Why is my senior cat licking herself raw when the vet found nothing?

Question

Hey, I have a 14-16 year old cat that has started to lick herself raw, she's seen a vet and they haven't found anything wrong. Is there anything I can do to help her? Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Longhair | Female | unspayed | 14 years and 1 month old | 10 lbs

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

This is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. Abnormal overgrooming due to behavioural disorders (usually related to stress) should be considered as well as a possibility but all the other causes need to be ruled out first. 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). 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 senior cat licking herself raw when the vet found nothing?

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