Cat question
#150315 - 02/15/05 10:45 AM
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michele
Reged: 06/02/03
Posts: 6886
Loc: southeastern michigan
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I have a pursian cat. He is about 3.5 years old. He has VERY long hair. I brush him most everyday. A few weeks back, we noticed he kept bitting at his back, down by his tail. I noticed his skin was kinda flakey looking so we gave him a bath with some special shampoo thats supposed to nourish the coat. We have used this shampoo on him before.
I went to the pet store and asked them about it. They said to buy him this special (and of course, more expansive food) thats supposed to help with the skin and coat. So, I swiyched his food about a week ago, she said it may take a month before it gets better. In the meantime, I also bought some spray on conditioner stuff for cats and have been spraying him every few days. He is still digging and bitting himself! He has a few scabs and I just feel awful for him!
I thought I remember hearing once about giving animals raw eggs on there food??? Anyone know anything about this or have any other suggestions. I'm hoping the new food will help in the long run but I'd like to make him more comfortable right now! Any ideas?
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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I don't know about the raw eggs, but I know you can purchase fish oil (or just omega 3 oils) from most vets that you can add to their food to help with coats and skin. My vet recommended that for my cat too 
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Re: Cat question
#150321 - 02/15/05 10:50 AM
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Kimm
Reged: 03/10/04
Posts: 1171
Loc: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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It sounds more like a skin problem than a coat problem to me. There is obviously something irritating him or else he wouldn't be scratching and biting at that area.
I'd make a vet visit. That way you don't have to guess and then you can take care of it properly. Poor kitty!!
Hope he feels better soon!!
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Hi Michelle,
I've grown up with cats (and dogs too), but we did have one develop problems like you are describing. I don't know if it's exactly the same, since I can't see the sore spots, but when this happened to one cat, it turned out to be a parasite. Bad news on that is that it requires a trip to the vet, a test and some medicine, all of which costs a bit of money. Good news is that once we got the medicine everything cleared up swimmingly. So, I would try the things that you can get from the pet store and watch for improvement, but if kitty continues to get worse, you may want to go into the vet and ask about it. I don't remember the name of the parasite, but it seemed to be a somewhat common thing. Good luck and hope kitty gets better soon. Caffrey and Stoli - my two kitties - send hugs!
Min
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If your house is pretty dry feeling, that could worsen his dry skin. You could try using a humidifier. I have not heard of the egg thing before... so can't answer you on that. One more thing you could do Michele, is try adding a little canola oil (just a tiny amount) to his food. good luck! I know how helpless it feels when your precious pets have problems that cause them misery. 
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~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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My house isn't too bad for Michigan in the winter! We run a humidifier 24/7 starting in like Novemeber! It goes through almost 2 gallons in about a day and half!
Would I mix the canola oil right on the dry food? Like maybe a spoon to a bowl of food?
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Fish oil, would that be aliquid type oil that I can get at a health food store?? Do you think that would be any better than the canola oil the Rachel recommended?
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So the coat conditioning shampoo will do nothing for it...you need one for excema...or take it to the vets!
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I was wondering about some sort of bug/parasite thing. Although we do have another cat and she is fine. They were both into the vets office a few months ago for the routine maintance stuff, shots and whatever. I've looked him over very closely and don't see anything moving and I've also checked the cat box, ick!
His skin just looks a little white and flakey, just like ours get. He has a few little scabs were he has itched it too much though. I'm keeping a very close eye on them, the bad spots are very small and I don't see any sign of infection or anything. He seems happy enough, he runs around and plays and everything. Just once in a while, he'll stop dead in his tracks and bit at his back/butt area!
I'll try the canola oil and give it a couple more weeks to see if the new food works but if it doesn't clear up or gets worse, I'll definetely call the vet!
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...try a medicinal shampoo for just that. It's pretty common with pets. Also, try and stop him scratching...hard I know! 
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