Why is my cat growling, howling, licking tail? Stress or allergies?

Question

Our spayed, indoor cat is growling and howling at nothing. She keeps licking the base of her tail. Other possibly important info: We just moved into a new house, and she ripped apart a scratchboard that had catnip in it. Wondering if symptoms could indicate worms, injury, catnip poisoning, etc? Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Female | spayed | 2 years and 4 months old | 8 lbs

Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS · Accepted Answer

This could be caused by intense itch and stress related to it. Allergy, infection or mites could be related as well. 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 any possible skin lesions (like 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.

Why is my cat growling, howling, licking tail? Stress or allergies?

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