Cat rubbing cheek - open sore

[Kazbah]

Hi all,

wondering if any of the vet-types can help ... one of my cats has been obsessed with rubbing his cheek scent gland (just one) to the point of open sore. He doesn't scratch it, just rubs it. I have no idea why ... thought it was healing but it isn't, it's about the size of a 1c piece ...

I'm going to take him to the vet tomorrow, wondering if there are any questions I should ask etc or any ideas as to why this would happen?

The googling I've done suggest its an allergy, but its just on the one side of the face only, and he's not scratching it with claws as if it was itching. So I'm thinking it's more behavioual for my little man.

[[M]umma[M]ia]

mayb fleas?? or a tick? have u had a close look? has the cat been in long grass latley?? also may just be a habit it has picked up.

[Kazbah]

He's an inside cat. Too much wildlife for him to hurt outside!

[[M]umma[M]ia]

hrmmmmm odd. mayb its an attention thing? has anything changed in the household? are u paying less attention to him?? It really could have been anything.. a spider bite.. just anything really. But u need to stop him from rubbing it.. like putting a cone around his neck? i know it looks sad but u dont want it getting infected. Let me know what the vet doc says.

[Phteven]

aww poor kitty.
If it's behavioural they can give him kitty prozac to help him get over it.

[Floweryfields]

My cat has/had the same thing - hers was on her cheek and near her ears on both sides originally. The vet said ear mites - which in the end it wasn't when I went to a different vet. It was an allergy - she got cortisone tablets and put on a low allergy diet. One side is completely healed, the other has a tiny spot still getting there. It has taken months and months, simply because it's such an easy place to scratch.
The first vet got her in an elizabethan collar which she hated and had on for months - poor girl. As soon as it came off, she'd re open the scar again!
Good luck

[Smoke Jaguar]

Hey Kaz,
if you get no joy from the vets around here (and I'd recommend heading straight to Narre Nth's WoofPurNay!!), then there's always Carol Freeman in Narre Nth (around the corner from WPN off Heatherton Rd), who is an animal naturopath type. If you want to hear about her success rate, the lady at Belgrave Pet Supplies (in Tecoma...guess it was too hard to change her name when she moved!), can tell you about Carol's work on her Old English Sheepdogs (she breeds and shows), even though she's a self-confessed sceptic (former physics lecturer, amongst other things) and can't figure out how she does it using her 'hocus pocus'! She also has Carol's business card.
My own anecdote is with my big dog. This time last year he looked absolutely rotten - open sores that had holes underneath them (press them for blood to come bubbling out sort of thing), bare patches all over him his formerly beautiful short Shepherd coat (he's a Dane x Alsatian x) and was visibly miserable and STINKY! Round after round after round of bigger and bigger doses of cortisone and we gave up. Even the fantastic vets at Narre Nth said they couldn't figure it out that he wasn't responding to the demodectic mange treatment, not even a bit. And they didn't object at all when we mentioned a naturopath - they said sometimes Carol fixes what they just can't scientifically figure out.
Well, weren't they impressed when we took him back for immunisations and he was his former beautiful but MUCH visibly happier self!
Carol worked on various fronts to get the physical aspect right. Whatever she did, and sent me home with (ALL for $50, including the follow up session!) just started to work within a fortnight.
Food for thought
I hope it stops, it's so distressing to see a pet tear themselves apart, literally

[Kazbah]

Thanks Mayaness - I usually see Peter down at Belgrave South, he was wonderful when my old dog had cancer, but although he can give potions to heal the wounds, he (the cat) keeps causing them again.

Will pop into the pet store tomorrow