My 5 year old Siamese, Spike, has allergies (probably food related as told to me by my vet). We tried changing his food to something bland, but after my 10 pound cat dropped to 8 pounds, we felt we could not starve him to death. He started to do fine when he returned to normal cat food. Now we have a concern with his rear leg. He won't leave it alone after having it bitten by our other cat--Spike constantly would lick it until the tiny wound grew huge. To make a long story short, the wound has healed, the fur is growing back, but we cannot remove his ecollar yet because Spike goes back to where the sore was with his tongue and scrapes the new fur off again. Any suggestions as to what to do? We cannot leave him in the care of someone (if we go on vacation) as we cannot leave this collar on 24/7 as the cat needs to groom. Anyone have a suggestion as to maybe what this cat should eat?? (since we feel this whole thing is due to his allergies) or maybe he needs some type of medication?? (could be stressing him out) We get so close to having the leg almost healed, then he gets to it with his tongue and it's like taking two steps back again. We are nearing our wit's end. Please help if something like this has happened to one of your felines. Thank you.

Have you mentioned this to your vet? I am thinking that some anti-anxiety medication might help. Cats get into weird habits sometimes and incessant grooming can be part of it. After being triggered by the bite, your kitty just continues to be obsessive about licking that place which aggravates the situation. I would definitely ask your vet for suggestions.

Janis

There also could be an encapsulated infection, a nerve problem, a piece of debris in the wound.

Dear friends out there
I have 3 cats : 2 long haired ones both aged 13 (one boy Igor, one girl Dushka) and a lean shorthair, siamese-type black girl of 12 (Decibel). They have been living together in perfect harmony for the 12 years they've been together.
Last year in the spring Decibel had to have a tooth removed and when she came back from that, the back side of her front legs were shaven (for the anesthetics). A couple of days later I took all 3 to a friend of mine while I went away a week. That always stresses them a little – the going and the coming back – but then things go back to normal pretty quickly. So that to Decibel were 2 stressful events in close connection.
When I took them back, I noticed that on one of Decibel's hind legs the fur was "vanishing" gradually. I never caught her licking that spot though. I also noticed (and my friend told me) that Igor was sometimes quite aggressive to her and tried to attack her.
Things just got worse on the licking side so after a few weeks I took Decibel to the vet : she examined a hair sample from her leg under a microscope and found that it was indeed cut by her tongue (and not some form of baldness which could be an allergy). Anyway she said the rough licking was probably cohabitational stress and prescribed 2 kinds of tranquilizer, one for each.
To cut a long story short, nothing worked. I tried putting Feliway solution on both of them. No result. The licking just got worse and is now on both hind legs. I even bought Feliway to put on an electric plug, like an air freshener, to no avail it seems.
I'm at my wit's end and so is the vet. Decibel eats well, is her usual lively, cuddly self, but often when she passes Igor she gives him a look of what seems to be hate, and he looks away in embarrassment, only to pounce on her now and again without any provocation, almost as if to play, but he's not laughing, he means it ! Mind you she seems to defend herself quite well by screaming at the top of her lungs and getting into defense position, claws outstretched. The rest of the time he's quite peaceful, and even lets her steal from his plate.
Remarkably he hardly ever attacks peaceful and laid back Dushka - maybe because she's the senior in the house and also because she has thick fluffy fur. Decibel sometimes has a go at her, cheeky brat !
So there's definitely something wrong. I've made an appointment with a vet next week who also does acupuncture, and has done wonders on a friend's cats. I'll be taking both cats. If that doesn't help there is another solution which I don't like, but which should do it, i.e. to have Igor live somewhere else, as a single cat, until the time that Decibel's hair has all grown back. Cat's hair grows VERY slowly though, I'll miss him terribly and what will happen when they get back together ?
I'd be very happy to have your enlightened input.
Thanks in advance.

