Scratching_Biting_Fur

[McCat]

I have a 16-17 year old Applehead Siamese female.  Several years ago she started scratching and biting the fur off of her tummy.  I had been using dryer sheets in the dryer and once I stopped she settled down for a while.  The fur never did fully grow back.  About 5 years ago she started again, this time we noticed scabs around the base of her tail.  I took her to the vet and it turned out to be flees.  I thought since my kitties were indoors they wouldn't get flees...WRONG!  The vet gave her a shot to kill the flees and to stop the itching.  I have had her and her siblings on Advantage ever since.  We also wash their bedding in hot water a couple of times a month to make sure nothing is going on there.  The itching stopped by the biting did not.  Now she is biting the fur off not only her stomach but mid-way up her tail, the inside of all four legs, her paws and elbows and now she is getting sores.  She is also down to 9.5 lbs., she was 15lbs a year ago.  We feed her Hills Physcians Science Diet and always have.  We are going to the vet tomorrow but I think they are going to tell me she is neurotic and old.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  She is very anxiety ridden, jumpy, and hangs out in my hair a lot.  Gotta love her.

[McCat]

Thank you for your reply, thankfully, it is not fleas this time.  She is allergic to dust mites and we just put an old down comforter in their trunk, that is where they sleep.  We have removed the comforter as well as changed her food to all natural with no grains, etc.  I also noticed her litter was scented, so we changed that as well.
I did take her to the vet to confirm the fleas.  They also said that because we have a new little boy, have had him for 3 months, he is probably causing her anxiety.  (He is just a little bit active!!LOL)  The vet also suggested we put kittie pheramones (sp) in their bedroom, it is just like one of those Glade plug-in.  However, it is $50.00/month so that won't be lasting too long.  I did and Cloe was so mellow yesterday.  Evidently it has a calming effect on all of them.  She also received antibiotics because she has an infection and a steriod shot.  She was doing really well yesterday and this morning.  I haven't seen her chew or bite herself.  Otherwise she is in really good health.  They did all the senior lab work and everything came back normal.  We are so grateful!!
By the way, an applehead siamese is the original siamese before they were bred to be so thin and pointy.  They also call them Old World Siamese.  Glad to be part of your community!

[opus88]

hi and welcome to our site...yes gotta love her indeed. :) an APPLEHEAD Siamese, must confess I've never heard of this before, you'll have to post some photos for us..

reading your post and the fact that she did have fleas this is most certainly a Flea bite dermatitis...or hypersensitivety to fleas..
it can also be a granuloma complex which again is often due to an allergy to the flea bite..
I would suspect that before food allergies b/c you of the mention of having had fleas.
I will send you one article, I can dig up more references if you wish. post again if you need more information on these article.
I hope you can get this under control....she doesn't deserve to be suffering from all these itchies at such an advanced age...must be horribly miserable for her:(

all the best

http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=814576&sk=&date=&pageID=2