Cat with many problems :(

[Jenn]

I just needed to whine to somebody because I'm not totally sure what to do with my cat whom I love so much but seems to have numerous issues.

First, I have had cats all my life. I grew up with anywhere from 2 to 5 cats at a time. When I moved out, I always had at least 2 cats.

I am a cat lover.

I feed about 20 stray cats. Over the last few years, I have brought in 3 of their kittens (different years) so they could have a better life indoors. My youngest is Sahara who is about 2 now. For the first year, she was a normal and healthy cat. No issues. Very playful - I loved that.

Sometime after she turned 1 she began to have issues. First, she started grooming constantly to the point where there is very little hair mid body to tail. She also would scratch constantly and had wounds everywhere. Vet told me she is allergic to fleas. He gave her a cortisone shot and antibiotics and she seemed to get better. I have my cats on flea medicine, but she seems to have fleas on her anyway. The vet told me she would continue to have flare ups during heavy flea season, but her hair has never grown back completely from overgrooming and she still wounds herself from scratching.

I grew up with all my cats being declawed, but in my area the vets are really frowning on this procedure. So my three housecats are not declawed. Not an issue with my two older cats (they are only 1 to 2 years older than Sahara) but Sahara is a devil with her claws. My house is wall to wall carpet. If Sahara finds a door shut, she will try to dig her way under. She has destroyed the carpet in 3 different doorways now! I am ready to rip out those claws

This is the most frustrating problem. Our 3 cats are fixed. We had it done for each of them at an age appropriate time. A few months ago, Sahara started going through heat! She yowls, she slithers around the house, and the yowling continues all night long! She goes through heat about 2 times a month, lasting a few days each time, and she has done this every month. I didn't realize this would happen so often. Not only is she going through heat, she has directed her interest in my other female. Not my male. She follows my other female around and yowls and really tries to get her attention which irritates my female who hisses and runs from her.

I need to get a hold of the vet, but being that she is fixed, I'm assuming this means she's mental or she'll need monthly hormone injections since her hormones are out of whack. I don't know what he'll tell me, if anything, but I'm guessing it would be expensive.

I love my cat but she just has so many issues, it's overwhelming at times. My husband's response is to kick her back outdoors, but there's no way I could do that to her. I just don't know if there is a way to provide her with a normal life.

Ok, that's my whine. Thanks for listening!

 

[equus_peduus]

Sometime after she turned 1 she began to have issues. First, she started grooming constantly to the point where there is very little hair mid body to tail. She also would scratch constantly and had wounds everywhere. Vet told me she is allergic to fleas. He gave her a cortisone shot and antibiotics and she seemed to get better. I have my cats on flea medicine, but she seems to have fleas on her anyway. The vet told me she would continue to have flare ups during heavy flea season, but her hair has never grown back completely from overgrooming and she still wounds herself from scratching.

Severely flea allergic cats need the flea control amped up. What are you using for the flea control? Frontline and Advantage start to wear off around 3-3.5 weeks after application, and they are contact meds (the flea needs to be in contact with the cat for a couple hours before it dies, so it could bite several times in the meaintime). Revolution might work a little faster. Capstar is the gold standard in flea control, but gets expensive (it's a tablet you give every day or every other day - flea bites cat once, flea dies). Cats can also have other allergies, so it may be a combination of things as well. It may be worth your time to see a dermatologist, who may have more experience with the extreme allergies this cat looks to have.

I grew up with all my cats being declawed, but in my area the vets are really frowning on this procedure. So my three housecats are not declawed. Not an issue with my two older cats (they are only 1 to 2 years older than Sahara) but Sahara is a devil with her claws. My house is wall to wall carpet. If Sahara finds a door shut, she will try to dig her way under. She has destroyed the carpet in 3 different doorways now! I am ready to rip out those claws

I put strips of duct tape on the carpet along where the cats scratch at doorways, which helps a ton. Do you trim the cat's nails? Have you tried Soft Paws? This probably isn't something that you can retrain the cat with easily (e.g., putting scratching posts right next to door), but you could try. Some cats prefer horizontal scratching surfaces, so maybe both a scratching post and a scratching flat (... or whatever they're called...)

This is the most frustrating problem. Our 3 cats are fixed. We had it done for each of them at an age appropriate time. A few months ago, Sahara started going through heat! She yowls, she slithers around the house, and the yowling continues all night long! She goes through heat about 2 times a month, lasting a few days each time, and she has done this every month. I didn't realize this would happen so often. Not only is she going through heat, she has directed her interest in my other female. Not my male. She follows my other female around and yowls and really tries to get her attention which irritates my female who hisses and runs from her.

Cats go into heat every couple weeks until they're mated. That's what their hormones do. It's possible that she may have a remnant of ovarian tissue left behind. There are a couple other things that might cause heat behavior in a spayed cat, but that's the most common - yes, whoever did the surgery would have tried to get it all, but unfortunately, not everyone is perfect every time. If she doesn't have ovaries, she doesn't have hormones so she can't go into heat. Talk to your vet as far as tests to confirm that she still has hormones; the only cure, however, is surgery to look for and remove the leftover bits. Best of my knowledge, hormone injections are neither recommended nor useful in this kind of case.

 

[paris26]

Do you have a feline behaviorist in your area? Maybe your vet or local shelter could refer you to one to help get your cats back on track. Feliway dispensers have been helpful in multi-cat households.