My 13-year-old long-hair, Princess, has a horrible skin problem on
her back, just above her tail. I noticed it the other day and was
aghast. The fur over most of that area is very thin, and under it
the skin is covered in red bumps. In one spot the skin is a
purplish-brown, like a bruise. I took her to the vet right away, and
the vet said it was melanary (sp?) dermatitis, and it looked like a
classic case of flea allergies. But I haven't seen any fleas on her,
the other cats, or the dog, and I know what fleas look like. The vet
asked if we had new carpets, or anything. All no.

I suspect the new food -- we switched about a week prior to this to
a different variety of the same brand of dry food. I'm going to go
back to the first food, but in the meantime the vet gave me a form
of steroids to treat the problem, as well as antibiotics to help
relieve the symptoms in the meantime.

Either that or dust mites -- she's been hanging out in the same spot
a lot, on a shelf under a desk. Sigh. My poor kitty. I don't know
what else to do. She's been on the steroids for two days and it
hasn't cleared up. I'm not even sure if it's better -- she's more
sensitive about me poking at her, probably because I'm stuffing a
pill down her throat twice a day.

Thanks for letting me share. (Not like you all had much choice. :-)

--
Jess K.