How to help my itchy cat?

August 18, 2023 9:22 AM

My cat is very itchy and so far I've been unable to find a solution to help him. How have you solved this with your cat?

My male, indoor-only cat frequently itches himself. The area that causes the most issues is under his chin, where he sometimes creates a sore from scratching with his hind claws so much.

Things I've tried: a vet visit that didn't find fleas or anything of note, getting prescribed a rabbit-based dry food, various failed attempts at an elimination diet for the wet food he also eats (mostly fish-based pates), a change of his cat litter (now it's corn-based instead of clay.)

Admittedly my food elimination attempts weren't as methodical as I wanted, but eliminating one flavor and then waiting 2-4 weeks to maybe see a change can be tough with how picky and obstinate cats are with their food.

He's an incredibly spicy kitty when it comes to things he doesn't want to do (he has to be sedated for the vet visits) so I'm trying to summon the courage to attempt a bath with some sort of shampoo for itchiness but I thought I'd ask how others have solved this with their kitties.

I'm at my wit's end. I just want to find my poor boy some relief.

posted by bluecore to Pets & Animals (13 answers total)

Steroids can help (although they have their downsides)
cyclosporine/Atopica can help with skin allergy/mystery intense itching
Gabapentin can help with spicy-cat issue (maybe this is already what you're doing for vet visits, but if not, it might be worth a try)
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:55 AM on August 18, 2023

oh and if it's a food allergy, they make a hypoallergenic "hydrolyzed protein" food - in which the proteins have already been broken down so the cat can't form allergies to specific proteins.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:56 AM on August 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Is there a chance he has chin acne, or another skin irritation in that area? If you’re feeding him from plastic dishes, try switching to glass or metal.
posted by armeowda at 9:57 AM on August 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

My allergic-to-stress (and Fancy Feast) cat recently got human cetirizine from the vet. 5kg of cat, 5mg once daily, dealt with the itching and hotspots in a week. Try to find a dermatologist vet for more ideas.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 9:59 AM on August 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure if you tried removing fish completely, but I gad a cat that was allergic to fish. And finding fish free cat food was an absolute pain
posted by Jacen at 10:45 AM on August 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Could it be a cat version of the itch-scratch cycle and the original cause was transitory but now it's self perpetuating? Just speculating.
posted by lookoutbelow at 10:47 AM on August 18, 2023

Nthing allergies. My cat was itching herself so badly she was creating open sores on her neck. Vet prescribed special hydrolized protein dry food and is significantly cut down on the itching (not total elimination).

There are also foams that you can try instead of a full bath (perish the thought) or hydrocortisone spot treatments that might also help with topical relief.
posted by brookeb at 10:53 AM on August 18, 2023

if it's ONLY in his chin area, i suspect feline acne. but i'd be surprised if a vet didn't look for this. that article doesn't mention itching, but my two cats who have had it LOVED a good, vigorous chin scritch.

if it's more full body, maybe he has dry skin? does he have skin flakies/"dandruff"?
posted by misanthropicsarah at 12:31 PM on August 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

"under his chin"

Might be contact dermatitis from an allergy to whatever material his food or water bowl is made from. If you're using plastic or metal, try switching to glass. Also make sure the bowls are completely clean with no soap/detergent residue, like give them an extra rinse and wipe before use.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:46 PM on August 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

We have a kitty who was over-grooming and basically grooming himself some bald spots. We tried several things before landing on Atopica. As others said, if it’s just one area it could be something else. If he’s generally itchy, try Atopica. That seemed to help. Note, one of its side effects seems to be promoting hair growth, so he’s developed a pretty fluffy mane in addition to growing the original hair back.
posted by jzb at 5:13 PM on August 18, 2023

Thirding acne. One of mine is susceptible. Try making sure they always eat off a clean dish-- wash the bowl thoroughly between meals. It's a lot more work, but if the scratching abates after a week or so, you'll know it was acne.

Ways to cut down on the work of cleaning bowls:

- buy multiple cheap metal or ceramic bowls and swap them out for clean ones every meal, then run them all through the dishwasher

- use a multi-dish autofeeder and switch to a clean dish till it's time to wash the whole thing
posted by Pallas Athena at 7:25 PM on August 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Our cat had exactly this, scratching himself raw under his chin, and we managed it with Atopica, it was extremely effective and reduced his symptoms by about 90%, to the extent that while he was a bit affected it was no longer a major problem.

Eventually we put him strictly on Royal Canin Hypoallergenic wet and dry foods after he developed gut problems. Although we weren't doing it for his skin, we found his skin improved enough that we could discontinue the Atopica. In retrospect I would have tried that first. (Although he was a very easy cat to feed and I know that's not true of all cats.) We learned quickly we had to be completely strict about keeping him on the hypoallergenic food, every time we varied his diet his symptoms came back. As a note, none of the other hypoallergenic brands we tried worked, only Royal Canin.

Personally I wouldn't recommend bathing him because if it's allergies the shampoo could just make it worse.

Even after his chin cleared up he used to occasionally over-groom himself on his leg or his chest and end up with a patch of bald skin. Our vet gave us an anti-inflammatory cream with a bitterant in it, after applying it to the patch for a couple of days he'd give up and then he wouldn't do it again for months.

He had tons of behaviour problems, we gave him gabapentin for a while which was extremely effective at calming him down. However after we got his skin under control we were able to take him off the gabapentin. It was a godsend when he was really bad though.

Also re. the comment above on acne - it's a good point but in our cat's case it wasn't acne. Even though the problem looked local to his chin, the vet told us it's not uncommon for cats with allergies to focus their attention on their chin so it seems to be the only part affected.
posted by riddley at 8:31 PM on August 18, 2023

One of my cats was super itchy and is allergic to egg, so there's a ton of foods we can't feed him. He's on Purina One Indoor now, which he loves so plus all around. For general skin issues I recommend Fortiflora if yours can tolerate it. It's full of all sorts of vitamins and stuff and smells like beef bouillon.
He also has cat acne, so we use vitreous glass (generic Pyrex) plates and bowls. That's taken care of most of his skin problems.
posted by fiercekitten at 9:59 PM on August 18, 2023 [1 favorite]