Bleeding spots, cysts on my cat skin
My kitten is 4 months old, he is very very very lively but two months ago I've noticed a bald patch on his paw, I went to see the vet and he said to bring him in in a couple of days for castration and they will have a deep look at it. So I did...took him for castration, they've taken the swabs and said that nothing came up so he must of scratched himself. He was given antibiotics for 2 weeks, it didn't help I'm fed up of going back all the time as the vet keeps saying "I don't know what's wrong with him". I've taken few pictures maybe someone could help me please.
TAKE YOUR CAT TO A VET. Nobody can diagnose a chronic skin condition over the internet with a few lines of text and a couple of poor quality pictures.
A lot of pet owners do not appreciate how difficult and expensive it can be to diagnose and treat a chronic skin problem. A full skin workup for a difficult case can easily run into several hundred pounds when you include skin cytology, fungal cultures, flea/lice/mite treatment, antibiotics, low allergy diet trials, allergy testing, skin punch biopsies, etc.
Things you can do at home to make your vet's job easier:
1) Go to a vet sooner rather than later - do not allow this to get worse, it is only likely to cost you more in the long run.
2) Make sure he is properly covered against ALL ectoparasites (not just fleas) - I personally would use Advocate. Frontline/Bob Martin's/Johnson's/etc are not in any way comparable.
3) Try a ultra low allergy diet trial (ie; Royal Canin Hypoallergenic, Hills z/d, Purina HA) - It will take 6-8 weeks to see if it has made any difference (again, better to start sooner rather than later) and more importantly you can only feed that food, no treats, no tidbits, no gravy to make it taste better...just that food.
4) Keep up your appointments to enable your vet to assess how well any treatments have worked and whether additional treatments/tests are necessary. A lot of people cancel repeat appointments when the skin starts to look better only to come back a couple of weeks later (after a prolonged break in treatment) to find it as bad as it was in the first place (or worse).
---
A lot of pet owners do not appreciate how difficult and expensive it can be to diagnose and treat a chronic skin problem. A full skin workup for a difficult case can easily run into several hundred pounds when you include skin cytology, fungal cultures, flea/lice/mite treatment, antibiotics, low allergy diet trials, allergy testing, skin punch biopsies, etc.
Things you can do at home to make your vet's job easier:
1) Go to a vet sooner rather than later - do not allow this to get worse, it is only likely to cost you more in the long run.
2) Make sure he is properly covered against ALL ectoparasites (not just fleas) - I personally would use Advocate. Frontline/Bob Martin's/Johnson's/etc are not in any way comparable.
3) Try a ultra low allergy diet trial (ie; Royal Canin Hypoallergenic, Hills z/d, Purina HA) - It will take 6-8 weeks to see if it has made any difference (again, better to start sooner rather than later) and more importantly you can only feed that food, no treats, no tidbits, no gravy to make it taste better...just that food.
4) Keep up your appointments to enable your vet to assess how well any treatments have worked and whether additional treatments/tests are necessary. A lot of people cancel repeat appointments when the skin starts to look better only to come back a couple of weeks later (after a prolonged break in treatment) to find it as bad as it was in the first place (or worse).
---
I take him to the vet every week. He is on purina cat food. I spent a lot on him as they took the swabs and sent it off, nothing came back. I use advocate on him and he never goes out as there are few cats around the area.
Thank you anyway, I might swap a vet.
Thank you anyway, I might swap a vet.
Original post by ch0c0h01ic
TAKE YOUR CAT TO A VET. Nobody can diagnose a chronic skin condition over the internet with a few lines of text and a couple of poor quality pictures.
A lot of pet owners do not appreciate how difficult and expensive it can be to diagnose and treat a chronic skin problem. A full skin workup for a difficult case can easily run into several hundred pounds when you include skin cytology, fungal cultures, flea/lice/mite treatment, antibiotics, low allergy diet trials, allergy testing, skin punch biopsies, etc.
Things you can do at home to make your vet's job easier:
1) Go to a vet sooner rather than later - do not allow this to get worse, it is only likely to cost you more in the long run.
2) Make sure he is properly covered against ALL ectoparasites (not just fleas) - I personally would use Advocate. Frontline/Bob Martin's/Johnson's/etc are not in any way comparable.
