itching

[doctorliz]

My cat is 21 years old. Just recently he has deveolped age problems. He has been scratching and pulling out his hair. (He has also become "litterbox Untrained" but that is another problem.) He had been driking and urinating a lot so I took him too the vet for a check-up. No diabetes, no unususal problems. She put him on 1/2 valium a day. I use frontline spray for fleas. Now both my Husband and I notice that when he rubs up against our skin, anywhere but our hands, WE start itching. This is new. Any ideas?

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

The immune system weakens with age.  Your cat may have been able to tolerate and fight off ectoparasites and other skin infections when younger, but no longer.  

Causes of itching include Mites: Otodectes, Cheyletiella, Scabies, etc,  ringworm and other fungal infections, allergies (allergies to food can occur anytime in the life of a cat), bacterial skin infections, endocrine disorders and more.

Ringworm, and some mites can be transmitted to people.  Frontline does not treat mites.  The topical: "Revolution" is for fleas, ticks, ear mites, and scabies, so it might be a good idea to switch to Revolution for a couple of months.  Your vet could also perform a skin scraping and a fungal assay or fungal culture and sensitivity.  If you did not want to have more tests performed, your vet could give your cat medicated bath's to treat possible ringworm.  Of course it would be best to try to identify the cause of the itching.

If your vet suspects food allergy, your cat will have to placed on a novel protein food such as lamb and pea.

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Ans to your questions: all of the above.  

Don't feed dry cat food anymore. All cats of any age should eat wet food only.   At 21 years of age your cat is entitled to eat whatever her heart desires.  However, in order to try to eliminate food allergies (if she has them), you would have to feed her only a protein source that she has never been exposed to before.  So, if she has never eaten lamb before, try giving her Baby Food lamb since it may be difficult to find lamb canned cat food, unless you get a prescription from your vet for lamb based hypoallergenic canned food.  Try it for at least 4 to 6 weeks.

[doctorliz]

Could these ectoparasites be transfered to other pets? Would we see any visible signs on either ourselves or our young cats or dog? We seem to itch for a short while or until we wash off. I use Seabreeze which has always helped me with skin contact allergies. The cat has also thrown up his dry catfood a good bit and is much more interested in table scraps which I have never fed him before. Would this be a sign of food allergy?
Thank you so much for your information.