For more than a year now, our cat has been in and out of a cone because she keeps tearing up the flesh in front of her ear. We’ve taken her to the vet several times, they give us a different answer each time and whatever the solution the provide it ultimately does nothing. Ears are clean, no fleas, no obvious health issues. Anxiety meds just made her scratch lazily, antibiotics for cat scratch inflammation, did nothing. Topicals and antifungal, just make for slimey scabs. The best I’ve managed is using an anti itching cera-ve cream 4 times a day, but if I miss, there goes her face again.
We’re at a loss at this point. She’s otherwise very happy and loving, but it’s starting to take a toll. We have to baby proof the house because when she can’t scratch the spot she’ll just scratch it on box corners, table edges, the dish washer, etc. She can’t groom in the cone and when we try to brush her she just shoves her crusty wound on us to itch it. We love her so much and just want her better.
Honestly, it sounds like she has allergies.
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/allergies-in-cats
1 - I recommend replacing her food with a hydrolyzed one (Purina HA, Hills Z/D).
They eliminate protein allergies by breaking the proteins down into smaller pieces, and the pet’s immune system can’t recognize them as the allergen.
It’s expensive, but it’s the easiest thing to try for her to get some relief.
2 - I also recommend a steroid shot to help ease her symptoms if the food change doesn’t work. This will give her a break while you work with your vet to eliminate other potential allergies (ex. household dust).
3 - Don’t use Benadryl. Benadryl is an out-of-date medication for both humans and animals. It’s a first gen medication, but we have second gen medications now. These newer medications are more effective. Example: Zyrtec (generic name: cetirizine)
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/cetirizine
Hope she feels better soon!
Careful with Zyrtec because if you stop taking it it will cause horrific itching. Not only did it happen to me but the FDA and a bunch of doctors have come out with PSAs about this potentially harmful side effect of going off cetirizine.
Edit: dang autocorrect
Oh hey, didn’t expect to see my own medical experiences come up in my cat’s post lol
The second vet did to steroids, that was last year and didn’t really do anything big. We’ll have to check out the cat food. We’ve tried making her homemade food instead, plain chicken and rice, occasion pumpkin, but that didn’t help any.
Poultry is a common allergen so try a diet that’s fish based or one of the special ones like rabbit. It can take weeks to see improvement from diet change tho.