Hello all,
I'm new to this forum, and joined so I could seek some help with one of my kitties that is quite a puzzle.
Celia is a 6 year old DLH who lives inside only with 6 other kitties who all get along. She eats Innova dry food and Merrick canned food. She does have asthma, which has been very well managed with 1 cc of depo-medrol every 3-5 months. She is FeLV and FIV negative.
In January of this year, she presented with a full thickness wound where the neck meets the back (the wither region.) I took her to the emergency vet to have it sutured, and the vet was very perplexed as the skin was very thin and friable and we had no reason for the tear. She said that if the skin tore again, we would need to do some testing to evaluate the cat. My regular vet agreed. The lesion healed well.
Approx 4 weeks ago, Celia presented with another tear in the same spot but larger. Again, it was the weekend, so we went back to the emergency vet. She felt the kitty probably had iatrogenic cushings and should be tested, and she also wanted biopsies. I requested that she suture the wound, and I would follow up with my regular vet, which I have done.
While my vet felt that the our limited use of steroids would not cause iatrogenic cushings, he did feel we needed to rule it out. The ACTH stimulation test was negative. All blood work (CBC and metabolic panel) came back absolutely normal. She was at the vet today for some skin biopsies, and results on those should be back next week. Even though my vet knows this kitty and her issues, he was still surprised at HOW THIN the skin was when he was doing the biopsies--his words were "there's just nothing there, the skin is like paper."
I have never seen how she is tearing her skin. I have never torn her skin by handling her. I also have her littermate, who does not have any of these issues. Momma was a barn cat that had no skin issues but did have asthma.
Does anyone have any ideas about this? My vet, who is very sharp, is really quite perplexed.
I'm new to this forum, and joined so I could seek some help with one of my kitties that is quite a puzzle.
Celia is a 6 year old DLH who lives inside only with 6 other kitties who all get along. She eats Innova dry food and Merrick canned food. She does have asthma, which has been very well managed with 1 cc of depo-medrol every 3-5 months. She is FeLV and FIV negative.
In January of this year, she presented with a full thickness wound where the neck meets the back (the wither region.) I took her to the emergency vet to have it sutured, and the vet was very perplexed as the skin was very thin and friable and we had no reason for the tear. She said that if the skin tore again, we would need to do some testing to evaluate the cat. My regular vet agreed. The lesion healed well.
Approx 4 weeks ago, Celia presented with another tear in the same spot but larger. Again, it was the weekend, so we went back to the emergency vet. She felt the kitty probably had iatrogenic cushings and should be tested, and she also wanted biopsies. I requested that she suture the wound, and I would follow up with my regular vet, which I have done.
While my vet felt that the our limited use of steroids would not cause iatrogenic cushings, he did feel we needed to rule it out. The ACTH stimulation test was negative. All blood work (CBC and metabolic panel) came back absolutely normal. She was at the vet today for some skin biopsies, and results on those should be back next week. Even though my vet knows this kitty and her issues, he was still surprised at HOW THIN the skin was when he was doing the biopsies--his words were "there's just nothing there, the skin is like paper."
I have never seen how she is tearing her skin. I have never torn her skin by handling her. I also have her littermate, who does not have any of these issues. Momma was a barn cat that had no skin issues but did have asthma.
Does anyone have any ideas about this? My vet, who is very sharp, is really quite perplexed.