Cat overgrooming and scratching to the point of bleeding

[Lemonlove]

I have an 11 year old cat who is generally in poor health over the past year. She lost a lot of weight, was diagnosed with FIV and has had some other issues. Currently she is an ok weight and eating normally, but she has overgroomed and scratched herself raw. She literally leaves blood on places she sits and petting her is so sad because she is covered in scabs. We have been to the vet multiple times over the past 6 months and its just getting worse... Vet said fungal test was negative, bacterial test was negative but he still have some antibiotics, we treat regularly for fleas although she does get them sometimes and that makes it way worse. She has prednisone and it helps mildly but not much and not for long. She also has an antibiotic spray and a hydrocortisone spray from the vet but she hates both and its almost not worth the stress of giving them. I tried a few of the phermone products but she always left the room they were being used in... Her hair is also more sparce as well even in places she cant reach to lick or scratch.
She seems OK otherwise, shes friendly and occasionally goes outside to frolic but mostly sleeps inside. She doesnt seem extremely ill. The vet basically said IDK it could be an allergy to just about anything or a deeper health issue. I'm at a loss, has anyone else experience this?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
What are you feeding her?
Is she dealing with stress? Have you tried cat music?
Stress in Cats – The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

 

[Lemonlove]

Hi!
What are you feeding her?
Is she dealing with stress? Have you tried cat music?
Stress in Cats – The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

I have not tried or even heard of cat music... I'll have to do some research on that! She might be stressed, one of our other cats used to bully her but we keep them seperate for the most part.
The food varies because her weight is an issue, at certain points she has refused to eat anything. We always have dry food out, lately its the iams adult formula but she doesnt really eat it. I bought some sensitive skin formula but I'll have to switch all the cats to it, I'm not opposed to doing that but I'm going to finish the current bag of regular we have. She mostly eats wet food usually a few cans a day right now which is expensive but great since shes eating. Currently she likes the fancy feast kitten pate, she goes in cycles of liking something and eating and then refusing everything. She loves friskys extra gravy but I know those arn't great and she doesnt really eat the chunks just the gravy, she also likes fussy cats the fish in aspic ones and these senior bisques that are like a puree

 

[Furballsmom]

It sounds to me that she's getting enough of a variety of brands, ingredients and dry/wet that the food isn't necessarily the culprit for her.

Here is some information about calming products (there's even cbd if it's legal where you are) and music sources;

There's spotify-they have a collection of harp music called Cat In My Arms, Youtube and Alexa cat music, RelaxMyCat and MusicForCats.

Only Natural Pet has a calming product called Just Relax Calming spray with essential oil (catnip oil).

There's this one, be sure and scroll all the way down the page;
www.bachflower.com

Also, there is ThunderWunders calming chews, Richard's Organic Pet Calm drops, Naturevet Hemp, HomeoPet Anxiety Relief, Head to Tail Calming, Relaxivet Quiet Moments Cat treats, GNC Calming formula, and there is Calm-o-mile, Natures Miracle calming spray, Vetri-Science's Composure is another item to look at, Pet Remedy - UK (it has valerian) is yet another, as is Essential Pet Pet-eze, Pet Organics No Stress, Only Natural Pet (brand and website) has other calming products, Pet Naturals also has one I believe, and there are others.

Lambert Vet Supply is a website to look at, and of course chewy, also there's Petwishpros, animaleo, 1-800-petmeds, Petco and PetSmart, and other pet stores.

There is also a product called a lickimat which could be helpful, as cats can be calmed by the process of licking.

foodpuzzlesforcats.com

This post talks about some other products;
Calming Treats For A Very Picky Cat

 

[tabbytom]

but she has overgroomed and scratched herself raw. She literally leaves blood on places she sits and petting her is so sad because she is covered in scabs.

Maybe you like to try this product called Colloidal Silver. My boy has this wound on his hind leg and he keeps biting it while cleaning till it bleeds and leaves fresh blood on the floor and on his pillow and this sore has been there like over 3 years.

In the early quarter of this year, I bought this product and apply it a few times a day on the sore and now I don't see the blood stain and he doesn't groom that leg very much. The sore is like kind dried up and not much of a scab like before which bleeds easily. I'm still applying the liquid daily on the sore to make sure it is fully healed.

There are many brands out there, see if you can get them.

 

[LTS3]

The vet basically said IDK it could be an allergy to just about anything or a deeper health issue.

If that's the vet's response, seek out another vet who will get to the bottom of your cat's health issues. Bring copies of your cat's medical records so the new vet can review them.

A food allergy is possible. Chicken is a common cause of skin issues in cats. A novel protein bland-ish (few fillers like grains and gums) diet is often helpful for cats with allergies to things in food. A veterinary dermatologist could do allergy testing for food and other issues

 

[Lulu&Finn]

The poor baby! Does her back “roll”. I’m not trying to diagnose your cat but I think my cat has hyperthesia. When I looked up her symptoms, excessive cleaning of same spot, back rolling, running through house, that did come up as a possible issue. I saw that when they have that they can lick themselves raw.

My cat is a very anxious cat.