Hi it's me again who started the post.
Decibel went to that vet-acupuncturist : he said immediately that it looked more like an allergy. He took (under sedation) 5 skin samples and had them analysed. The result came back saying it was definitely allergic manifestations, but to what ? the results did not say. So he gave her an injection to lower her immune system, which was to be effective a month. She licked just less during that time but now I think the medicine has worn off, and she licks again (but never when someone can see her !) I'm going to see yet a third vet.
The first one said it could be food related, but then her diet is quite varied (dry and wet food, different brands) and I should try some kibbles which do not give any allergies. I'm skeptical.
I'll keep you posted.
Have I mentioned that she absolutely refuses to take any kind of medication?? She won't let me touch her jaw, and when she sees me preparing her bowl with something more than her food, she won't touch it or eat around the medicine....
Bye for now

This is an update on my Siamese, Spike. After vet consultation and a mild anti-anxiety drug plus a modified e-collar (cone), Spike is now cured. His leg has healed (with lots of tender care--putting on a bandage/sock and taking the sock off so the air could get to it and thus heal it as nature says it should--I had to sit with Spike to watch him groom carefully and leave the leg alone). I mainly had to wait for the fur to grow back (cat fur is slow) and I can say all is well with Spike and his leg. You would look at it and think nothing had ever happened. It has been a long process. We removed the cone on April 26. Thanks to all who gave suggestions.

Thanks Mare for this.
I have an appointment next Tuesday with an allergy and skin specialist vet.
We had tried anti-anxiety drugs but most of it ended on the floor or in the garbage, as she spat it out or ate around it. That's a big problem with her.
Did Spike have to wear his cone 24 hours a day ? In that case, how did he groom himself to the "safe" parts of his body ? does wearing such a cone not add to a cat's stress ?
I'll keep you posted.

Hi...in answer to your questions...Yes, Spike wore his cone 24-7 except when he needed to groom (several times a day). I had trained him to sit with me on the couch after I removed his cone and he would groom all his body parts necessary to him. I had to constantly watch so he would not touch his bandaged leg (or healing leg, whatever the case might have been at the time). It was a lot of patience on my part--I could hardly get up to get the phone or use the bathroom without someone else sitting with him just in case he tried a quick lick to his leg. The healing leg definitely needed covering when it was raw and sore, but after it scabbed over and began healing, it needed air and no coverage so the fur would start to grow back. With the medication, it kept him a little calmer. (You should see him now that he is back to his regular self--he'll hardly sit on the couch with me anymore.) I think the cone did add to his stress level--reason I took it off as much as I could-- like when I watched TV or read on the couch. Spike would follow me around and hint that he wanted the cone off and would I please sit down and do so. You definitely have to allow the cat to groom--they say cats spend 50% of their wake time grooming, especially after using the litter box. When we went out of town at Easter, I had someone come in to feed and remove the cone so he could groom (that was difficult as he only got to do it once a day). But we survived and so did he. My vet put him on Amitriptyline Hydrochloride tablets (10 mg), 1/2 pill twice daily. I eventually cut him back to 1/2 pill daily and then off of them entirely when I removed the cone. We had no difficulty pilling him as I opened his mouth, dropped the 1/2 pill into the back of his throat and added a little bit of water with a cat syringe so he would have to swallow. It worked just about everytime first time. I never put the pill in any food as I have a second cat and they eat each other's food from time to time. We did have to modify the cone (added some length to it) since Spike could find ways to reach his leg. It looked a little strange but it worked (we should patent the darn thing!!). Good luck with you and your vet appointment coming up.

My Siamese has skin allergies as well and was misdiagnosed for quite sometime until I found a wonderful kitty dermatologist! (Yes there are!) She helped a great deal!

First make sure your kitties blood work is good.

My cat was on one medication for 9 years and it stopped working and was becoming hard to get.

Now my Siamese is on Wellbutrin - one of the side effects for this typically behavorial med is that it stops the cats allergy and stops the itching/licking. Its has absolutely no side effects to harm kitties insides at all which is great news.

I can recommend the feline dermie if you live in NJ. You bring kitty once and once for a followup visit. After that your regular vet can continue the prescription. She faxes all info to your regular vet.

