Why is my cat's spreading skin condition not improving after years?

I would talk to your vet about doing a biopsy or a culture and sensitivity. The biopsy may be able to tell a different skin condition (underlying mange, fungal infection, etc) that may require different medications than just antibiotics and steroids. A culture and sensitivity may reveal a resistant bacteria that isn't responding to the current antibiotics. I hope this helps.

Those are some very nasty looking sores. I can only imagine how uncomfortable they are for Gypsy. I also notice in the picture that she is not wearing any sort of cone around her head to prevent her from trying to lick the affected area. Even if it in a place where you would think they can't reach, they usually find a way. I would also consider placing little booties on her feet to prevent scratching of the area. In terms of the actual problem, if your veterinarian has already tried multiple treatment without success, it may be time to start trying some diagnostics instead. These tend to be a little more expensive and time consuming, but ultimately will get you the answer that you have been looking for all along. Some of these tests may include scrapings, cultures, skin biopsies, and allergy testing. Alternatively, you could seek out the help of veterinary dermatologist who specializes in these types of issues.

Hello. I am so sorry for your concerns with Brandi. I wish I could just diagnose her skin problems from just a picture, but this is quite impossible. If this has been a chronic issue, my recommendations would be to either get a referral to a veterinary dermatologist who specializes in unusual skin problems, or have your veterinarian biopsy one of these lesions. It is not unusual to have to go this route when you have a frustrating case that just does not want to resolve using conventional therapy. Skin scrapes are good first step, but I think your veterinarian needs to look deeper into Brandi's skin problem. Good luck & thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

This does look like a severe skin disease. Dogs can develop environmental allergies similar to eczema, but I would expect that he would have responded some to the medications prescribed at least temporarily if this was the case. Buddy could have a parasite, resistant infection, or an autoimmune disease causing these symptoms as well. You may want to recheck with the vet to see if there are any other tests they might recommend - a skin scrape, fungal culture, skin cytology and culture, or biopsy might be the next steps. If Buddy is not on a good flea and tick preventative I'd recommend starting one as well just in case of parasites.

There's no way to know for sure from a photograph, but it does look like a bacterial infection. It is important to have this seen by your vet to determine what it is so the correct treatment can be started as soon as possible before it gets worse or is a sign of an underlying problem. Your vet will do an exam, possibly labwork, and based on these results will be better able to tell you what is causing this and how best to treat it.

Poor Babbi! Babbi really needs to be seen by the vet if that hasn't been improving with the topical clotrimazole. She likely needs systemic medication (either oral or injectable), given the severity of the lesion. If it's not resolving, you may need a biopsy of the skin. We can sometimes see severe changes such as this with other disorders such as autoimmune skin conditions, which would be treated with immunosuppressive medication.

There are a lot of things that could be causing this appearance to the skin, and it may not be easy or cheap to figure it out. I would recommend that you keep working with the vet. Baseline blood work, thyroid hormone, testing for Cushing's disease, skin biopsies, food trials, flea preventatives, etc may be needed.