Won't stop scratching

My cat Purple cannot stop scratching. I've given her Advantage, taken her to the vet TWICE for allergy shots and don't know how to stop her from tearing the skin around her neck apart. It's gotten to where it's bleeding. The last allergy shot was a week ago, and the advantage was given on April 10th. I'm seriously at my wits end- I can't stand to watch/listen to her scratch anymore. I've picked her apart with a flea comb and can't find a single flea- she's had her skin scraped for mites. Is there anything else I can do? An ointment I can try? ANYTHING!

Has your vet taken any skin cultures yet? You may need to have a few more tests ran to rule out other things. We have a friend going through this right now, and the vet's don't have a clue what is going on yet. They have ran 3 skin cultures, all negative and waiting for the 4th one to come in. The vets say they believe it is an allergy, and gave predisone for her kitten.
I hope that it gets better soon. Hang in there.
They did a scrape for the mites that you mention but also for some type of mange. I don't remember the other tests she mentioned.
I would call the vets and explain to them that you don't want your baby in such discomfort, and they need to do something to help with the symptoms until they can discover what the underlying cause is.
Good luck.

I agree with the above post. More skin tests need to be done. I went through that with my dog. They still don't know what exactly cause his allergies (but at least they know its an allergy). Now I know what signs to look for and how to treat it to make him more comfortable. The vet has me bath him in oatmeal shampoo (which is great for the skin), I put fish oil in his food (which helps with dry skin) and I have a topical spray to relieve itching when he starts to itch. Defenitely talk to your vet for more options as to figure out what is causing the itch. I hope your baby feels better.

Dry skin? I echo what others have said. Could it be a nervous habit? It sounds extreme, but you never know...

My Cassi was self mutilating from stress.
I tried everything, including E-collars.
I finally bought a few pairs of women's crew socks and cut the feet off of them and placed the cuff on her neck like a collar.
I changed it twice a day.

She stayed that way for a month and a half before she stopped tearing at herself.

She still makes the occasional sore, but not often, and nothing more serious than what she gets playing rough with the other cats.

Have the area biopsied if you haven't already.

Also, how old is she?
Thyroid issues can cause some skin problems as well

Could it be a food issue...

I have an idea that might help: Twink scratched all the fur off a couple spots on his neck, and another spot on his back. The vet said the spots on the neck were because his collar made it itchy, and the spot on the back was from the Revolution I applied. Anyway, when there's no obvious cause, then if you can just prevent the cat from scratching the same spot over and over, it might heal, and if it heals, then it might not be itchy any more. So I wrapped self-stick Ace bandage around his back and his neck so he couldn't scratch the spots, and it seems to be working. He's got it off today and he's not scratching.



Arlyn's crew socks idea is good, too, when just the neck is involved, but too small to fit the body. The size Ace bandage I'm using is three inches wide.

I know it seems really rash. But my mom is Filipino so she is really into the whole discipline thing. Whenever (since he was a kitten) when he bit or scratched she hit him on the head. Like an open slap right between the ears. Not really hard but hard enough for him to get the point. So now whenever he gets irratad and we don't know it, he bites us and he holds the bite and then puts his ears back and closes his eyes getting ready for a hit on the head (but we don't have to because he's in the habit of doing that for 4 years) and then he runs away from the person and comes back to say sorry. It seems rash but its really good and it works.