Sisters's Cat

[Donna]

My sister has a cat, that spends a lot of time outside. She is now 14 1/2 years old approx and has up until now been healthy.

My sister recently noticed she has lots of little scabs on her skin and I went over today to have a look. My sister has put a new flea collar on her and flea powder as she thought it was fleas.

But she is not scratching and I didnt see anything flea like (but never seen a cat with fleas before so not sure what I was looking for).

What I did see is that her fur is looking rather dull and greasy but feeling very dry, and that she has massive amounts of what looks like dandruff in her fur. It is mainly on her back and tail, and the scabs/bad fur is not on her tummy or her head or legs etc.

Any ideas what this can be? Sister will take the cat for a proper check at the vets, but thought I would see if anyone had any ideas.

Are there any other internal problems, that may cause her skin/fur to go like this?

Any advice appreciated!

[pinklizzy]

The affected areas sounds like a flea problem to me, maybe a flea allergy? Has your sister tested for fleas? This can be done by combing the cat onto a piece of damp kitchen towel, or similar-if there are any fleas.anything groomed from the cat will turn red as it becomes wet-flea dirt is basically digested blood.
If flea dirt is found, your sister needs to obtain Frontline from her vet-just make sure she informs them of what products she has used and when as some can interact with one another and cause more problems.
If not, then I still think that she needs to be seen by a vet, the presence of scabs suggests that she has been scratching, even in secret!
Most skin conditions like this tend to be related to the presence of an external parasite (possibly an allergy but unlikely in a cat of this age)
Don't know if that helps at all!

[Donna]

Thanks for that. But if she has a new flea collar and flea powdered then surely there are now no fleas? Will the scabs fall off and will the dandruff go now?

[pinklizzy]

Well, the flea collar will really only be effective at the area around it and I'm really not convinced that flea powder will do anything worthwhile (JMO)
You could try grooming with something like a zoom-groom to try and remove the scabs and improve the coat.
If it is something like a flea allergy,a single flea bite will cause intense itching so you really need to keep her as flea-free as possible.

[Donna]

Hmmm, sister has a frontline spray (I use the spot on stuff). She uses flea collars which I find complete rubbish so will try to convince her to go for the frontline spot on in future.

I did pick out a lot of scabs from the cat (sister doesnt like touching her) and brushed a lot of dead fur out.

What more can I do to help poor Amber?

[Donna]

Close up photo - any ideas?

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c362/donnamcg/6thApril2008003.jpg

[pinklizzy]

Is it possible that she's become painful due to arthritis or similar, that could mean that she's less able to 'get round' and reach that area?
Increasing her grooming might help-from the picture the coat looks scurfy as you described. It could also be that she's just not feeling 100%, a cat's coat will tend to suffer if they're not feeling all that well and grooming less.