Treating Cat Skin Bumps

by Sylvain
(Montreal, Qc, Canada)

Dear Cat Health Guide,

The lovely cat where I work has an obvious skin problem to her back. There are bumps all over a large patch of her back which appear painful to the touch for the cat. The hair is discolored or dead in these areas. I attach a picture which I hope can help. I wish I could do something about it...

I look forward to your reply

Sylvain



Vet Suggestion for Treating Cat Skin Bumps


Hello Sylvain,

I’m afraid I can’t determine exactly what is going on with “your” kitty’s skin without examining her first, but the location of her lesions put fleas at the top of my rule out list. Fleas love the area in front of the tail. If the cat in question is allergic to flea bites, you might not even be able to find fleas on her since it takes only a few bites to cause extreme itchiness, and these individuals groom themselves excessively removing the few fleas that are present.

You could certainly try treating her with an effective flea control product and see what happens. Good over the counter options include the monthly topical preparations containing the active ingredient fipronil (e.g.,Frontlineor its generic equivalent) orSerestofor people who prefer a flea collar.Revolutionis a prescription-only product that offers the additional benefit of killing some of the mites that can cause similar symptoms.

If treating for fleas is ineffective, the cat should be seen by a veterinarian.



Best of luck,

Jennifer Coates, DVM