Sores On Cats back near tail

My cat buddy  is about 13 years old and he has a number of sores mainly near the base of his tail and upwards along his spine until about half way up his torso. The main location of the sores are around the base of his tail. the sores are mainly scabbed, not filled with puss, but sometimes emit an mildly unpleasant smell but usually only when he scratches at them.  Sometimes when you scratch on or around his sores he likes it and purrs and licks his lips (which he normally does when scratching around his tail) but sometimes he yowls and seems to find them painful.

Buddy has about 3 -5 nail head size sores and maybe 15-20 smaller sores (about the size of a ball point pen tip) around the other larger sores. The sores have gotten larger and more frequent within the last 4 months , and seem to have somewhat healed but not totally healed( the larger sores). He has acted totally normal until recently he has been very loving towards me (normally my dads cat) however my dad had a hip replacement about a month ago and has not been able to pay attention to him much, The scabs seem to bee getting more rough and sandpaper like when you rub along his spine.

My suspicion is that he has a bacterial skin infection of some kind as it does not seem like ring worm. Please let me know your thoughts as I do not have the money to spend on long veterinarian treatments, but for a simple one visit fix I will make it work. Attached are photos of the larger sores for reference.  

I really don't have any idea what this is, but would think that ONE Vet visit might be enough, honestly.   If it IS a bacterial infection,then they should be able to prescribe an antibiotic to take care of it, or a cream for it (which would mean him wearing one of those collars so he can't lick at it, or a onesy or something)

pattyflacker said:

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• pattyflacker
• Jan 22, 2015

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Well, he definitely has some sort of skin problem. They look like abscesses to me. But, if they were abscesses, they would have pus. However, abscesses are firm and don't always "pop" when you squeeze them.

They also resemble aspergillosis. This is caused by a fungal infection. But, they don't appear to be ulcerated.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said bacterial infection. However, they are always caused by something else. I wouldn't rule out basal cell tumors.

well please report back if you find out anything! My Mikki has scabs that appear like that...then she goes after them and they get bloody but no pus or anything. I figured it was food allergies and we have done elimination from different proteins and all grains...but nothing has helped. I hope you find your answer. We used to put anti itch cream on it as it's bitter plus it seemed to calm the skin but she would end up getting to them anyway. Right now we are using neosporin right before feeding time..to deter her from licking it off right away. Nothing was found when they scraped one of the spots...

Please keep us updated.

Mine has hers from a flea allergy

A concentration around the base of the tail makes me think fleas. Does your cat itch a lot? Ever been on flea meds? Fleas may be hard to notice since your cat buddy's fur looks so dark. Might be a bacterial infection... if it's fleas, usually there's a thinning of hair around the scab area.

Did you find any answers to your cats issue because one of my cats has the same thing