itch

Question
I have a 2 yr. old female Siamese.  She scratches and licks so hard she's getting bumps and losing hair.  She's had fleas in the past, and I've treated her with the drops on the back of the neck.  But checking her this time with the flea comb I can find no fleas ... in fact, I'm fairly certain she's been flea-free for the better part of a year.  What can be making her itch so badly, and what can I try that will help her?  Oh, and she's strictly and indoor cat ... eating Purina and Meow Mix Indoor formulas.  She doesn't eat many table scraps, and doesn't like most canned foods either.  So her diet is pretty much all dry cat food.

Answer
Hi Vaughn,

This sounds like it might be a food allergy.  A lot of cats are allergic to fish, which is a main ingredient of most cat foods, wet and dry.  You could try looking for dry cat food that doesn't have fish or at least has it as one of the lesser ingredients--they're listed in order of most to least on the bag so something that's lower down on the list will not be a big part of the food.  Try that and see if it helps.  In the meantime you might want to get something from the pet store like "Bitter Apple" to apply to the area she's licking to keep her away from it and let it heal.