3) Try a ultra low allergy diet trial (ie; Royal Canin Hypoallergenic, Hills z/d, Purina HA) - It will take 6-8 weeks to see if it has made any difference (again, better to start sooner rather than later) and more importantly you can only feed that food, no treats, no tidbits, no gravy to make it taste better...just that food.
4) Keep up your appointments to enable your vet to assess how well any treatments have worked and whether additional treatments/tests are necessary. A lot of people cancel repeat appointments when the skin starts to look better only to come back a couple of weeks later (after a prolonged break in treatment) to find it as bad as it was in the first place (or worse).
---
A lot of pet owners do not appreciate how difficult and expensive it can be to diagnose and treat a chronic skin problem. A full skin workup for a difficult case can easily run into several hundred pounds when you include skin cytology, fungal cultures, flea/lice/mite treatment, antibiotics, low allergy diet trials, allergy testing, skin punch biopsies, etc.
Things you can do at home to make your vet's job easier:
1) Go to a vet sooner rather than later - do not allow this to get worse, it is only likely to cost you more in the long run.
2) Make sure he is properly covered against ALL ectoparasites (not just fleas) - I personally would use Advocate. Frontline/Bob Martin's/Johnson's/etc are not in any way comparable.
3) Try a ultra low allergy diet trial (ie; Royal Canin Hypoallergenic, Hills z/d, Purina HA) - It will take 6-8 weeks to see if it has made any difference (again, better to start sooner rather than later) and more importantly you can only feed that food, no treats, no tidbits, no gravy to make it taste better...just that food.
4) Keep up your appointments to enable your vet to assess how well any treatments have worked and whether additional treatments/tests are necessary. A lot of people cancel repeat appointments when the skin starts to look better only to come back a couple of weeks later (after a prolonged break in treatment) to find it as bad as it was in the first place (or worse).
---
Original post by natalia.malita
He is on purina cat food.
Purina is just a brand name, there are many different diets in their catalog.
Purina HA ("hypoallergenic") is their special low allergy diet. The same applies to Hills, feeding their Science Plan Diet is not the same as feeding z/d (another special low allergy diet),
Have a think about it. It isn't ideal for kittens however if you are unlucky and have a cat with a food allergy the only way you're going to resolve it is by transitioning him onto an ultra low allergy diet.
I spent a lot on him as they took the swabs and sent it off, nothing came back.
It's all relative.
£50-100 for a microbial swab and culture may sound like a lot to you but I can tell you with first hand experience that it would cost you are £400+ for a fairly comprehensive skin workup in a regular practice (ie; consult, 1-2 follow up consults, skin cytology, skin scrapes/hair plucks, fungal culture, ectoparasite control, diet trial, allergy testing, etc) and roughly double that with a dermatology specialist.
A microbial swab is just one piece of the puzzle, there is still plenty of other differentials to rule out (eg; food allergy, skin allergy, ringworm, etc).
I agree with Chocoholic...most people on here are students, and many of those are just applying to/entering vet school. It is also questionable ethics/practice to give medical treatments etc. without exam.
Have you or your vet considered referral to a veterinary dermatologist? If you and your vet are struggling to get to the bottom of this as much as you say, a specialist may be able to cut to help, with their potentially greater training and experience.
As already mentioned, a veterinary prescribed diet (aka only available through vet office-if you are buying it anywhere other than at your vet it is most likely NOT a veterinary prescription hypoallergenic food) is another thing to discuss with your vet.
Rather than just swaps, skin scrapes and/or biopsies. Swabs get anything on the surface but do not necessarily get deeper pathology.
Also you say a bald patch on his paw but what I see in the picture is more of a pimple on his chin? I only clearly see his head in the photo....
Anyways, I wish you good luck and hope you get to the bottom of this and he recovers soon.
Have you or your vet considered referral to a veterinary dermatologist? If you and your vet are struggling to get to the bottom of this as much as you say, a specialist may be able to cut to help, with their potentially greater training and experience.
As already mentioned, a veterinary prescribed diet (aka only available through vet office-if you are buying it anywhere other than at your vet it is most likely NOT a veterinary prescription hypoallergenic food) is another thing to discuss with your vet.
Rather than just swaps, skin scrapes and/or biopsies. Swabs get anything on the surface but do not necessarily get deeper pathology.
Also you say a bald patch on his paw but what I see in the picture is more of a pimple on his chin? I only clearly see his head in the photo....
Anyways, I wish you good luck and hope you get to the bottom of this and he recovers soon.
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