In most cases, allergies are the cause. Different things can cause an itch. Primarily, you have the underlying condition. Suppose your cat has an allergy, like if they're allergic to a variety of pollens, your cat's immune system overreacts and causes inflammation. Inflammation for cats and dogs tends to manifest in the skin. That inflammation disrupting the skin barrier in combination with other factors causes itching.

On top of that, once your pet gets secondary skin infections, it leads to worse itching. The extent to which each layer causes itching depends on the individual situation. A combination of the inflammation because of the allergy and the secondary bacterial or yeast overgrowth cause itching. Sometimes there's no secondary infection, and it's just an underlying allergy or related condition that causes your cat to itch. Each situation is different, and because there are many things to tease out, it's important to have your cat evaluated by a veterinarian. In cases where the itching is difficult to manage, making the cats miserable, we refer to a board-certified dermatologist to get the best control possible.

There's a lot of genetic influence in the typical allergies we see. It's just something that's passed down, from cat to cat. Allergies are prevalent, and the exact cause in each individual case is hard to determine. Cancer has both a genetic and an environmental influence, with many factors coming into play. There's always ongoing research regarding cancer. Infectious diseases like ringworm are typically transmitted by another animal, from the soil, or from a human that's been in contact with another animal. There are many ways cats get infectious diseases, but it's usually through contact with another organism. These are broad terms of the big things we come across. We see a lot of skin infections in cats and dogs. Whether it is Staph bacteria or Malessezia yeast, it is not caused by catching it from other organisms. Secondary bacterial and yeast infections are the result of an underlying skin condition. Allergies, mites, and ringworm are primary conditions that lead to a disrupted skin barrier and inflammation. That allows the bacteria and yeast that are already on your cat's skin, just like they're already on our skin, to overgrow. Realizing that bacteria and yeast are not the primary issue is an important distinction. They have to be treated and managed, but the underlying cause is the big issue that has to be managed.

The things we see most are allergies. I like to break allergies into categories—environmental allergies caused by various pollens and things in the environment; Flea allergies, which are prevalent here in Fort Worth, Texas; and then food allergies, which is an allergy to a specific protein. So any combination of those occurs frequently. We often see certain infectious diseases like ringworm in younger cats, but they can infect a cat of any age. Different types of mites can affect a cat in different ways. Ear mites and different skin mites are relatively prevalent in younger cats in particular. Skin cancer, unfortunately, is not uncommon in cats. There's a variety of different types, some benign and others malignant. Skin cancers occur more often in middle-aged to older cats. Those are the broad categories we come across frequently.

This is a very important question. The answer is yes, although it isn't common in America. An example includes ringworm, a skin parasite in cats that is extremely contagious and can be transmitted to people. Regarding intestinal parasites, roundworms are a serious issue in other countries and can be transmitted from animal feces to people. Roundworms can be found in really weird places. They found them in the eyeballs of people and sometimes in the brain, where they can be devastating. Fortunately, we don't see them in America a lot, but it's still possible.

The next parasite is hookworms. Hookworms are not as life-threatening as roundworms, but they can be problematic. If the larvae of the hookworm are in the stool or the yard, and a person walks in that environment barefoot, they can burrow into the skin and cause intense itching. Hookworms are usually self-limiting and go away, but it's not very fun or comfortable. The best way to minimize risks to people is to focus on the guidelines we mentioned about prevention. Be hygienic, pick up the stool, wash your hands, and keep all the pets on good parasite prevention. These measures will all reduce your risk of getting infected.

The best thing you can do is to clean the litter boxes at least once a day to lessen the fecal exposure of other cats. Another important thing is to have an adequate number of litter box boxes for the number of cats in your house. You have the ideal recommendation. Depending on the household, the ideal number of litter boxes is one litter box per cat plus one. Having plenty of litter box resources will help reduce fecal exposure between the cats. We recommend putting those litter boxes in different places around the house. If your cats are messy with the litter box, get into the habit of wiping their feet every so often. Again, I can't stress the importance of regular parasite prevention for all the cats enough, even if you only have indoor cats.

We use medications that help reduce the magnitude of parasites with reasonable confidence. For example, the cat product we use at Summer Creek Animal Clinic is called Revolution Plus. It is a prevention for heartworms, fleas, ticks, and it contains an intestinal parasite dewormer. So it does deworm for the common intestinal parasites we see in cats, but it does not treat tapeworms or coccidia, for example. Those parasites require very specific deworming that isn't in most monthly preventions. But again, the Revolution Plus prevents fleas extremely well, reducing cats' exposure to tapeworms. There are medications like Revolution Plus, among others, that will greatly reduce your cat's chance of getting intestinal parasites. Different parasites require different treatments, contributing to the importance of having your cat's fecal matter tested at least annually.