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My senior cat has scabs on her back. Is it fleas or an infection?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Female | spayed | 18 years and 7 months old | 10 lbs

My cat is 18 years old. Recently I noticed that her back--closest to her tail--are covered with little scabs. I'm assuming its from flea infestation. I did give her flea medicine just a few months ago. Should I be bringing her into our local vet, or is there home treatment that I can use?

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4 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Maria DVM

Veterinarian

Published on January 9th, 2018

This could possibly be a flea infestation. I recommend treating for fleas all year round if she is having this problem now. I would treat once a month. It also looks like she may have a skin infection on top of it. I would recommend a trip to your local veterinarian. If Aries is scratching or biting a lot they can give medication to help stop the itching and give antibiotics (if needed) to help with the infection. I hope Aries feels better soon. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on November 17th, 2016

    These scabs could be caused by severe itching, leading Trixie to scratch a lot. This scratching can be caused by fleas, mites, ringworm, or allergies. If she isn't up to date on her flea treatment, she will need a spot on treatment such as Advantage or Revolution. You will need to disinfect the environment as well. If she is up to date on her flea treatment, I recommend taking her into the vet for an exam. The vet can do blood tests, skin scrapings, and use a Wood's lamp to diagnose allergies, mites, and ringworm. Once the cause of the itching is found, the vet can prescribe the appropriate treatment. I recommend taking her into the vet tomorrow during normal business hours.

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

    Veterinarian

    Published on December 2nd, 2018

    Hi, and thanks for your question. Although a picture of it would help to determine the underlying cause more specifically, this could be due to an allergy, but it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, 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). Hope this answer was helpful, but 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. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

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    Answered By Megan, DVM, CVA

    Veterinarian

    Published on November 2nd, 2017

    Poor girl! This is very typical of a bacterial infection or an allergic reaction. If your vet hasn’t already started these, I would talk to your vet about whether an antibiotic and possibly a steroid may help her feel better. They may want to run some bloodwork to ensure she isn’t suffering from a systemic infection. Also, make sure she doesn’t have fleas. Even if you Don’t see Any, you may want to make sure she is on a high quality flea preventative as it only take one or two fleas bites to cause an allergic reaction. Your vet can guide you to a flea preventative that works well. Many of the over the counter products don’t work or can cause reactions. I hope this helps!

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