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Itchy rash, constantly licking herself!!

thisismadelyn88

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My cat is 2 yrs old and has had the worst skin problems for about a year. She constantly has scabs all over her body bc of constant licking and itching. I swear her licking herself is one of the most annoying sounds I have ever heard in my life! She was never like this when I first got her. I took her to the vet after about 6 months of having her when it first came about, they gave her antibiotics, it went away and then a few months later came back. I don't have the money to take her to the vet every month!! Does anyone have a similar problem with their sphynx or any advice on what i can do for her?
 

susi794

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Have you tried changing foods? It might be a food allergy or it might be an allergic reaction to lots of different things. The poor baby is probably insane with the itching. I think you can use a low dose of benadryl occasionally, but I wouldn't think for long term. There are also some medicated shampoos out there--and I know of a few sphynx cats that need to use it weekly. I would think she needs something to stop the itching before you can heal up the skin--maybe some cortisone or an oral steroid--might need the antibiotics too if the skin is infected. This poor cat has had this horrible itching/licking for a year? Oh my gosh! The poor thing! Itching is low grade pain, and this poor little thing has surely been really suffering--you just have to do something to relieve it.
 

Mews2much

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Have you tried changing her food.
My Wrinkles was a mess until she was put on Duck and Green Pea?






 

ilovemysphynx

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Hi thisismadelyn88 , and welcome to sphynxlair!
Sorry to hear of all the iching you and your baby are dealing with. It does sound like it could be a allergy of some kind. I would try a food change. If no luck a litter change. If none of this works the vet may have to do some tests, a quick skin scraping could give you some answers.
If you could share some pictures of this with us we may be able to help a bit more.
 

admin

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Hello and welcome to Sphynxlair!

1. what is she fed, and have you switched foods ever?
2. what do you bath her with and how often?
3. what type of litter do you use or have you ever switched litters?
pictures may help!
is it rashy or open soars?
 

Jenna311

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I think ur kitty is allergic to something in the food.And I dont know how much you can compair dogs and cats but between the ages 2-5yrs dogs can become allergic to things over night. Just like my Pomeranian.I seemed like the Day she turned 2yrs old she became allergic to bird meat. It started with her hair falling out then her skin started to turn a blueish black and this sores stared to show up.Then the sores would scab over and become flakey.She would also get ear infections because of it. She is still bald in spots and has to be bathed weekly because of her flakey skin but shes no longer itchy. We also bathe her in Mane and Tale 2n1 Dandruff Shampoo. I hope that helps.
 

ckutkuhn7

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I would have to agree with the census,,it sounds like an allergy of some sort. Pictures would defintley help.

I hope the answers are found for her soon. Poor darling,,I would hate to be itching for a whole year. Goodluck and keep us posted.
 

holly_savage

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Sorry to hear about the itching.

The advice about the allergy sounds like the best answer to me too.

Have you tried a Colloidal Oatmeal bath to maybe alleviate the itching, Aveno makes some, but I am sure there are many other brands out there.
 

MissMySphynxBoys

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Welcome to Sphynx Lair. I don't have much to add to the great advice you have already been given. I have a yellow lab with chronic skin issues and recently switch her over to a grain and gluten free formula. I was so pleased with the results I switched my DSH cats over to a grain/gluten free version too.
 

MELODIEROCK

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Duck and pea food worked for my female. Her daddy had the worst skin issue Id ever seen, when I went to pick her home. He had scabs all over his body. It looked horrrible. They finaly found out he was having a reaxtion with sun light through the windows. They put him in a room with no windows and in cleared up totally. It's a long shot, but who knows with these little creatures.
 

klreese

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yikes! poor kitty!! i agree with everyone else.. look into changing her food.
for short term, when my kitty was itchy from a heat rash i was referred to using baking soda. which actually worked fairly well.
 

LoveHairless

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My female has the same problem. I don't know what's causing the rash or if she's just an obsessive licker. We've switched her over to a grain & gluten free food and a dust free litter. Also started bathing her in Virbac Episoothe. The vet is stumped and the poor thing is miserable. We are going back in next week to talk about diagnostic testing since the home treatment hasn't alleviated her symptoms. Will keep you posted on what we find.
 

GoldHazel

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@LoveHairless hello, this is a very old thread. If you want to, you can make your own thread with the problems your female is having.

Going to the vet to have allergy testing by a blood test would be the best way to figure things out. So many sphynx have been allergic to certain foods and chicken being one of them.

I'm sure by now you have changed laundry detergents to something unscented and colorless. Sometimes a hand or body lotion on you can come off and trigger an allergic reaction to your sphynx. Same with perfumes, colognes, aftershave lotions, etc.

I'm not familiar with the shampoo you have been bathing her in, but I have found an excellent shampoo for calming down bothersome skin: AvenaLyt Shampoo with Oatmeal & Aloe. It rinses very well not leaving any residue on them. I got mine from Chewy.com FYI. It's a very gentle shampoo and the oatmeal really helps calm the skin down.

Has your vet given her an antihistamine at all? A lot of vets now prefer Zyrtec over Benardyl. If your vet agrees that it can help her or at least make her feel better until you get test results back, maybe don't start it until right after her blood test so that the antihistamine doesn't throw her test results off.

Does she have anything visible on her skin such as bumps, a rash, red raised dots, etc.? If so, it may be very helpful to you if you can post pictures as well.

I hope you can get this figured out quickly so she can begin to feel all better. Please come back and update us so we know what works.
 
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