 

[fionasmom]

I was also wondering if this could be related to hyperesthesia or an OC disorder. Having said that, you may have covered that with your vet and it has been ruled out. If it is not an allergy, diet or the like I would investigate in another direction, and with another vet. Your vet is probably not bad, but may just not be seeing something. There are meds for those conditions, some antihistamines being the first line.

 

[Lemonlove]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm not familiar with hyperesthesia I'll have to look into it. I am considering trying another vet. In my vets defense we don't want to do a deep investigation and have made this clear to them. We have opted to keep it simple due to her age, her FIV status and how stressful vet procedures are for her. Having said that, there are two vets at my clinic, one who is very good and the other who is not so great and the last few times we got the not so great vet. It is really frusterating to be told basically we don't know and don't have any suggestions.

 

[Lemonlove]

The poor baby! Does her back “roll”. I’m not trying to diagnose your cat but I think my cat has hyperthesia. When I looked up her symptoms, excessive cleaning of same spot, back rolling, running through house, that did come up as a possible issue. I saw that when they have that they can lick themselves raw.

My cat is a very anxious cat.

I'm curious what you mean by does her back roll? She does excessively lick and sometimes run through the house though.

 

[Lemonlove]

It sounds to me that she's getting enough of a variety of brands, ingredients and dry/wet that the food isn't necessarily the culprit for her.

Here is some information about calming products (there's even cbd if it's legal where you are) and music sources;

There's spotify-they have a collection of harp music called Cat In My Arms, Youtube and Alexa cat music, RelaxMyCat and MusicForCats.

Only Natural Pet has a calming product called Just Relax Calming spray with essential oil (catnip oil).

There's this one, be sure and scroll all the way down the page;
www.bachflower.com

Also, there is ThunderWunders calming chews, Richard's Organic Pet Calm drops, Naturevet Hemp, HomeoPet Anxiety Relief, Head to Tail Calming, Relaxivet Quiet Moments Cat treats, GNC Calming formula, and there is Calm-o-mile, Natures Miracle calming spray, Vetri-Science's Composure is another item to look at, Pet Remedy - UK (it has valerian) is yet another, as is Essential Pet Pet-eze, Pet Organics No Stress, Only Natural Pet (brand and website) has other calming products, Pet Naturals also has one I believe, and there are others.

Lambert Vet Supply is a website to look at, and of course chewy, also there's Petwishpros, animaleo, 1-800-petmeds, Petco and PetSmart, and other pet stores.

There is also a product called a lickimat which could be helpful, as cats can be calmed by the process of licking.

foodpuzzlesforcats.com

This post talks about some other products;
Calming Treats For A Very Picky Cat

Thank you for all the suggestions. I really want to try CBD oil but I don't think she would eat it so I'm not sure I want to spend the money on it. I have seen cat treats with it in there specifically but she's so picky. I use a brand of CBD that markets itself as pet safe and she would not eat the food with even the tinies drop in it because its smells strongly like weed. We tried one calming treat and she would not eat them. I like the idea of a licking mat that could be helpful.

 

[Lemonlove]

Maybe you like to try this product called Colloidal Silver. My boy has this wound on his hind leg and he keeps biting it while cleaning till it bleeds and leaves fresh blood on the floor and on his pillow and this sore has been there like over 3 years.

In the early quarter of this year, I bought this product and apply it a few times a day on the sore and now I don't see the blood stain and he doesn't groom that leg very much. The sore is like kind dried up and not much of a scab like before which bleeds easily. I'm still applying the liquid daily on the sore to make sure it is fully healed.

There are many brands out there, see if you can get them.
View attachment 350440

Hmm I'll have to look into that

 

[fionasmom]

There are a lot of videos of hyperesthesia. Chelsea does not have the back rolling but becomes obsessive about her tail as if she does not know that it is part of her body and I have had to stop her from "killing" it. Eyes get big and dark usually.

 

[Lemonlove]

There are a lot of videos of hyperesthesia. Chelsea does not have the back rolling but becomes obsessive about her tail as if she does not know that it is part of her body and I have had to stop her from "killing" it. Eyes get big and dark usually.

Is there any treatment for this? That does look a bit like what my cat does too

 

[fionasmom]

Furballsmom mentioned some remedies that you could try. From a medical perspective there are options and I should add that it is debated whether or not hyperesthesia is related to a seizure disorder. I would bet the house that it is, but that is not proven by any means. It it does seem to be a seizure type issue, phenobarbitol or gabapentin are used. If it appears to be more grooming drugs like chlormipramine are used. There are a lot of management suggestions as well such a toys that divert the cat, etc.

Chelsea is/was a very difficult cat to manage and giving meds could have been a huge issue, so I did not go that route. Her main focus was the tail that she evidently never realized was hers and part of her body, the snarling and growling accompanied by the big dark eyes. Without going into her history, she was a rescue and for most of her younger years, she was untouchable or at least not touchable if you wanted to keep your face. Oddly, she has stopped almost all the hyperesthesia after a dx of intestinal lymphoma and I have no idea if the fact that she takes pred, along with another medication(s) has anything to do with that.