Flea Allergy And Overgrooming.

[haleyds]

My new cat Princess is a purebred persian, and I adopted her from a bad situation heavily pregnant (there's another forum about the babies). She has been covered in scabs since day one, and I've only had her a little over a week but we really have came a long way in her coat care. My vet told me the scabs come from an allergy to fleas that make her scratch herself way too hard because of the discomfort. I've been brushing her three times a day with a fine tooth comb and removing any of the dry itchy scabs I can as to not further let her hurt herself. There is one particular spot on her back that she over grooms in particular and I'm afraid she's going to get a bald spot from it.
She has a professional grooming appointment Thursday morning so hopefully they can rid her of her scabs and help to moisturize and end the irritation with her skin.
I did go ahead and put a bit of advantage on her last night even though my vet told me to wait until after the groomers, I just could stand to watch her struggle. But after the grooming she will need to be touched up again as a preventive method.
My question is do you think it will get better in time? It worries me so badly because she's obviously uncomfortable and she's not even infested, the vet and I had to look for nearly fifteen minutes just to find a single flea on a solid white cat.
Any words of advice or reassurance are greatly appreciated.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

She will likely feel better as time goes on. Like we do when allergy season ends or they are treated. It's going to take time for her skin to heal. Just do what you can for her comfort to help discourage the over grooming from becoming a habit. The groomer and vet probably have the best advice on how to go about that in her situation since they can see it first hand. I've had cats over-groom but not with sores and it was behavior related as far as we could determine. I did try feliway diffusers and calming collars to help. I also tried to redirect them when I saw them grooming. Even if it was just petting them and speaking to them in calming tones.

 

[margd]

Are you planning to keep Princess inside? Doing so will greatly reduce the odds of encountering fleas. Once she's no longer being exposed to the allergen she should stop scratching and overgrooming and the problem will clear up. The problem is that once she starts overgrooming, it can be a self-perpetuating cycle. If that happens, putting her in a cone or onesie until the spot is healed should help.

I can really sympathize with this problem as I once had a dog who was also allergic to fleas. Her life was a misery until she was about 8, when she finally outgrew the allergy.

BTW: Congratulations on your new family member!