4/4/12

the hooka situation...licking her fur off for the past months

hooka is out mature calico cat. when we moved to our new place a little while ago, we made the horrible error of NOT advantage-ing the cats the week ahead. surprise..there were fleas here. only time it's ever happened to us. we promptly treated everyone, flea combed & kept on top of them. after about a week, hooka started licking her hair out! she's always been a bit of a licker, but now patches of her skin were showing on her neck & chest. we got the satellite collar for her & made the vet appointment.

after over a month of back and fourth at the vet..Predsinone, Anti-biotics, Liver nutrients, Fish oil, IV fluid nothing worked. she'd gone on to licking her butt area also so we had to fashion a bigger collar for times we can't monitor. the kicker was the cortisone shot she got that should have "magically" cured her..if this was a real allergy. all along, it has seemed it's more manic than physical. the vet didn't even look at her skin closely any of the 4 visits...

we were fed up. i called & made an apt for her at Mountain Vet out on the highway. there they look at the animal as a "whole". the doctor looked at hooka, took skin scrapings & checked under the microscope. after going over the records of what hooka had been through already it was determined her Liver Qi has stagnated. now hooka is on chinese herbs and the first day we were able to take the collar off for a little while (longer than we ever could when she had the cortisone shot).

here's a link to some info i was able to track down on line that talks about the feline aspect. this happens to humans too. so if you cat is licking it's fur off & there are no fleas around..it's more than likely a mental health issue than a physical one.
http://www.wellvet.com/TCM%20Liver.html

3 comments:

Strayer said...

She's stressed out? Too many moves?

Mom said...

So very sorry to hear about Hooka and ALL the trips to the Vet with no satisfaction. Darn, glad you changed Vets. I read the link and noticed it suggested accupuncture. I heard this helps dogs, are you considering that to help remedy the situation. Hope she continues to improve and reduces her licking so the fur can grow back. You are doing all the right things.

ab said...

hopefully hooka is on her way to recovery.
poor girl.