Why is my cat so itchy?

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.

Unfortunately, that's not a question that can be easily answered without seeing the pet. When it's itchy and where it's itchy, both matter, and there are many things that cause itchiness. We really need to see the cat to kind of hone down and figure out why it's truly itching because most skin conditions and cats cause itchiness.

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.