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Why is my senior cat licking herself raw when the vet found nothing?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Longhair | Female | unspayed | 14 years and 1 month old | 10 lbs

Hey, I have a 14-16 year old cat that has started to lick herself raw, she's seen a vet and they haven't found anything wrong. Is there anything I can do to help her?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Published on February 26th, 2018

This is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. Abnormal overgrooming due to behavioural disorders (usually related to stress) should be considered as well as a possibility but all the other causes need to be ruled out first.
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).
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.
Vote Icon1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

  • Published on May 2nd, 2018

    This is probably 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.

    Vote Icon

    1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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