For more than a year now, our cat has been in and out of a cone because she keeps tearing up the flesh in front of her ear. We’ve taken her to the vet several times, they give us a different answer each time and whatever the solution the provide it ultimately does nothing. Ears are clean, no fleas, no obvious health issues. Anxiety meds just made her scratch lazily, antibiotics for cat scratch inflammation, did nothing. Topicals and antifungal, just make for slimey scabs. The best I’ve managed is using an anti itching cera-ve cream 4 times a day, but if I miss, there goes her face again.
We’re at a loss at this point. She’s otherwise very happy and loving, but it’s starting to take a toll. We have to baby proof the house because when she can’t scratch the spot she’ll just scratch it on box corners, table edges, the dish washer, etc. She can’t groom in the cone and when we try to brush her she just shoves her crusty wound on us to itch it. We love her so much and just want her better.
In addition to everything people are offering here, you might want to find a new vet. It’s bizarre that they apparently haven’t suggested anything to you about allergies given the saga you described.
We’ve been through 4 now. The must resent has great bedside manner and even messaged after the visits to check in, but I think they’re stumped by her persistence.
Have you tried Benadryl? Cats and dogs can have it, and assuming it’s some kind of allergy as opposed to a a like…topical thing, it may provide relief she hasn’t had yet. Just ask get about dosing
I have not! I’ll try this one immediately.
You can also talk to your vet about Apoquel. It’s nominally only for dogs but it’s sometimes used for cats. It’s kind of expensive, but is the same cost per pill at several different dosing strengths. So if you do go that route try to get your vet to prescribe it at a level where the dose is 1/4 tablet and buy a pill cutter.
Just replying to say to make sure you ask and confirm with a vet because random lemmy users are not medical experts and you could kill your cat
I swype type on my phone, my last sentence should read “ask vet about dosing”
Make sure you dose it accordingly!
Food allergy
Yea. OP, get this cat on a whole food diet.
Primal, small batch, honest kitchen, or similar. Chances could very well be you’re dealing with a shitty food issue. Avoid chicken to start and go with single protein options from one of these brands. Get them on some raw goats milk from answers in that diet too and you’ll be amazed at how much softer and happier they are.
Honestly, it sounds like she has allergies.
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/allergies-in-cats
1 - I recommend replacing her food with a hydrolyzed one (Purina HA, Hills Z/D).
They eliminate protein allergies by breaking the proteins down into smaller pieces, and the pet’s immune system can’t recognize them as the allergen.
It’s expensive, but it’s the easiest thing to try for her to get some relief.
2 - I also recommend a steroid shot to help ease her symptoms if the food change doesn’t work. This will give her a break while you work with your vet to eliminate other potential allergies (ex. household dust).
3 - Don’t use Benadryl. Benadryl is an out-of-date medication for both humans and animals. It’s a first gen medication, but we have second gen medications now. These newer medications are more effective. Example: Zyrtec (generic name: cetirizine)
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/cetirizine
Hope she feels better soon!
Careful with Zyrtec because if you stop taking it it will cause horrific itching. Not only did it happen to me but the FDA and a bunch of doctors have come out with PSAs about this potentially harmful side effect of going off cetirizine.
Edit: dang autocorrect
Oh hey, didn’t expect to see my own medical experiences come up in my cat’s post lol
The second vet did to steroids, that was last year and didn’t really do anything big. We’ll have to check out the cat food. We’ve tried making her homemade food instead, plain chicken and rice, occasion pumpkin, but that didn’t help any.
Poultry is a common allergen so try a diet that’s fish based or one of the special ones like rabbit. It can take weeks to see improvement from diet change tho.
You’ve probably already tried this, but TrizULTRA + Keto flush worked wonders for my dogs persistent ear itching.
https://www.chewy.com/trizultra-keto-flush-dogs-cats-horses/dp/126809
Just squirt in a bunch of the liquid, massage behind the ear for 30 seconds, let your cat shake its head, then wipe the ear with a clean soft towel. Do that daily for a week and it hopefully will make a big difference. Then you can do the rinse weekly or even monthly after that to maintain.
Make her a little leather helmet.
We’ve actually tried this with costume hats and she’s figured out how to take them off. We can’t find a way yo make her wear them that won’t hurt her.
How old is the cat? It’s only 1 ear or both ears?
She’s 3 and a half years old. It’s the same spot every time, just infront of the left ear in that thin haired spot that some cats have. I’d even go as far as saying it’s midwau between the eye and ear.
I’m not a vet, but maybe ask one about Botox on the problem spot?
Just going to comment this here for anyone else who’s reading this and has a pet
LEMMY USERS ARE NOT MEDICAL EXPERTS AND ARE NOT VETINERIANS AND EVEN IF THEY CLAIM TO BE A MEDICAL EXPERT AND / OR A VETINERIAN YOU CANNOT VERIFY THEIR CLAIM
TALK TO AN ACTUAL VET / MEDICAL EXPERT
This comment may feel useless but I feel much better commenting it rather than someone potentially taking on dangerous advice and potentially harming their pet
I appreciate the statement and this is very good advice for anyone who finds this thread.
I have been to vets, and I don’t plan on doing anything to my cat that I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing to myself. It’s just that after 4 vets telling me quack things like “you could just declaw” and “this is probably because she’s a single cat” I’m just here shouting into the void in hopes that the echo makes some sense.
