have you changed anything in your home like carpets? furniture? cleansers?....something new that she is reacting too....could even be scents. hairspray, candles, room freshners....etc etc.....stop using ALL household cleaners and polishes, anything with a scent...it can be slow process to find out what is giving her this reaction, remember it can be either -ingested, inhaled or just touched. if you don't suspect her food that it has to be one of the other two...:(
Well her spots have disappeared and her flesh is now its normal pink, but she is still licking her belly and legs. Her bald spots are getting licked larger and she is now working on one of her front legs. Right now she's sprawled out on the carpet giving herself a wash as I type.
Her spots don't resemble any of the ones in the photos (though those are poor quality ones that made it hard to see anything). Her spots more resemble something like this
http://bedbugsecrets.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/1307875118-90.jpg
Except that we do not have bed bugs OR fleas. All our cats are treated monthly with flea medication from our vet and are not outside animals.
I have changed her litter box to an unscented variety. Her food is Royal Canin Indoor Cat food. I find it hard to believe though that she could have an allergy to the food she has been fed since she finishing kittenhood.
hi and welcome I hope we can help...
first of all your kitties symptoms are classic 'allergic' reaction, nothing needs to have changed in her diet/environment b/c allergies can develop at anytime d/t long time exposure just as with us. When we are in contact with an allergen we being to sneeze or get runny eye/noses, with cats the reaction shows up on their skin!!
the spots she is getting are called granulomas or ulcers and there are several types under the family of eosinophilic plaque. this can be caused by -contact allergy -inhaled allergy or ingested.(very commonly chicken or grains in the diet)
often stemming from a single flea bite...whether or NOT she now has fleas she could have at some point been bitten by a flea. OR commonly since the spots are showing up near her back legs and lower belly its often d/t a contact allergy to her litter, I would recommend trying to change the litter to something with as few additives as possible, and NON SCENTED...
rather than me typing in tons of info, it would make more sense to direct you to a good website that goes more into detail and shows photos that you can compare with.
I do want to add though I DO NOT AGREE with the treatment option of steroids for any reason!!! this treatment can lead to many nasty health problems for kitties.
Do the reading than post again and we'll talk, see if her spots resemble the ones in the photos....
I too had a cat with extensive eosinophilic plaque (EGC or eosinophilic granuloma complex)
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_eosinophilic_granuloma.html