Miss Tilly

Question
For the last couple weeks my cat has been twitching her tail, licking her fur
constantly, and losing a lot of fur, and we also found scab like hive bumps on
the base of her tail, and on her head.  The base of the tail seems tender when
you touch it Miss Tilly meows and turns her head and licks you when you are
touching that spot.  She has been sneezing a lot lately, too.

Answer
Terrie,

Miss Tilly needs to see a vet. There are numerous potential causes for her to be losing fur, seeming to be itchy, having a rash and seeming to have more irritated skin. The sneezing may be an upper respiratory infection which will likely need to be properly treated by a vet. Unfortunately I can't offer a diagnosis or home remedy when there's a medical issue going on, I'm not a vet. If the vet isn't able to determine a cause based solely on a complete physical exam then he/she may need to do skin scrapings to check for mites or mange, blood work to see how the internal organs are functioning properly and if this kitty goes outside you may have to keep her indoors in the future if something like a flea allergy is the problem. There is the possibility that the cause of the symptoms you are mentioning may be related to an improperly functioning thyroid gland among other things. If you are concerned about taking the most natural approach you can then my recommendation would be to seek help from a holistic vet. The nice thing about a holistic approach is that the whole animal is treated and with alternative therapies like homeopathy you can see incredible results fairly quickly. Holistic veterinarians are trained in conventional medicine as well as "alternative" therapies such as acupuncture, massage or homeopathy. My family vet is a wonderful practitioner with a holistic approach and I find it comforting to know that she treats my fur babies with the same love and respect that I do. I have seen amazing things happen when homeopathic remedies have been used on my resident cats, in fact I believe that I owe my oldest cat's life to a combination of homeopathic remedies and conventional medicine. The most important thing is that you find a vet who makes you feel comfortable and handles your cats with the love and respect that they deserve. I would be very interested in hearing the cause of Miss Tilly's symptoms if you wouldn't mind sending the diagnosis off, I may be able to use that information to help another cat somewhere down the line and I enjoy the chance to learn something new about cats in general.