The only way I can get my kitty to take the pill is crush it and mix with half teaspoon of tuna. Yes, she is spoiled but she is a 13yo Siamese. =)

Feel free to contact me and I will give you dermie's contact info.

Dear friends out there
I haven't posted for the longest time, because the problem has not been solved until... hopefully within the next weeks.
To cut a long story short : with altogether 4 different vets we've tried : anti-flea medecine, anti-worm medicine and new diets (exclusively raw white meat - chicken and turkey) + green beans + a speck of butter, then exclusively anti-allergenic kibbles from the vet. The only thing that prevented her franctic licking was when she took cortisone, which is potentially damaging in its numerous side effects. But it started all over again a few weeks after the end of the medication.
She had blood tests which proved negative.
During the 14 or 15 months all this was going on, Decibel spent several days every other month or so at a friend's apartment - the first bout of scratching started after the very first stay at that place, which is a lovely apartment with a big balcony next to lot of trees (this detail is important), together with my other 2 cats who were perfectly fine.
Until finally my regular vet told me to go see a veterinary dermatologist with high qualifications (he is among otheres, members of the American Academy of Veterinay Dermatology). I did last Saturday.
When I told him about the regular stays at my friend's he found that interesting and gave me a gentle lecture about... FLEAS and how they can be dormant for months inside rugs, furniture, floor boards etc... until they find a host on which they first suck blood, then lay eggs within 24 hours and thus start a colony. It only takes ONE flea.
When I said that I was not aware that my cats had fleas, as the other 2 did not scratch themselves, he said : most cats live in perfect harmony with their fleas, they eat them in the course of their grooming without consequences. My friend's balcony door is ajar all year round, an artificial lawn-like material covers the floor of it, lots of birds abound (all full of fleas) and fleas are more than olympic champions in high jumps.
He said that my cat's dermatitis can only have 3 origins :
- trophallergens (food related) (no food seemed to make a difference)
- aero-allergens (allergens carried by air, like pollen)
- or flea bites.
He did not mention stress.

So the treatment is :
- (very expensive) Frontline flea killer (which is more effective than drops in the neck) to all 3 animals - they hated that !
- (very expensive) different flea killer to all the areas where the cats sleep (that's easy) in my place and of course in my friend's place
These 2 treatments to be renewed EVERY 3 weeks for 3 months, then every 3 months
+ some even more expensive (would you believe it) flea contraceptive to be swallowed by each cat once a month for 3 month.....
Last but not least, 2 weeks of cortisone to help soothe the itching. She's calmer already.
Decibel's ailment should be cured permanently if I follow his recommendations, just like other animals with the same complaints have been cured.

He said that flea bite induced allergies are the commonest cause for cats scratching themselves bare and sore.

So you cat mummies out there - maybe this has brought you some useful information : even if we don't see the fleas, they could very well be present : we bring so much stuff with us from the outside, in our clothes, under our shoes etc.
It does no harm to apply flea repellent every quarter.
Unless somebody knows of an EFFECTIVE organic, natural flea killer ?

Of course I'll keep you posted.

All the best till then

Wow! Thank you for posting back with all this great information! My vet has told me that fleas can jump as high as we are and I never really thought of this. I have been very lucky and haven't had any fleas on my kitties. But since I live in the mountains, with deer and other creatures of nature, I am rethinking my avoidance of flea killers....especially after reading your post.

I will be looking up organic flea killers as well! I do like the Care2.com website for good organic solutions to all kinds of daily stuff.

Good luck with your kitties! Purrs...from my feline five to yours.

Thank you for your post dvg.
I live in France so I'll be looking for organic stuff here, but if you find a source in the States, I'm sure it'll be a great help to all in your country.

All the best to all of you lovely people who take such good care of your babies. What would be be without them ? they bring us such joy and pleasure that they deserve the best care.

Cats can get OCD He may need to go on med for a while for this I've heard of some who had to stay on them but some also had to take them for a short while. Ask you're vet about it.