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Why is my cat constantly scratching and losing hair? Vet food failed.

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 4 years and 5 months old | 8.2 lbs

Mellie has been scratching the area above her hips close to the abdomen for several months. She has no hair on the right side. The patch is 3" x 3" approx. Her food has not changed since the day we got her. She does not have any "bugs". We went to the local vet and he suggested changing her food to ZD which we tried but she hated it. It was $65. for the bag of food and it's not being used. Any suggestions ?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on May 8th, 2017

This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be fleas, infection or mites.

First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (advocate or advantage), then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation.

 If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy.

 Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Laura Johnson VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on October 3rd, 2017

    Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Storm! Based on your pictures and the red scabs I would check her well for fleas. Her skin has the appearance of allergies either from the environment or food. I would take her to your Vet. They can check her for mites, ring worm and an infection. She likely should get some steroids for comfort and possible an antibiotic if infection is present. I would be aggressive with flea prevention, even if you don't find fleas. If an animal is allergic to fleas it just takes one to cause an allergic reaction. If food allergies are possible the most allergic protein is chicken. You can consider changing her diet to venison or fish. Your Vet can help her comfort. I hope this helps and I wish Storm a speedy recovery!

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