Cat with a small open sore and losing patches of fur

Question
I have a 2 1/2 year old orange tabby (he was a feral cat that i domesticated) I also have 3 other cats from the same mother and father cat. In January he was scracthing his neck one day and he ripped out part of his fur. When I looked it was bleeding so I cleaned it and that was it. Within one month what started as a very small sore turned into a very large sore around his neck and up to his ear. I took him to the vet. Since then he has been prescribed numerous medications and been on a few different diets. He also had a biopsy done and nothing came back other than the infection. I have taken him to 3 dfferent vets and no one seems to know what the problem is or how to fix it. I cant do the trial and error anymore as its taking a big hit on my wallet. THe medications he's been on include hydrocortisone, ointments, and the latest one was leukerin. The leukerin actually helped quite a bit but only with the help of a cone. He had scratched so much he had open sores around not only one side of his head but the other as well and around his mouth and behind both ears. The vet still does not know for sure what caused him to do this other than a bug bite that turned to a secondary bacterial infection. I have gotten the sores under control by keeping the cone on him 24/7 with only about an hour or less a day (supervised) without the cone. When I take the cone off he immidiately begins grooming himself but he does so aggresively and alsmot violently. He doesnt so much scratch his neck but he pulls out huge tufts of fur on his back. It's as if he is so irritated about the cone all day he takes his aggression out on his fur and he is losing patches of it daily. Could this be miliary dermatitis? If not, what else could it be?

Answer
 

Hey !


I'm so sorry but I've never experienced this and I cannot believe you went to three vets who has done nothing to help !!!!

Keep using the Elizabethan Collar (Cone) Keep it on him 24/7 that is the only way that he will be able to heal don't take it off at all not at all keep it on until you find out what's really going on, it will stop him from grooming but its worth it until you find out what's going on. When cats excessively groom that might mean fleas or some other kind of parasites. This will hit up your wallet a little bit but go to www.drsfostersmith.com and purchase FeliWay spray this spray really works it calms pets down so when your about to take he collar off of him he wont be aggressive that's the trick which will work FeliWay calms cats down whenever they are in a stressed or aggressive state and it also stops urine marking.

Anyway when your at www.drsfostersmith.com go to cats and select stress and find FeliWay for the cat and so and so and then go to cat again and go to "grooming" and click the "Itch Stop Series" when your at the itch stop series purchase the kit for 16.99 the kit includes the famous "Itch Stop Shampoo, Itch Stop Salve, and Itch stop spray". Then I want you to also go to Skin & Coat Care and look at the bottom and click the "Soothing System" and purchase the Soothing Mist & Pads. Theres also alot of products on their that promote healthy skin and hair and coat growth that you might want to speed the recovery of the hair back, but the Feliway is a must if your cat becomes aggressive to his fur about you take off the collar other wise all that you've done would be for nothing, but anyways use these products all together. I want you to give your cat a 30 minute bath in the bath tub. Keep the Elizabethian Collar on. I want you to suds him in the Itch Stop Shampoo and instead of leaving it on for 10 or 15 minutes leave it on for about 20 or 25 minutes while massaging it all over his body including his neck. Then after you've done that for 20-25 minutes I want you to rinse him off very good so that none of the shampoo is left on the skin.

When your done with that go ahead towel dry him off or whatever. Then spray him with the Soothing Mist and Pads and then follow the directions for the "Itch Stop Spray" make sure you do it all over. I want you to make sure its under his neck, around his neck, under his belly, everywhere (except his face).

Once you've bathed him with all of the Itch and Soothing stuff and the sores have healed you may if you want take off the Collar but before you do make sure that you spray a good amount of Feliway around him before you do, in other words put him in a Kennel or carrier and spray the Feliway in their and wait for about 5 minutes or so and then take off the collar. All of these are the best I can give you if they don't work then I suggest you find a vet that's not in your local area one that's very well known that could diagnose what's wrong with him, it sounds like he is an aggressive groomer.

It sounds as if he has Feline Miliary Dermatitis, to stop these things from happening, schedule an appointment with the vet have him wormed, and purchase "Revolution Flea & Tick treatment" and put that on him, you can get Revolution from your vet it works great thats what I use. Also at www.drsfostersmith.com look for some antibiotics and anti fungal medications that can be used in bathing shampoos (Ex.Itch Stop, Soothing Shampoo).

Also use a fatty acid supplement as part of the treatment and add some extra biotin to the cats diet. Try changing your cats food to Science Diet (Expensive but its so great) Check out a lot of other products on www.drsfostersmith.com they are excellent vet's trust me, their products are genius. I hope all goes well. I also want you to follow up with me in a few weeks or days as in how he is doing okay ? I hope that I've helped you.