Conference misery::feline

    Even if its behavioural, the vet may be able to help.
    

    One of my cats, Candy, used to lick the fur around the top of her legs 
    alot and she was pulling out alot of fur and also had bald patches.  
    At the time Candy had fleas, the vet said she was allergic to flea 
    saliver.
    
    		Ruth
    
    

    My male cat used to lick bald patches into the back of his rear legs. 
    My vet said it was boredom and gave me cream which cleared it up every
    time.
    
    Sure enough since we have had our other cat (2 years now), he hasn't
    had time to lick himself bald! It looks as though the vet was right
    even although I doubted it at the time.
    
    Kirsty

    It can be an indication of hyperthyroidism. Have you notices any other
    bahavioral changes, like is her appitite ravenous, or does she seem
    nervous or impatient?
    
    Deb

    Well, the guy we pay $40 to feel up our cat (yes, that's the Vet) is
    reserving judgement for the moment, Marge has suffered from granulomas
    on her tummy before (but usually closer to he front legs) so it's
    possible there's a latent one under there, more likely it's stress. We've 
    noticed she seems to be drinking a little more water than usual too so 
    we're monitoring her intake for a few days to see if any other medical 
    stresses are indicated, if that's OK she's probably just picking up bad
    vibes from Ann who's going through a bad career situation.

    My cat Harry, a big, furry Maine Coon apparent, was licking himself bald.
    Blood tests were normal, no fleas, and the skin looked normal.
    
    He was on prenosone for a couple of weeks and that seemed to fix the
    problem, until we stopped the prednosone. The vet felt that the prenosone
    worked because it stopped an itch, so, he tried Harry on an
    antihistimine, and that seems to have done the trick. His coat is
    comming in again.
    
    We aren't sure what he is allergic to, but he has also been switched to
    Iams lambn and rice to. While that didn't help, I am goin to keep him on
    it since it would prevent any kind of food allergy that might crop up.
    Deb

    There's a relatively new food out by Iams - I'm pretty sure it's
    called FP formula.  It's an anti-inflammatory diet.  It's supposed to
    be great for allergic animals & for animals with immune mediated type
    problems.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to get some for my
    very allergic & itchy dog.  They have a cat formulation too.  The premise 
    is that the fatty acids in it are a different chain length/type than the 
    fatty acids that are used in the inflammatory/itchy response, so that
    by replacing the itchy fatty acids with non-itchy fatty acids it can
    help control the problem.  While they say it probably won't work alone,
    it can be a great add on to an anti-histamine regimen, so that you
    won't have to go back to Pred as often.  My only question is if it's
    the type of diet that has to be *exclusive* (sort of like a food allergy
    diet).  I'm not sure if an occassional treat would ruin the whole
    thing.  But it's worth a call to your vet or to a vet dermatologist to
    see what kind of luck they've had with it.  I'm going to talk to the
    dermatologist at Tufts about it, so I'll let you know what I find out.
    
    Regards,
    liz

    thanks. I'll ask the vet. In the interm, do you know if this is only
    sold thru vets (like Hill's prescription diets), or can I get this at a
    pet store. Does Hills make anything similar? 
    
    thanks,
    Deb

    Hi Deb,
    
    Yeah, the Iams FP is only sold thru the vet's office.  I looked for
    it in Pet Supply Depot hoping that maybe it'd be there, but it's a
    prescription diet.  Surprisingly, Hill's doesn't have a diet like it.
    I know they sell the Iams FP at Tufts, so I would imagine that any vet
    clinic that uses the Iams prescription diets would have it (or could
    get it).
    
    Best of luck,
    regards,
    liz

    thanks for the info. My vet sells the Hills products, and another kind
    as well, but I don't think that he sells an Iams prescription diets.
    I'll ask him about it. 
    
    What is the approximate cost? (before I catch Harry on the phone with
    Sy Sperling's cat again).
    
    Deb