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I think it's either fleas or hives. Have you changed soaps/shampoo recently? My suggestion is to carefully look at your cat, if you find any black or red flakes in her fur, then she has fleas.
Just a thought because I just had it- could you have come in contact with poison ivy or poison oak? Have you been doing any yardwork? Have you eaten anything different?
@beekiss2: I've tried looking closely at the cat and I can't see any red or black. I read online to look for that, but have found nothing. But I've never had a cat until this one so who knows.
@future mrs kirsch: I don't think it's poison ivy or oak, it's not that itchy and I definitely haven't been outside or anything. I haven't eaten anything strange lately either.
I have a feeling it is fleas or something... but I am not sure how to know for sure. And if it is, how the hell do I get rid of them?
Allergic reaction to new food/clothes/skin product?
Maybe even chicken pox if you never had it as a kid or were never vaccinated?
@Helstrong: Whoops, didn't see your reply before I wrote mine. http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/uncategorized/how-to-get-rid-of-fleas/
Okay, so I just adopted a new kitten and she had fleas. I didn't notice until a few days after. I have two other cats and I had to this all to them as well. Trim your cat's claws, b/c she'll probably scratch if her claws aren't trimmed, be careful not to clip the cliq (pinkish area). What I do is to fill the kitchen sink with water warm water (not too hot but warm), slowly place your cat in the water, hold by the front and back paws together and hold her down in there for two minutes with only her head above water, have someone massage her fur. Then get some dawn, use very little and lather the cat, rinse the cat gently a few times, then use flea shampoo (I use natural sentry flea shampoo), it smells like spice but make sure you rinse like the other ways. Prepare a bowl of diluted HOT bleach water, then take a comb, a flea comb is best and gently comb in the opposite direction of how you pet while holding the cat in a towel. If you find a flea, quickly remove it (it'll be a bit difficult to pull it out) and put it in the hot bleach water. Then stick your cat in the bathroom where she's closed off. Vacuum the entire apartment/house, be sure to focus on the baseboards. Then buy IGR spray, I use adams flea and tick home and carpet spray from walmart. The best thing is to take your cat out of the place but it's okay if you seal her in a room. Spray all over, pay attention to around furniture, baseboards, cracks and crevices, where your cat lays alot. Make sure you thoroughly wash all your laundry (bedding, towels, any clothes in baskets). You may have to repeat this two weeks later.
EDIT: Make sure the smell and the carpet is dry before you let your cat out. Also, make sure you put the food and water dish in a cabinet.
@Regina Phalange: all the same products, detergents, clothes, etc. I had chicken pox.
Ugh. I checked the cat again, while brushing her and found nothing...
@beekiss2: Thanks! What about couches? How would you get fleas off/out of those??
You can use the IGR spray on the couches. I would vacuum them and then use the IGR spray. It does not stain, just spray 3 ft from a surface! My friends vet also suggested Ectokyl IGR.
Although I guess since your FI doesn't have it, it might not be bed bugs. What about sun rash? I used to get that at the start of every summer if I didn't wear enough sun screen.
@elaineathon: I wondered that too.... my FI said I was crazy. Bed bugs are another thing I don't know how to check for haha.
Oh and I failed to mention, you should by some CAT advantix/advantage spot treatment. It's the best, I use CAT frontline plus but my vet says the rest of them can kill cats (hartz, biospot, etc). Never use dog spot treatment. Make sure you apply the spot treatment to one spot between the neck and shoulder blades so your cat can't lick it off. You can purchase this stuff from petsmart or your vet.
You can check for bed bugs under the mattress and between the wall and mattress or headboard and mattress.
@Helstrong: again, maybe this is just because I had this recently... but does your cat go outside? She could have been exposed to a poisonous plant and got the oils on you. Animals are not allergic to the common poisonous plants. And depending on how allergic you are and how much you were exposed the itchiness can vary.
Also, do they look like hives, blisters, bug bites...? It's gross but maybe google image some skin disorders.
@future mrs kirsch: My cat has actually never been outside. Well not since we brought her home at two months old, which was a year ago. They dont look like hives, or blisters. Close to bug bites, but smaller. They actually kind of look like a small pimple.
