Why does my 4-year-old cat have skin scabs, sores, and imbalance?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This may be due to allergies. She could be showing signs of imbalance from potentially some degree of neurologic effects which sometimes can happen when cats develop significant ear disease due to allergies for instance. Otherwise, this may be a completely separate issue.

It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided.

There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies.

Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market).

If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests.

Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!