Cat hot spots and possibly allergies

I have an unspayed female who has been itching and grooming herself a ton. She scratches her neck to the point of tearing the skin. I have been told these are hot spots. At one point one of the wounds got really large. I got antibiotics from the vet.  I have treated her with apple cyder vinegar and diatomaceous earth myself.  I have had a sock around her neck to stop her causing further damage, which has helped a lot by preventing her to get at her neck and chest.The wounds have healed. But as soon as I take it off, she will tear at her neck and chew her fur off to the point of bleeding. What can I do?? Is this caused by allergies? She is an indoor cat and doesnt have fleas.

Ouch, poor kitty

A breeder friend of mine once had a female that did the same sort of thing. She ripped out all the hair out on her tail, back and back legs and over groomed herself until she created bleeding sores.

The vet put it down to stress and hormones. They tried all kinds of treatment but nothing worked except putting a cone on her. But as soon as the cone was taken off she would start all over again. She had her spayed and within about a month she just stopped and all her hair started growing back slowly.

romsoccer126 said:

 
I have an unspayed female who has been itching and grooming herself a ton. She scratches her neck to the point of tearing the skin. I have been told these are hot spots. At one point one of the wounds got really large. I got antibiotics from the vet.  I have treated her with apple cyder vinegar and diatomaceous earth myself.  I have had a sock around her neck to stop her causing further damage, which has helped a lot by preventing her to get at her neck and chest.The wounds have healed. But as soon as I take it off, she will tear at her neck and chew her fur off to the point of bleeding. What can I do?? Is this caused by allergies? She is an indoor cat and doesnt have fleas.

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Our previous cat also overgroomed and scratched a lot: though the vets just called it stress grooming, I'm pretty certain now that the itching was a symptom of food sensitivities and IBD. She didn't get to the point of sores, though she licked and pulled all the fur of several spots on her stomach and one leg.

What do you feed your cat? Our cat was most likely sensitive/allergic to a grain that was in her foods, possibly to fish. One other thing: if your vet isn't a cat specialist, I'd highly recommend taking your cat to one. We take our new cats to a cat specialist and very happy to have made the change.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice.  I will definitely look for one! The vets I have been to seem a bit clueless in this issue.. I feed her blue wildnerness, primal, and cooked organic cage free chicken (wiith no oils or anything).  I have been thinking this whole time its something she is allergic to in her food.  The blue wildnerness and primal, and every other cat food I have seen, are filled with all these different types of ingredients..

I keep wondering if this has something to do with her not being spayed.. I feel like it could be a factor, but not the main root of the cause. 

My cat seems to be allergic to something in her food.  What is a good diet I can put her on?? The hardest part for me right now is giving her nutritional meals but still trying to solve what ingredient she is allergic too.  I feed her blue wildnerness, Primal, and also organic cage free antibiotic free chicken (cooked with no oils). Any advice is greatly appreciated.  She is constantly itching and grooming with hot spots.  

Have you tried Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet? It comes in dry and wet, and contains very few ingredients. You could try picking a protein she is unfamiliar with, like venison or duck and try that. Good luck!! 

For commercial food, try Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredients. It comes in both dry and canned.

Which Primal raw formula are you feeding? Is it the complete frozen one? Try the novel proteins like pheasant and venison and rabbit.

You could try feeding only raw food for awhile to see exactly what is causing the food allergy. For some cats, it's a particular protein. Others are allergic to eggs. It's kind of hard to figure out what a cat is allergic with a commerical diet. With homemade raw or cooked food you can control the ingredients and eliminate things one by one.

romsoccer126 said:

 
Thanks for the advice.  I will definitely look for one! The vets I have been to seem a bit clueless in this issue.. I feed her blue wildnerness, primal, and cooked organic cage free chicken (wiith no oils or anything).  I have been thinking this whole time its something she is allergic to in her food.  The blue wildnerness and primal, and every other cat food I have seen, are filled with all these different types of ingredients..

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We feed a lot of Primal to our new cats, too, they love it! Which Blue Wilderness are you feeding? (I know a lot of their foods contain potato and I love to blame potato for all the ills of the world because it's a carby filler and one of our cats are sensitive to it. I do realize potato's not a common irritant. Or at least not commonly recognized as one.) And what proteins do she get? Some cats have trouble with fish and chicken's a common problem, too.

It can be really difficult to sort these things out because of all the ingredients. Is the itching pretty constant or does it come and go? Keeping a food diary can be very helpful, particularly if you feed a big range of foods. Even so, I'd definitely try to find a good cat specialist who's into nutrition.

romsoccer126 said:

I have an unspayed female who has been itching and grooming herself a ton. She scratches her neck to the point of tearing the skin. I have been told these are hot spots. At one point one of the wounds got really large. I got antibiotics from the vet.  I have treated her with apple cyder vinegar and diatomaceous earth myself.  I have had a sock around her neck to stop her causing further damage, which has helped a lot by preventing her to get at her neck and chest.The wounds have healed. But as soon as I take it off, she will tear at her neck and chew her fur off to the point of bleeding. What can I do?? Is this caused by allergies? She is an indoor cat and doesnt have fleas.

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Have her spayed and feed wet grain free food it should help, have her nails trimmed at same time.

I got the beef/salmon and chicken freeze dried ones. The problem with the commercial foods is there are so many ingredients.. Any of them can be the cause.  I want to switch to home made food so I can monitor the ingredients better, but I also want to make sure shes getting enough nutrition. Can I switch to feeding her just cooked meat?

I have never tried natural limited balance, I will definitely look into it. I would love to also be able to just cook these meats for her.  Where do I find good venison, pheasant, rabbit, and duck? 

I already feed wet and dry grain free food. Having her spayed and trimming her nails is still not finding the cause of the allergies and itching.  If it comes to a last resort option, I will get her spayed. I am not worried about the nails because the sock around her neck prevents her from scratching anyway.  The blue wildnerness I am feeding is the indoor one.  I am thinking about switching to home made cooked meats so I can monitor the allergies and ingredients better.  There are so many ingredients in blue wildnerness, including potato and potato starch.  She is also getting fish and chicken and beef from the primal. You would think a cat would strive off of those. I have been cooking her organic chicken also.  People in another thread reccomended venison, pheasant, rabbit and duck. Not really sure where to find them.  Any time I take the sock off she will scratch at her neck.  She is always licking and grooming herself.

romsoccer126 said:

. I would love to also be able to just cook these meats for her.  Where do I find good venison, pheasant, rabbit, and duck? 

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Before you start making homemade cooked food, read these TCS threads so that you understand how to correctly make a complete balanced diet:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263955/helpful-resources-raw-home-cooked-cat-food-forum

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources

Feel free to post more questions about cooked diets in the Raw and Home Cooked forum

A butcher shop should have or be able to order meats such as rabbit and duck and venison. Whole Foods and other similar organic "healthy" supermarkets may also have these or be able to order them. Also try ethnic supermarkets. Make sure that the meat hasn't been injected or soaked in a solution of sugar and/or salt and/or preservatives and/or flavorings.