My 2-year-old female (spayed) cat, Emma, has some kind of skin problem going on. It's in a small patch at the base of her tail (on her back). Some of her fur is missing in about a 2 inch roundish area and there are little almost scab-looking bumps there. I think it causes her pain, or at least some kind of discomfort, because when I move the fur aside to look at it, she sort of makes this face and moves her mouth around like she's not happy. I put a tiny bit of my antibiotic/pain relief cream on it, which made her happy I think, because she licked my nose after, lol. I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow, but I just wanted to post here and see if anyone else has had a cat with this problem.

I know you know a lot about animals, so I hope you don't mind me bugging you. Any ideas?

my cat had that for the longest time due to food allergies (soy, corn) and also when she had fleas. It definitely sounds allergy related.

I felt so bad because it wasn't until I switched her to soy and corn free food that she stopped having that bald patch with scabs. Her hair grew back instantly and she doesn't have scabs anymore.

Now sounds like an appropriate time to go see your local vet.

She's been eating the same thing for a while now. My girls already eat a grain free diet. I wonder if it's possible to be allergic to one variety of the same brand of food and not another. They had the chicken version and then I switched to the fish version of their food, Earthborn.

Yeah, I'm taking her at 3:00 today. I just hope it's something simple like a food allergy and not something awful...and expensive. My parents are pissed that I'm basically guilt-tripping them into paying for the visit because I'm broke...but I'll do anything for my baby.

Totally possible to be allergic to one variety of the same brand. Considering if it's different proteins, it's a slightly different formula, and it can definitely matter.

If she's been dropping clumps of fur and scratching vigorously just in general I'd suggest fleas. I'm guessing though not. Hopefully the vet will help you out and it's easy to make better. Nothing worse than a kitty with a sore spot!

Definitely not fleas - I checked for that, although she didn't like me using a fine comb on her to check. If it is a food allergy, I'll be out $30 on the bag of food...although maybe the store will let me return it for partial at least. She's going to be mad at me later for the car ride and vet visit though, whatever it turns out to be.

Yeah, my cat with the food allergies is also allergic to salmon so it's possible that your cat has a fish allergy. My boss has a cat that is allergic to every grain and protein except duck and venison and he now has IBD on top of that, not fun!

How did the vet visit go?

Except for the crying on the car ride over, it went fine. The vet thinks she has some form of allergy, but he's not sure what it's to (he thinks probably something off the table that my dad gave her because he's been feeding her scraps all the time lately) so he gave me some antibiotic/steroid spray to put on her skin and gave Emma a steroid shot to help clear it up and speed up healing. If it's not cleared up in a week, I'll have to take her back to the vet for antibiotic pills or liquid meds and probably change her food. So hopefully this spray and the shot will work. fingers crossed

My cat was given steroid shots too, they would work for a little while then she would start balding again (because she was still eating the food she was allergic to-vet said it was probably just a seasonal allergy and it wasn't). We also did the spray, she HATED it and still runs away if she hears a spraying sound =p. You should try and keep the table scraps away from her for a week (good luck with that!) and see if that helps, if not then it probably is the fish. I hope the shot works! Vets are so expensive >.<

Yeah, $85 down the drain for the visit and meds, ugh. Thank God my mom paid it for me or I guess I would be eating ramen for a week. But Em's my girl and if that's what I had to do, I'd do it. She's looking a lot better today though - the redness is all but gone and while she doesn't like the spray either, I just bribe her with treats and she eats and glares at me, lol. I think I'm switching back to the chicken version of the food as soon as this bag is almost empty.