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Cat scratching his himself raw

Kablamo!

Hi guys,
Hoping someone can help shed a bit of light on what's going on with my rescue cat. He's coming on a year old, was rescued as a feral from a rentokil trap with his brother.
He's been in and out of the vets since the day we took him in, he was always a bit of a runt but once he got a bit older he has started obsessively going at his skin until it is left bloody and red raw.
It's really upsetting us as he's spent about eight months of his life wearing a plastic cone- not fun for him or for us to watch.
He's in great form otherwise, is a happy and loving (and oh so handsome!) little creature, but we are beginning to get frustrated.
He is wormed and receives his spot on treatment regularly.
He has has skin scrapings, blood tests, etc and these all come back clear. He's been seen by three vets in one practice and even had a big adventure out to the UCD emergency clinic one night after a particularly rough episode... and nobody we have seen is overly concerned or can say what is wrong, what is causing it, what we can do.
We are really at our wits end.
Because he's been sick since we got him we couldn't insure him, and while I'd never begrudge the money it feels like we're throwing it down a hole.
Also, in December he had a seizure, and had another one last week sadly. I don't know if these are linked to his skin condition but just wanted to get this all off my chest in the hopes that someone here may have a suggestion or a recommendation I'm overlooking.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Here's the heartbreaker himself, it's not a great picture because it's very difficult to handle his head to get a good view:
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zipee

Had a dog once where it was food allergies and cleared it up feeding her chicken and rice only..... not sure with cat.....

But just had my cat over grooming herself raw and rather than collar of shame I put a baby vest on her so she couldn't get at herself and changed it daily. She wasn't impressed but not depressed like with the cone of shame. If she licked it vest just got wet and I changed twice a day if necessary.

Hope you get to the bottom of it.

janmaree

I would suspect an allergy too, especially since you've had so many tests done for other things. Perhaps a change of food would help or if you're washing his bedding, maybe a non-bio detergent or one without too much perfume would be worth a try. I wouldn't give him rice though, great for dogs as Zipee said but I've read that there's something in rice that cats can't tolerate, I know mine won't eat it if it crosses their path. I understand your frustration but fair play to you for hanging in there.

La.de.da

Does he be out at all?
My dog gets this when she's been in any sort of grass. She has some sort of contact dermatitis. She requires frequent baths(dont know how that'd work with a kitty) wiping her paws after being outside and steroids for bad flare ups.

It's very hard to break the cycle of the licking and scratching and heartbreaking to watch. I feel your frustration.

Nody

I'd be inclined on allergies as well; you did not specify what you feed him but for starters go for grain free, chicken free for two months to see if it helps (very limited number of foods to choose from but Zooplus or a well stocked pet store should have these). If the grain free, chicken free does not work switch to wet/raw feeding for two months to rule out allergies with the kibble itself. Oh and no treats, pieces of meals etc. for the same duration as most treat are pure junk stuffed into them.

Starting with dry you have Applaws adult ocean fish or Taste of the Wild Canyon River

Both kibbles are completely chicken free.

For wet I'd go with Animonda Carny; they got several combinations such as Beef & Lamb, Turkey, Beef & rabbit etc. that don't contain chicken (some do though so always check the ingredient list!) or MACs (once again some contain Chicken, some don't so check before buying). For other brands make sure it's grain free as you don't want vegetable protein (lower quality and potential source of allergy) and that they are actually complete (about 60% of wet foods are not complete which means they don't contain all the required nourishment).

The third option is to go raw but that would require quite a bit more work and freezer space so I'll skip over that one for now.

loveisdivine

Could well be allergies but could it possibly be stress related too? Perhaps try feliway or pet remedy in the meantime to see if that helps.

Also, I'd think about possibly Hyperesthesia. This causes agitation, biting/attacking the skin and particularly the tail. It's also called twitch-skin syndrome as often the skin across the back ripples and is highly sensitive to touch. It can also make them display seizure like behaviour.

Unfortunately not a huge amount is known about the cause of hyperesthesia and I believe treatment usually revolves around calming methods and trying to reduce the episodes.

I think Jackson Galaxy has an episode with a cat that has it.

Kablamo!

I've just spent a small fortune online ordering feliway diffusers and some of the recommended foods above for his nibs. Hopefully they make some difference to him, he's such a lovely little creature I hate to see him suffer like this.
We should be receiving the results of his latest blood tests this evening too, although all previous have come back clear.

Nody

Let us know how it goes