Hi Lance, Sorry about Ember's skin problems. How old is she?
I would try to think back to before this started, and see if there were any changes at all, new cat bed, new food/treats, fabrics, laundry detergents on bedding in rooms she is in, etc. Have you used anything on your hands- lotions/soaps that may transfer to her fur and irritate her when petting? Maybe there is something in her environment that she is sensitive to in that respect? My non FeLV long term foster cat that I have to keep separate from my fear aggressive cat recently licked a lot of fur off near the base of his tail, definitely not flea related. I realized that it was most likely from a homeopathic remedy I was putting on him. It had some alcohol as preservative in it, from Jackson Galaxy store. I was trying it to see if it might help me integrate him with my others. He has a very sensitive stomach, so didn't tolerate a few drops in food, so I started putting about 4-5 drops on top of his head/ears/shoulder blade area, and then seemed to still be on my hands after I spread it out, so the remainder I put towards his lower back. I am thinking it must have bothered him so he began licking that area since he could reach there. Could it be a type of OCD behavior, maybe boredom? Not sure where you live, but maybe if you have started using heat due to temps getting chillier, dryness from that? Has the vet done any blood work, etc? Not sure how old Ember is, but there is a whole list on a google search of various things that can cause lesions and hair loss. Hyperthyroidism can cause these symptoms. Here are just a few of the websites that I found with info. http://manhattancats.com/Articles/hair_loss_in_cats.html http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/skin-problems http://www.mustlovecats.net/Cat-Hair-Loss.html Shelley Shelley Theye ve...@bellsouth.net On Nov 5, 2013, at 8:34 PM, Lance wrote: > Hi all, > > My Ember has had dermatitis for about two months now. A month ago, the vet > gave her a Convenia shot, and that didn’t seem to change things much. I gave > her 2mg of chlor trimeton twice a day for five days, and that hasn’t changed > anything substantially. She has lesions on her neck and shoulders, and there > also must be some near her backside, as she’s licked some hair off her legs, > lower tail, and stomach. > > I should note that I’m 99.9% certain this has nothing to do with fleas. Ember > has no exposure to other animals or the outside (she’s isolated in a set of > rooms on the second floor of this house), I have seen no fleas on her, and I > haven’t had any jump on me. The vet found none on her when she went in a > month ago. > > I spoke to the vet today, and she mentioned that they usually give cats with > this type of dermatitis a steroid injection, but that she worries about doing > that to Ember, given her FeLV+ status. The vet did say that, rather than an > injection, we could try tablets. That would at least allow us to control how > much exposure Ember gets. Right now, this doesn’t seem to be > life-threatening. I’m wondering what others have done in this situation. > > Thanks, > > Lance > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
