The main diseases we see in cats with fleas come from tapeworms. They get the tapeworms from ingesting the fleas. That's the only way they can get it. The only other way is by eating a small mammal. But the bigger problem we would see with cats is due to cats having a grooming ritual. They will swallow a flea when they start grooming themselves and consequently will most likely get to tapeworms from those fleas. We do see issues with ticks, not to the degree that we typically see in dogs, but we can see some health concerns with ticks in cats as well.

Let's talk about the origins of some of the problems. Let's talk about flea allergies because that is such a common problem in cats. These are the cats who are ripping their hair out. They've got sores in the front and the back of their neck all the way to their tail and sometimes on their belly. Get them on an appropriate flea product. Food allergies are easy to manage too. First, we have to see the cat to get a better sense of where a cat is ripping his hair out on the body. Not exclusively, but typically if I see a cat coming in that's ripping the hair out around its face, the temples, the neck, and around the ears, I'm always going to think of food allergies.

We'd have that discussion about what foods are most likely to cause allergies in cats. Quite simply, that would be beef, fish, and dairy. Those are the big three. We'd look at the diet. We'd obviously want to change to a different diet. Usually, it's an ingredient issue and not a brand issue. If we're dealing with a ringworm situation, we will discuss how to address or treat ringworm and be on the lookout for ringworm showing up on us or other pets. If we're dealing with cancer, we'd have to address and see what type of cancer it is. That's going to indicate how we can address it long-term.

Very rarely. Is it possible? Absolutely, anything is possible, but it's very uncommon for grooming products to cause a problem. For those brave souls who bathe their cat, good on you. Good luck with that. Cats don't need to be bathed the most situations unless they fall in a bucket of mud or something. But cats are pretty good at grooming themselves. They generally don't need to be groomed or bathed. Although, if you want to and you're brave, go ahead and do it. It is just not something that you really need to worry about too much.

Yes, they can. Uniquely, we do see it more in the Asian breeds, Himalayas and Siamese. It's more common in those breeds. I should say mixes of Siamese primarily, but not exclusively. We do see more behavior issues, and one thing that makes those issues unique is we'll see the cats that'll be excessively grooming. They'll lose a lot of hair, but typically it's going to be very symmetrical. You can look at your cat and say, Gosh, they've lost almost the exact same amount of hair on both sides. We typically don't get irritation to the skin. We don't get the scabbing and things of that nature. They are what we call self-barbering, but not mutilation. They're not ripping their hair out or leaving sores or scabs. They just have symmetrical hair loss.

If we get an itchy cat, we're always going to be thinking allergies first and/or fleas because sometimes they play hand in hand. There are four different types of allergies. The most common ones we see in cats are flea allergies, which I'll elaborate on a little bit more. We also have seasonal allergies, which are more common in dogs than in cats, but at certain times of the year, they seem to have more issues with their skin. The third would be indoor allergens. Again, it's more common in dogs than in cats. Indoor allergens are going to be primarily house dust and dust mite. The fourth one is food allergies. We do see several food allergies in cats. We'll talk a little bit more about that here momentarily.

The things you mentioned just a moment ago. Primarily allergies, but also cancer, behavior issues, and ringworm. Those are the big four that we would typically see in a cat.

The number one condition that we see in cats for skin issues is allergies. We'll get a little bit more into that in just a second. We can also see problems with ringworm, which is caused by a fungus, not a worm. On occasion, we see issues with cancer, sadly, but they can be addressed as well. Sometimes, we'll see behavior issues that can also result in skin issues.

That's a really good question. One of the questions that come up quite a bit is about clients who want to feed raw food to their dogs or their cats. I don't have any problem with that whatsoever. The big problem that I have is if somebody goes to Walmart or Sam's Club or the local grocery store and they buy a chicken carcass, and they put it on the floor and let their pets have at it. That's okay from a protein standpoint, but what about all the micronutrients, vitamins and minerals, and a few carbohydrates, fiber, and fat they need? They're missing out on so many other nutrients if they get a chicken carcass or catfish that you filet that you bought at the grocery store. That's the problem. They're missing out on so many nutrients. So I want you to think about going to a website: Balance It. It is a veterinary nutritionist that runs an organized website with a lot of information about trying to feed a raw diet to a cat, or a dog, for that matter. I don't have any problems with raw diets. You just have to make sure that you're not just feeding meat. With meat, they may be getting a little bit more than just the protein, but that's not going to be suitable long term to meet the nutritional needs of any pet, dog or cat.

Potentially. It just depends on the cat. Here is the problem. As we've already mentioned, dry cat foods are too high in carbohydrates, so they don't feel as satiated or as full. In many cases, but not all cases, they don't feel as full. They want to go back to the food bowl, and of course, they'll scream and scream, and we cave in and give them more food. That's not free feeding, but they train us to put more food into the bowl, which means they're getting a higher carbohydrate diet. Guess what? They're probably going to get too heavy over time.