My cat has a spreading rash on her belly. Should I use steroid cream?

It could be allergies, which in cats means they usually pull or lick out hair on their body in one or two locations, and if the steroid cream helped you need to figure out what Bunky is allergic to. Food allergies and environmental allergies are common, so you need to try a veterinary prescription diet for 10 weeks, and potentially start Bunky on anti-itching or anti-anxiety medication that your vet can prescribe to stop him from overgrooming.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly a focal infection though it is difficult to know without an examination of the area. If this is a superficial rash, you can try to use chlorhexidine containing pads (such as the Douxo chlorhexidine 3% PS pads) to clean the are twice daily for 7 days. You may find these online or at your local pet store. If there is no improvement or in the meantime this appears to be getting worse, have him evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. Good luck and have a good day!

It sounds like Zumba is having a form of allergy. There are different form of steroids that can be prescribe and that can help but definitively this medication is the best to resolve the itch (I would continue with that). I would discuss it with your veterinarian, as long acting injections and minimal oral dosages are available. There is also a nice topical spray available, it's called Cortavance and you can get it at the vets.

Rashes on the belly can be caused by a number of things ranging from allergies to environment or food, to bacterial or fungal infections on the skin. If the area is bothersome, placing a T-shirt or Elizabethan (cone) collar on your cat until he can be seen by the vet is best to prevent secondary infection from forming. You may also want to look into your cat's food for commonly allergenic ingredients such as corn, wheat and soy which could be causing the issue. If the issue isn't apparent, then having your vet take a look is best so that a treatment plan can be made.

Hi, and thanks for your question. This could be due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Poor Molly, that looks uncomfortable. Molly may be having some type of allergic reaction that has become infected. Make sure you are using a good flea product, not just a cheap one from WalMart. If Molly will let you, you can try bathing her in a medicated shampoo that has Benzoyl Peroxide. If not, please have her seen by your veterinarian. She may need to be treated with a steroid injection &/or antibiotics to clear this up, or to get to the source of the irritation. Take care.

This looks pretty bad, and unfortunately any OTC creams will just be licked off by Happy. Many human ointments contain multiple other ingredients which are not necessarily safe to be swallowed. You need to have her seen by a vet to have this treated.