Hair loss/darkened skin

Question
In July I rescued an orange tabby out of a tree in my neighbor's yard. She became part of the family after no one would claim her. She was brought to the vet and given a clean bill of health, found to be already spayed, and judged to be around 1-2 years old. Shortly after, she began to scratching excessively; brought Lucy to the vet and they said it was food allergies and gave her a steriod shot. I changed her diet and Lucy seemed to be doing better for a couple of months until she started doing the same thing again, but on top of that I noticed she was also pulling out and cutting short her fur at the base of her tail. I brought her to the vet again and they just gave her another steriod shot. I changed her diet again, and Lucy doesn't have the scabs anymore, but the hair loss is spreading in a straight line along the spine (mostly on the left side) and the skin is darkening at the base of her tail and creeping upwards to where she has pulled or cut short the fur along her spine. Any ideas what this may be and/or how I could soothe the skin problem?

Answer
Hi Elizabeth,

First off, are you using a flea medicine on her? This could be a flea allergy. Even if you can't see the little buggers, (cats are really good at getting them off them), it doesn't mean that she doesn't have them and has gotten bit by them. Try Advantage for cats or Frontline. She how she is after about 2-3 weeks.
Ask your vet about giving her an antihistamine to help stop the allergic reaction. Chlorpheniramine (Chlortrimeton TM) 4mg, 1/2 tablet twice a day is an OK dose for most adult cats. Check with your vet about this.

Try these two things and see how she is. I think you will find that she will get better. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen