skin problems

Question
Hello. Our cat of about 8 years recently underwent an emergency spaying due to pyometra 8 weeks ago. There were small complications due to her vomiting from the first antibiotic. A couple weeks ago we took notice she was getting small scabs by her tail. She is strickly indoors, and we checked her to fleas. Theres no evidence of fleas. She then got some on her back. While the ones at her tail are gone, the back ones are getting bigger. Could this be due to the hormonal change in her body? A later reaction to the meds? Or food allergy?

Answer
There are many reasons and causes for scabs like these. Fleas and flea allergies are usually the number one suspect for these type of scabs.

A food intolerance, maybe, but a true food allergy will manifest itself with gastro-intestinal problems and then skin issues.You will need to put your cat on an elimination diet to determine if the food she is eating is the cause of this.  

Common causes of scabs on skin are: hormonal issues as you mentioned, miliary dermatitis or eczema, or 'scabby cat' as it is commonly called, fleas, flea allergies, reactions to drugs, etc.

Scabby cat is a condition where the reaction to the offending problem, usually, but not always, flea saliva, causes these type of scabs to spread along the area of the back, the neck, chin, and tail head. Here is an article on scabby cat:

http://www.vetinfo.com/scabby-cat-disease.html

and another one:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+1332&aid=150

Diseases such as ringworm, mites and other parasites usually don't cause scabs like this except for sarcoptic mange, which can cause scabs like this.

Your best bet of course is to take her in to the vets and have her skin looked at. The vet will do a scraping and examine it under a microscope to see whether or not she has any parasites like mange.

He can then determine what to treat her skin with.