Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 11/10/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have a female Calico 2 1/2 year old cat. My cat, Chewy, is strictly and indoor cat except for the minor occasion I take her outside. She has been licking herself CONSTANTLY for about 8 or 9 months. What had started as just a small patch of 2 or 3 red bumps around her vaginal area on her stomach, has now caused her to lick all of the fur off of her stomach and down to the bottom part of her tail, closest to the anus, and parts of the inside of her legs! But she never seemed out of character. Always playing.
She still does, but now she's sort of let up a bit on playing because she has to pause to lick her self. Recently it has gotten worse! The other day I noticed some thick liquid coming out of her anal area, and it smelled horrible; but it only comes around everynow and then. She's done this before; pre-spaying, and post-spaying. Then I noticed 2 small patches of fur missing from the top of her head, and her hair thinning out! Now her left eye is red, not the eye ball, but the stuff around it is red, she constantly tears in that eye, sneezes, does this weird cough, and this weird cough like she sounds like she's trying to catch her breath; like breathing really fast through your teeth is what it sounds like, and tonight I've caught her licking herself again, so I picked her up to check out what her tummy is doing now, and there are red bumps all over the place! I don't know if this is from her excessive licking, or from something else! She's eating, she's drinking, no problems with using the litter box, I haven't changed anything with food. I adopted 2 kittens recently and they had fleas, so I know I need to give all kitty's flea baths. But this licking has been going on for months, everything else has happened within the last 2 weeks. Any thoughts? Should I be taking her to the vet ASAP? I know she needs to go, but I don't have the money to spare as of yet. Thank you!

ANSWER: She most likely has a flea allergy problem compounded by alopecia (hairlessness) which is from her licking. Some cats are emotional lickers - something that the vet needs to handle, usually with hormones.

The redness and the coughing could be from a respiratory virus the kittens brought in or she picked up outside. You don't mention vaccinations and these viruses are airborne.

Flea baths do not work on any pet- you need to get an IGR to handle the fleas. That is an insect growth regulator. The fleas are breeding all over your house and are in the rugs and floors by now.

The adults are only 5% of the problem.

Read this page about fleas and their life cycle:
http://www.ah.novartis.com/cab/en/cat_fleas_lifecycle.shtml

Get some Ovitrol spray but use it on a rag and wipe them down with it otherwise they will foam at the mouth and run from you if you spray them. You can get some Program too to keep them away and mutate the ones in the rugs etc so they cannot hatch.

The bumps on her belly look like typical flea bites.
The liquid coming out of her anal glands is just that- anal gland fluid which has the worst smell on earth. She may need to have them expressed by the vet as it sounds like they are very full. Could be another reason she is licking.

So start with some good flea control and then go from there. Get these cats vaccinated also. I hope your new adoptees were also tested for leukemia etc. These are fatal viruses that your older cat can get pretty quick from them.




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: But would it do any harm, or at least help control the flea population, if I were to give Chewy a flea bath? Maybe it would soothe her skin and fur? I am definitely going to give my other cats a flea bath. Though the flea problem only came about when I adopted the stray kittens. They will be getting their immunizations shortly when they're old enough (about 2 months now). And the fleas aren't everywhere, as of yet. It is a pretty small population as of now. I've already begun combing the cats' fur to get rid of those little black eggs and killing as many fleas as possible.

Thank you so much for a clear answer!! I feel much better about her health, so far, because of that anal goo she has. She will be visiting the vet as soon as I am able to take her.

Answer
The black specs are flea manure- digested blood. Get some wet and you will see it turns red. The eggs are translucent white. They are really tiny, they don't stick to the fur and are designed to fall off and onto the floor where they hatch into larvae and feed on the black specs you are seeing-which also fall off onto the floor to feed the larvae.

Cats hate baths with a passion- it is much better for their skin and fur (not to mention well-being) to remove the fleas manually and with a flea killer like Ovitrol. They need those oils on their skin to keep it healthy.

As you can see on the page I sent you, the 'small population' of fleas is growing exponentially daily and what you are seeing is
5 % of a 100 % problem. That means that 95 PRECENT of your flea problem is already in the rugs, floors, furniture etc. And they are growing, turning into cocoons, which means they cannot be killed until they hatch. That is usually in two weeks or less.

So your flea situation is going to get worse and worse very quickly which means that the older cat's allergy is going to get worse and worse. Flea baths only kill the fleas that get wet with it- it does nothing for the rest of the fleas or the house.