Health and Psychology

I really ought to have a category that says cats and psychology.  I like explaining things to people using animal models.  It's clearer.  It blames no one.  It makes talking about behavior issues so much simpler.

So historically my cat, Tatum-a three year old tortoise shell colored female tabby cat, has had weird medical issues.  I was told that by the rescue organization when I got her.  She'd had five foster homes and was on a turkey pate only diet plus lysine sprinkled into her food.  I was told she was picked on by other cats and that she'd been seen by three vets and almost put down because she had this weird form of mange but they were never able to find parasites.  I was told she should never go outside.  

None of it's true.

Within six months I put her on a variety of wet and dry cat food, stopped the lysine, and had her go out into the garden in my backyard.  She was fine for almost two years.  She met a cat friend we named Moochie.  I met Moochie's owner and found out that this was a fixed male flame-point siamese cat that's eight years old and that his family made him an "outdoor only" cat when their new baby was discovered to be allergic.  He's now living at my house and if the neighbor's want to visit they are welcome to.

About a month ago Moochie started getting more confident.  Tatum had been picking on him and chasing him around the house.  He was hiding under things.  He's twice her size.  Finally he stopped backing down from her and started chasing back.  No huge fights.  No big deal.  Then Tatum started scratching around her face.  No sign of fleas.  The scratching got worse.  I took her to the vet.  No signs of mange or scabies, or fleas.  No eggs, or parasites.  Just ripping her face open.  So she got put on Revolution to control for fleas, mites, scabies or any other creepy crawlies that would cause itching.

Two weeks go by and a second dose of Revolution per the vet's instructions.  Not better and seems to be much worse.  So I took her to a different vet.  No mange, mites, eggs or parasites.  Just scratching.  So the vet and I talked about how this might just be imaginary.  If she was a person after a couple of medical visits where the MD finds "nothing wrong" they consider a psychiatric or psychological consult or just chalk the symptoms up to stress.  So why not the cat?  To my surprise the vet thought it was a reasonable idea.  Imaginary parasites.

Research on the internet suggests that animals have itching, licking or chewing behaviors with no signs of infection, mites, or parasites in about 50% of cases that get referred to dermatology.  Wow!  That's coming close to statistics on people with illnesses that physicians can't find anything in lab or other medical studies.  

As psychologists move into general medical practices, (this is an increasing trend), more and more people are going to be seen for medical difficulties that aren't improving.

When people get delusional parasites they get treated with antidepressants or with antipsychotics.  When cats get delusional parasites they get antihistimes or antidepressants.  Tatum is on an antihistimine and we're trying to make her feel special and confident so Moochie's increased self-esteem doesn't bother her so much.  If that doesn't work in a week or so, we'll try antidepressants.  Hopefully she'll feel better soon.