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- Feb 27, 2022
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Hi everyone,
Some basic background to start, my cat Emmi is a year and seven months old. I adopted her when she was six months old and she is an only pet. She's a totally indoor cat, we live on the third floor of an apartment complex. She's had all her shots, is fixed and is up to date on everything.
Last month at the end of January, Emmi started shaking her head. A little odd, but I assumed nothing was wrong. About a week after (let's call this the first of February), I came home from work to Emmi having scratched off the fur behind her ears, but no lesions or blood. I panicked and tried to schedule a vet appointment, but they had nothing avaliable for weeks. I still made an appointment for their closest day. Instead, we went to the emergency vet who took a look in her ears and couldn't find any signs of infection (bacterial or yeast) or ear mites. They had no idea why my cat had de-furred her ears. They gave me a cone (e-collar) to use for a week to stop her from scratching herself.
I used it for a whole week and Emmi developed some dark dots on her chin. My uneducated mind leapt to fleas. With my vet appointment weeks away we went back to the emergency vet who said it probably wasn't fleas, but they had no idea. They told me a flea bath wouldn't hurt. I took their advice and gave her a flea bath, careful to scrub her chin (where the black dots were) and base of her tail (where fleas normal are, but where nothing was). I washed the rest of her body with it, but paid attention to those two areas.
It's now around February 8th, the cone came off and I researched the black dots were most likely cat chin acne which I got a hot spot and antimicrobial gel for which has done wonderfully at eliminating the dots. There's barely any now.
However, Emmi was starting to lick her arms and armpits and remove fur from them. At this point I assumed it was an allergy based on my independent research that was causing her itchiness (maybe the flea bath too). I changed her dry food to a different brand, Nature Balance Limited Ingredient Chicken and Green Pea, (she had previously been on Blue Buffalo with me and on Purina with her foster before that). I got rid of all her treats. I washed all her food containers. I cleaned the house (all with products I've used for months before). She stopped itching her ears (she only shakes her head occasionally at this point) but was still removing hair on her front legs even after a week on the new dry food (new as of February 11th).
Last week (February 20th), I switched her wet food from Sheba to cooked, unseasoned, deboned, chicken breast. I put her on an antihistamine (tiny pieces to go below the internet recommended 5mg).
Now, she is ignoring her ears and front legs for excessive grooming, but is targeting her backlegs even with the switched food and antihistamine (if it is a food allergy).
Behaviorally, she's been about the same. She's a big cuddler and is playful with specific toys and nothing has changed except over grooming. I have combed through her fur multiple times with a flea comb only to find nothing. I have monitored her litter box and everything (before and after any food changes) is normal light to dark brown and has the normal shape. There is an uptick in urine, but she has trended towards drinking more water after her antihistamine. She has thrown up two hairballs, one on February 11th (yellow liquid and hairball) and once on the 22nd (clear liquid and hairball). Looked like a hairball, no appetite change and showed no signs of any other changes. I assume she had the hairballs from removing more of her own hair than usual.
I would have gone to the vet by now but my now previous vet lost both of my appointments (the original and the one I made afterwards). My new vet is booked until March 9th. I live in a pretty small town so there isn't a lot of other options.
I have no clue what's going on with her and I only want to help.
Let me know if you need any more information or pictures.
Has anyone had anything like this with their cats before?
Some basic background to start, my cat Emmi is a year and seven months old. I adopted her when she was six months old and she is an only pet. She's a totally indoor cat, we live on the third floor of an apartment complex. She's had all her shots, is fixed and is up to date on everything.
Last month at the end of January, Emmi started shaking her head. A little odd, but I assumed nothing was wrong. About a week after (let's call this the first of February), I came home from work to Emmi having scratched off the fur behind her ears, but no lesions or blood. I panicked and tried to schedule a vet appointment, but they had nothing avaliable for weeks. I still made an appointment for their closest day. Instead, we went to the emergency vet who took a look in her ears and couldn't find any signs of infection (bacterial or yeast) or ear mites. They had no idea why my cat had de-furred her ears. They gave me a cone (e-collar) to use for a week to stop her from scratching herself.
I used it for a whole week and Emmi developed some dark dots on her chin. My uneducated mind leapt to fleas. With my vet appointment weeks away we went back to the emergency vet who said it probably wasn't fleas, but they had no idea. They told me a flea bath wouldn't hurt. I took their advice and gave her a flea bath, careful to scrub her chin (where the black dots were) and base of her tail (where fleas normal are, but where nothing was). I washed the rest of her body with it, but paid attention to those two areas.
It's now around February 8th, the cone came off and I researched the black dots were most likely cat chin acne which I got a hot spot and antimicrobial gel for which has done wonderfully at eliminating the dots. There's barely any now.
However, Emmi was starting to lick her arms and armpits and remove fur from them. At this point I assumed it was an allergy based on my independent research that was causing her itchiness (maybe the flea bath too). I changed her dry food to a different brand, Nature Balance Limited Ingredient Chicken and Green Pea, (she had previously been on Blue Buffalo with me and on Purina with her foster before that). I got rid of all her treats. I washed all her food containers. I cleaned the house (all with products I've used for months before). She stopped itching her ears (she only shakes her head occasionally at this point) but was still removing hair on her front legs even after a week on the new dry food (new as of February 11th).
Last week (February 20th), I switched her wet food from Sheba to cooked, unseasoned, deboned, chicken breast. I put her on an antihistamine (tiny pieces to go below the internet recommended 5mg).
Now, she is ignoring her ears and front legs for excessive grooming, but is targeting her backlegs even with the switched food and antihistamine (if it is a food allergy).
Behaviorally, she's been about the same. She's a big cuddler and is playful with specific toys and nothing has changed except over grooming. I have combed through her fur multiple times with a flea comb only to find nothing. I have monitored her litter box and everything (before and after any food changes) is normal light to dark brown and has the normal shape. There is an uptick in urine, but she has trended towards drinking more water after her antihistamine. She has thrown up two hairballs, one on February 11th (yellow liquid and hairball) and once on the 22nd (clear liquid and hairball). Looked like a hairball, no appetite change and showed no signs of any other changes. I assume she had the hairballs from removing more of her own hair than usual.
I would have gone to the vet by now but my now previous vet lost both of my appointments (the original and the one I made afterwards). My new vet is booked until March 9th. I live in a pretty small town so there isn't a lot of other options.
I have no clue what's going on with her and I only want to help.
Let me know if you need any more information or pictures.
Has anyone had anything like this with their cats before?
Or they change suppliers for the ingredients, which is probably common these days because of supply issues everywhere.
