Is your cat over-grooming?
Your cat can spend about 30% of its waking hours grooming. Overgrooming is when a cat spends an abnormally large amount of time obsessively grooming itself. This can result in hair loss and skin sores.
What does it mean? When a cat licks himself obsessively it means something is bothering him. This can be a physical stimulus or a psychological one. Basically, they either feel itchy or stressed.
Parasites
Like with dogs, parasites are the first and principal cause of itchy skin. Don’t underestimate them, they are very fastidious and the cat owner does not always see them ON the animal. The best way to avoid them is by applying monthly an anti-parasitic product, especially during summer and even more if he also spends some time outside of the home.
Fleas
The most common type of parasite you’ll find on your cats are fleas. Not only they suck their blood and cause their skin local inflammation spots, some cats are actually allergic to the flea’s saliva. Then the pruritus is much worse and generalized. Fleas can be transferred from one cat to another, and not only, if massively infested, they might visit your skin as well.
Ticks
The second parasite- ticks. Not only they cause extreme irritation, but they can also transmit some serious tick-transmitted diseases. If you do find a tick on your cat don’t be tempted to pull it out. It should be done in a proper manner, otherwise, you might leave the tick’s head inside your cat’s skin and cause local inflammation.
How to remove a tick? Watch this video:
Lice
Although less common than the others, lice might also be found on cats and cause pruritus. You’ll mostly find them on stray cats.
Mites
Mites may be the most annoying parasites founds on cats. You will probably notice them as black material found inside your cat’s ears. This black material is a mix of the mite’s feces, the cat’s ear cerumen, and his blood caused by the constant mite biting and cutting your cat’s skin. The cat is continuously scratching his ears with his hind limbs causing wounds and secondary skin infections.
Most stray kittens will inhibit these annoying creatures in their ears because their immune system is still not perfectly matured yet. The cure is an appropriate ear product prescribed by your vet. Mites can die by suffocation with oil but I would not use this method if heavily infested. This condition can bring great suffering to your cat and it would be much quicker and more effective to use the proper product.
Is my cat allergic?
After eliminating parasites as the cause of your cat’s over-grooming, we might suspect allergies.
Your cat can be allergic to various substances and it is often not easy to identify the cause. What an allergy is, is basically an inappropriate reaction of the immune system to an allergen. This allergen can be found in your cat’s food or environment. The first and easiest one to test is a food allergy. You can test it by changing his diet to a hypoallergenic one. You can find it in most pet shops. Sure, there is another way to test it if you usually cook for your cat. But, it is much more complicated and needs veterinarian consultation and your absolute commitment to follow a very strict diet.
Other allergies can be due to environmental factors. Unless you somehow identify the cause, normally it is left as a mystery. Try to change your cat’s food or water plate. His sleeping area. If you are using some product like shampoo or other, stop and see if the allergy disappears.
What happens if you cannot identify the allergen? Sometimes the most effective cure is cortisone. Although it is much more tolerated in cats than in dogs, it does bring a lot of sides effect. Also, the required therapeutic dose becomes higher with time. Always consult your vet as there are more and more very effective supplements and medicines available to treat allergies. Just don’t try to give him one of your antihistamine pills, it won’t work!
Skin infections in cats
Cats might develop skin infections caused by bacteria or fungi. This happens more often in individuals with a less effective immune system. You can temporarily treat those infections with an antibiotic or antifungal product. In addition, I would try to improve his immune system health by providing the correct diet and supplements.
Eosinophilic granuloma complex
Eosinophilic granuloma complex is a term used to describe three forms of skin lesions in cats: eosinophilic plaque, eosinophilic granuloma, indolent ulcers- these are founds on the upper lip, abdomen, or legs. The exact cause of this condition is unknown. Some research studies suggest that a form of allergic or autoimmune response may be involved in most cases. Other studies suggest that the condition might be genetic. Either way, also here, the cure is, again, cortisone.
Feline Acne
Feline acne is a problem seen in cats primarily involving the formation of blackheads accompanied by inflammation on the cat’s chin and surrounding areas. We will notice it as black dirt.
It’s just like human acne, form by the accumulation of sebaceous material that clogs the hair follicle forming comedones- blackheads. These can become irritated, swollen, infected, and ultimately pustules which may cause itching and discomfort. In many cases symptoms are mild and the disease does not require treatment. You might only need to disinfect the area. In worst cases, there can be a secondary bacterial infection caused by over scratching of the area.
The cause of this condition is unknown. Based on the location- mainly the chin- we can suspect a connection to the cat’s food plate material, plastic. Just in case, get him a new one, different material.
Psychological causes for itching in cats
After considering all possible physical causes for your cat’s itching and licking, if no remedy has worked, suspect psychological distress. Cats are well known for developing psychological syndromes. They even manifest physical illnesses based on psychological origins. For example, stress cystitis also called feline idiopathic cystitis.
If the itching is related to stress you might have already suspected it. Agitated or stressed cats normally have somehow different character traits. You cannot change your cat’s character but you can help him by trying to eliminate all possible stress factors that are within your control. In addition, there are some products you can buy that have shown to have great benefits. Pheromones, for example, we do not perceive them but cats do.
Again, the best thing you can do is have your cat check by a vet. Very often the cause is not evident and the more you wait for the proper therapy the worse the itching can get. Sometimes the origin is non of the above. Your cat might be suffering from a hidden pain, maybe an articular pain. In that case, the only way he can respond is by licking that area, and incorrectly, you will think he has fleas.
Another thing I would like to add; if your cat is itching, please do not bathe him. More often than not it will only worsen the situation. Cats in nature hate water. Even more, shampoos actually harm the skin, they dry it. And dry skin only adds to the itching.
Let me know your thought, your doubts, if you have any question, some topics I did not cover, please let me know!
