started..after we moved into a new home and were here for a year or so.

We had them on a prescription duck for a couple weeks but they wouldn't eat it... so we decided a bit later to eliminate all fish and grains.... for 6 weeks. That did nothing...then we tried eliminating chicken and grains for 6 weeks...that did nothing. We didn't try beef.... may do that next, esp now that we only have Mikki. She always has the sores, but sometimes she doesn't go after them and they get a lot better... then BAM..she'll lick them open. We were wondering if there's something in the Fancy Feast brand itself that just aggravates her skin.... we tried Trader Joe's.... she didn't like it either... so hard when she GOBBLES Fancy Feast.
 
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lentilsmom

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I had them on prescription venison and pea for 6 weeks. then tried a prescription hypoallergenic hydrolyzed food for 6 weeks. thank you for the compassion. its 4 am here and my appointment is in 5 hours! I'm praying...
 

stewball

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I had that 20 years ago with one cat after a flea invasion. I got the 'terminator' I in and that was the end of that except.for Gentle, a terrible misnomer! The other two were.fine but gentle was.washing incessantly in the same places until she was bald in those places. She was allergic to flea spit and it took months of sprays a d stuff till she stopped and all her fur grew back. I was going to say that but if the other cat is scratching! Maybe both are allergic to flea spit. It's a possibility. Maybe ask the vet if that could be it. You can say u mentioned it so that if he laughs it's at me and not you.
Good luck.
 
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lentilsmom

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Well, the vet found nothing, really. He did a skin scraping and the only thing that was abnormal was that he found whiten blood cells and a lot of staph on her skin. So she's on claxamox 1 ml 2x a day for 2 weeks. Seems excessive..I don't know.

I went out and got some really good instinct dry food that is one protein and one carb, I know that wet is better, but I want to try this.

He also said that antistamines in cats work within days, not weeks. Is that true? my poor babies :(
 

mnm

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I'm pretty sure it took Min a couple weeks before she stopped licking. I know how frustrating this can be. I hope you see results quickly!
 

forrestmeows

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I'm having a similar problem with my boy cat.  He has been scratching, licking and biting himself non-stop.  He bites and licks his feet and legs (and between his legs), tummy and back.  He also scratches his face, neck, ears and eyes (sometimes).  I don't know whether it is/was caused by fleas, mites, food allergies or environmental issues.  I have him on Revolution for fleas and mites.  Maybe this was a problem and he has residual itchiness.  Maybe he's allergic to his food.  For a while, he also became really aggressive on occasion.  He's normally such a sweet and gentle cat.  

I'm not sure what is going on.  I have been trying to figure it out.  I had him on dry food.  He was vomiting.  I have been trying to get him off his dry food and get him to eat canned food.  Since I started working on this, he has not been vomiting.  The dry food contains additional allergens.  I also started him on Zyrtec (5-10 mg) last week.  It seems to be helping him a fair amount.  He is biting, scratching and licking himself less than previously.  He has also gone back to his docile self.  He is more sleepy though.  

Check with your Vet to see if Zyrtec may help and see whether it will conflict with any other medications.  From what I have read, some antihistamines may work better than others.  Maybe the Zyrtec will help more.  

Good luck.
 I know how frustrating it is to not know what's causing the itching.  
 

mnm

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so glad to see Zyrtec worked for your kitty! Hope he continues to get better. It totally cured one of my cats from itching... fur and everything grew back. Wish it would have helped our other cat though!!
 
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