Thanks, Shelley. Ember is 11.5 years old (born 4/22/02). I don’t think anything has been changed that might cause this. I’m not sure what this means, but when I spoke to the vet about this yesterday, she said, “It’s been a bad season for this.” I live in west-central Arkansas. I have no idea what we have here other than humidity.
Heat’s been running, but I’m not sure that it was back when this started. I don’t think the dermatitis is psych. related, but the licking might be. I’ve wondered about Xanax, but I’ll let the vet come to that conclusion on her own. I’ll check the links you sent, and I’ll ask the vet about thyroid issues. We’re doing a blood test to check some other values, so maybe we’ll have an idea from that. Lance On Nov 6, 2013, at 7:03 AM, Shelley Theye <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Lance, > > Sorry about Ember's skin problems. How old is she? > > I would try to think back to before this started, and see if there were any > changes at all, new cat bed, new food/treats, fabrics, laundry detergents on > bedding in rooms she is in, etc. Have you used anything on your hands- > lotions/soaps that may transfer > to her fur and irritate her when petting? > Maybe there is something in her environment that she is sensitive to in that > respect? > > My non FeLV long term foster cat that I have to keep separate from my fear > aggressive cat recently licked a lot of fur off near > the base of his tail, definitely not flea related. I realized that it was > most likely from a homeopathic remedy I was putting on him. > It had some alcohol as preservative in it, from Jackson Galaxy store. I was > trying it to see if it might help me > integrate him with my others. He has a very sensitive stomach, so didn't > tolerate a few drops in food, so I started putting > about 4-5 drops on top of his head/ears/shoulder blade area, and then seemed > to still be on my hands after I spread it out, so the > remainder I put towards his lower back. I am thinking it must have bothered > him so he began licking that area since > he could reach there. > > Could it be a type of OCD behavior, maybe boredom? Not sure where you live, > but maybe if you have started using heat > due to temps getting chillier, dryness from that? > > Has the vet done any blood work, etc? Not sure how old Ember is, but there > is a whole list on a google search of various > things that can cause lesions and hair loss. Hyperthyroidism can cause these > symptoms. Here are just a few of the > websites that I found with info. > > http://manhattancats.com/Articles/hair_loss_in_cats.html > http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/skin-problems > http://www.mustlovecats.net/Cat-Hair-Loss.html > > Shelley > > Shelley Theye > [email protected] > > > > On Nov 5, 2013, at 8:34 PM, Lance wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> My Ember has had dermatitis for about two months now. A month ago, the vet >> gave her a Convenia shot, and that didn’t seem to change things much. I gave >> her 2mg of chlor trimeton twice a day for five days, and that hasn’t changed >> anything substantially. She has lesions on her neck and shoulders, and there >> also must be some near her backside, as she’s licked some hair off her legs, >> lower tail, and stomach. >> >> I should note that I’m 99.9% certain this has nothing to do with fleas. >> Ember has no exposure to other animals or the outside (she’s isolated in a >> set of rooms on the second floor of this house), I have seen no fleas on >> her, and I haven’t had any jump on me. The vet found none on her when she >> went in a month ago. >> >> I spoke to the vet today, and she mentioned that they usually give cats with >> this type of dermatitis a steroid injection, but that she worries about >> doing that to Ember, given her FeLV+ status. The vet did say that, rather >> than an injection, we could try tablets. That would at least allow us to >> control how much exposure Ember gets. Right now, this doesn’t seem to be >> life-threatening. I’m wondering what others have done in this situation. >> >> Thanks, >> >> Lance >> _______________________________________________ >> Felvtalk mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > [email protected] > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
