My cat has flea sores, matted fur, and suspected allergy. What now?

I'm sorry your cats (and you!) are dealing with you. Unfortunately, once a cat has a flea dermatitis, the itching and skin problems can continue even once you get rid of the fleas. The degree of which really depends on the severity of their sensitivity to flea bites. Often, we have to use antihistamines or steroids to resolve the inflammation. Sometimes we also have to incorporate antibiotics if there is an infection. For dogs, there are topical shampoos we can use, but those are often not a good option for cats. So, I would recommend having your veterinarian examine your cats' skin to determine if there is a secondary skin infection or just inflammation in order to help you determine the best treatment. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Poor Soxx. Since it is so severe, I would definitely have your vet take a look at her. There a good chance she will need some antibiotics and steroids to help her heal. You should also talk to your vet about high quality flea products you need to use on her monthly. You could try Benadryl but I doubt it will be strong enough. See link below for dosing. Also since the fleas don’t live on the pet but in the environment, make sure you treat your house, yards and all other pets for fleas. I hope this helps! https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/cat/benadryl/

This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be fleas or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat her with a high quality flea treatment (e.g. advantage), then get her to 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 discovering the cause of the allergy. Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). simultaneously you should start her on a prescription hypoallergenic diet for at least 2 months. Hopefully you will see some results after all this, if not you and your vet should consider putting her on a long term allergy treatment (Atopica).

The most common problem causing Milly's symptoms is a severe flea allergic dermatitis. Regardless I recommend brushing her to remove the old fur and skin, giving a bath with a hypoallergenic shampoo and using Advantage flea prevention on her. You can purchase it at PetCo. She may need antibiotics to heal the skin and your veterinarian will do an exam to determine the cause of her problems. They may run a blood panel in addition to determine if she is anemic or has a metabolic problem. Once they have a diagnosis they will give her the appropriate treatment and hopefully she will recover quickly. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Milly.

If they are not very deep and only small wounds, I would recommend to clean them with diluted hibiscrub twice daily until completely healed. Flea allergy must be treated and fleas as well. A combination of steroids and flea treatment is usually needed. A vet care is not needed if in 3-4 days the wounds are healing. If not, antibiotics may be needed.

Hello, sorry to hear about Maggie. It does look like she may be having allergies. I would assume that based on her history and long hair that her allergies may be environmental and she is likely keeping a lot of these allergens trapped on her fur. You could consider having her shaved and groom to remove the mats and to keep her hair short. This may ultimately help with her allergies. She will likely need some form of allergy medical management long term which could be provided by your veterinarian. Hope this helps and best of luck.

I recommend to either have Lilly checked for hyperthyroidism or try a diet trial with a hydrolyzed protein for 12 weeks. Call your vet to discuss which option seems like the best for Lilly. Unfortunately, Allergies to something in the environment, food allergies, flea allergies and hyperthyroidism will all look the same so you must start ruling them out one by one. You may also look into joining a clinic like Banfield or VCA that offer wellness programs. These programs are not insurance but the office visits are free and you get a discount of services and medications outside of the program. You will need to check and verify details with any of these clinics in your area. Not every service will be covered by the program. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.