@beekiss2: Thanks for the link.I thought you could look under the mattress, which I made FI do last weekend, and we saw nothing. I"m going to look again though.
@beekiss2: Our cat does use Advantage for cats, so no worries there.
hmmm...I would bomb your house/apt...even if you couldn't find the fleas...a neighbor had fleas and then got into our house (we live in townhouses). No one else in my house got bit by fleas..just me...they loved my feet..i wasn't bit anywhere else. BF sleeps with me and he got nothing.
But we bombed the house and washed the cats & brought the dog to the groomers and everything was fine.
I would also check with a doctor to make sure. Has it been hot and muggy where you are? It could also be a heat rash.
@Ms Sassy: I was thinking about having it bombed. I'm assuming I call like an exterminator for that. How long do you have to stay out of the house?
It has been hot where I live, very hot and muggy actually. Could be heat rash.... didn't think of that.
I did just do a very good cleaning. I sprayed flea carpet stuff down and then vacuumed. Moved all the furniture and then sprayed everything withthe anti flea stuff. Cat is in the bathroom, but haven't shampooed her yet as I need to get flea shampoo.
@beekiss2: not shingles, I don't think :)
You guys have lots of ideas though. Thanks :) I'm going to go look up heat rash.
@Ms Sassy: I think it might be heat rash!! It definitely looks like some of the pictures online. It does make sense, becuase my chest sweats alot at night, and today I had a hat on which made my forehead sweat. I knew someone could help me out.
Thanks!!!
I was guessing heat rash, when you said you had a cap on. My daughter had it really bad when she was born, it was sooo hot. She looked like she had tiny pimples all over. I felt so bad and just tried to keep her as cool as possible, and as lightly dressed as possible. And it has been sooo hot all over the country lately. Sounds like you figured it out.
@Helstrong - i had a similar rash show up at the end of february-beginning of march. it started out as a few small bumps on my chest. i thought i was just breaking out b/c it started getting hot and really humid here. Anyway, the few bumps itched a little too and over the course of a couple of weeks spread to my entire chest, stomach, sides, and up and down the bottom side of my arms. The worse the bumps got the more they itched and i couldnt help but scratch. NOTHING helped with the itching. after trying benadryl and several different anti-itch ointments, i went to the doctor. (Also after i thought it was bed bugs and had a family friend come and check and spray for bugs just in case.) I ended up having a type of staph infection called "impetigo." It just looked like bug bites or pimples and the scratching spreads the infection. it was awful. But the doctor gave me a steroid shot & wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic. i ended up needing 2 prescriptions for it though, the first batch wasnt quite enough to get rid of it. It took 2 weeks or so to go away after that. i would keep an eye on it. & call the doctor if it looks like its spreading (or go to an acute care clinic, it might be faster).
Impetego spreads very easily, and it can get "crusty" too. But I agree, if it doesn't go away or continues to spread, see a doctor. That's always a good idea!
Oh man, one of my good friends had impetigo in high school. Her boyfriend was a wrestler and he had it, passed it her on her FACE! Anyways, she still has a little discoloration where it was. I would go to the dr ASAP!
aghhh! yeah, needless to say, it was AWFUL!! i got it from Mr. Menard's sister. luckily it didnt leave any scarring.
The impetigo did look a lot like bed bug bites though. Most of the information i read said it was crusty too but i didnt have that problem. the itching was the WORST!
@Mrs. Menard to Be : Thanks for the heads up! I will definitely watch it very closely. I have a history with two different skin diseases so I am always watching closely :) I sooo appreciate it though, becuase if I hadn't read your post I would have never known.
Thanks Ladies!
It could be folliculitis? Its the infection of hair follicles... I had that and I visited the doctor, he put me on antibiotics and it was gone in a couple days! Or perhaps its stress?
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So a week or so ago I got a few small bumps on my upper chest, they itched a little, but I kept messing with them. Today I woke up and had a lot more of them. They are pretty small. Tonight they are now on my forehead. They may have been on my forehead all day and I not have known it, as I had a baseball hat on. I don't know what they are from. We do have a cat and I'm afraid we have fleas or something- but the cat hasn't been itching, and my FI doesn't have a problem. Ugh it's stressing me out. Any ideas?