My cat scratches and chews her hair out. Is it allergies? What helps?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Female | spayed | 1 year and 5 months old | 7 lbs
Annabelle has scratched and chewed her hair out since we adopted her 6 months ago. My vet gave her a depo-medrol shot which stopped all that for a couple weeks but now she is back at it again. Could it be allergies and would Benadryl help? If so how much? She weighs 7.8 lbs.
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on September 10th, 2017
There are no medicine safe for cats over the counter. If the steroid injection helped, then there is a good change it is from an allergy. You will have to talk to your vet about a long term solution such as a diet change or allergy testing to control the signs since long term steroid use can have unwanted side effects such as weight gain and diabetes.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on July 13th, 2017
Depending on whether or not there is any itchiness to accompany the hair loss says a lot about the possible cause of the problem. If there is itchiness, there is likely a primary dermatologic condition being caused by either allergies, parasites, or an immune mediated process. If there is no itchiness, the cause is most likely nutritional or of an endocrine origin. Given the fact that the vet you saw gave a steroid shot, I imagine that he was under the impression that itchiness was a major component. If your kitty was unresponsive to steroids, there may be other alternative drugs and therapies available but all of which will require you to visit with the veterinarian. If there is not any itchiness, I encourage you to seek out some blood work to check for various endocrine diseases including thyroid disease and Cushing's disease. If you haven't already done this, you should also consider obtaining a skin scraping and a cytology of the areas that are affected on the body. I realize that the financial aspect of this can be tough, but its better to resolve things now before they become worse and potentially even more costly. Hope this helps.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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