Monday, November 22, 2010

Skin Problems


Sorry, this is kinda graphic/gross. I found this splotch on Spike a couple weeks ago. Put some Resicort on it, but he kept fussing with it and it got bigger and bigger! After the weekend I brought him in to the Vet. Dr. Yao was out of town so, his supertall colleague examined my kitty who by then had even more splotches and was obsessively licking himself! That Doc decided right away that Spike is allergic to fleas. Even though we have not seen fleas in ages he explained to me that flea pupae can live for over a year and can, theoretically, hatch, bite my allergic kitty and get immediately eaten by said cat so that I never see the flea. I guess it's possible! He gave Spike a shot of DEXAMETHASONE to stop the itching and sent us home with Clavamox.
Well, it has been almost a week and Spike is still itchy and raw. His demeanor seems better (he's not as mopey) but he has more and bigger sores and still licks them a lot.
So, we went to Dr. Yao today. Long story short: Yao doesn't think it's a flea allergy. He tested for mites and didn't find any, but didn't rule that out 100%. I'm worried that it's mites because I have been itchy too! They gave him a shot of DEPO-MEDROL and switched his anti-biotic to Orbax. He's home sleeping now. Poor little guy. he's so sweet too.
I'm now looking into "alternative" options like, coconut oil (which I tried a few times and he immediately licked off) and REIKI! Anyone have advice? Anyone attuned in REIKI?