Mr. Sofite's skin on his head and neck is all scabbed up and he keeps scratching himself and crying when he does it, it obviously itches and hurts him. Trying to figure out if there's something I can do to help him outside of the vet, since I'm not sure if my dad will pay for him to get seen or not.

  • Dickey_Butts [none/use name]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Sounds like you probably checked but make double sure he doesn't have fleas. They are very good at hiding. Mine gets them all the time from our dogs.

      • Aryuproudomenowdaddy [comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Especially when it's cold fleas will jump on anything with body warmth like your clothing and then Mr. Softie. I'd definitely try a flea bath or a preventative like Advantage if that's something you can afford.

          • Aryuproudomenowdaddy [comrade/them]
            ·
            1 year ago

            I don't really have any experience with the flea baths or whether they'll also kill the eggs, you might have to do more than one application. Doing an extensive cleaning of the carpeted areas and linens is probably a good idea too.

            Advantage will kill any fleas that have fed on them within a few hours and lasts like 3 months between applications, but it is a little pricey.

          • Dickey_Butts [none/use name]
            ·
            1 year ago

            Flea meds will help but you dont necessarily have to have them if u get a fine toothed comb and give him a bath in dish soap. Its a pain to bathe most cats though. There are some good tutorials on like wikihow on how to look for them and comb them out during a bath.

            edit: once when the fleas were so bad they persisted even after one flea med treatment and a bath was what finally got rid of them. a little bit of dish soap in the bath breaks the surface tension and makes them drown. if you put him in the bath you'll notice them flock to areas that aren't submerged and you can comb them out.

      • thirtymilliondeadfish [she/her]
        ·
        1 year ago

        You can still drag them in on your clothes/feet/person, unless you're vacuuming daily there's a nonzero chance tbh.

        How bad are the scabs? Do you trim his claws/are these just self inflicted? Can you get him checked over by a vet? Mange/scabies isn't fun, but ought to be treatable