How Can I Soothe My Cat’s Itchy Skin: 9 Natural Home Remedies

If you notice that your cat is scratching incessantly, losing hair, or developing a rash, they are likely having an allergic reaction. Skin allergies are fairly common in cats, affecting around 10% of felines, with causes ranging from fleas to foods and flora. Chronic conditions should always be referred to a vet, but there are home remedies to try that can soothe your cat’s itchy skin, sometimes instantly! Many of these are inexpensive and simple, and most are preventative too. Try each method alone first to help you eliminate potential causes so you can find the correct source of the itchy skin.

The first check to perform is ensuring your cat is getting a healthy diet. A well-rounded diet of mostly meat (cats are obligate carnivores) will go a long way in preventing and even curing many skin issues. With that in mind, here are common tried-and-tested remedies to relieve your feline friend from itchy skin.

The 9 Natural Home Remedies to Soothe Your Cat’s Itchy Skin

1. Controlling Their Flea Allergies

Most issues with itchy skin in cats are caused by an allergic reaction to fleas. Controlling the lifecycle of fleas is the first important step to stopping allergic reactions in your cat’s coat. Natural flea powders, flea combs, and cleaning your carpets and pillows often will help prevent a flea infestation in your home and go a long way in preventing allergies in your feline. If this is covered and your cat is still having an issue with itchy skin, you can move ahead with other remedies.

2. Oatmeal Soak

While you can be sure that most cats will not be amused at being slathered in oatmeal, they will likely thank you afterward. A slurry of oatmeal mixed with water can be applied liberally to your cat or you can make an oatmeal bath that you can leave your cat soaking in. The mixture should be left on their skin for at least 10 minutes to provide optimum relief. The oatmeal should ideally be ground up into a fine powder in a food processor first to make it easy to apply and spread.

Oatmeal will soothe, nourish, and moisturize your cat’s skin and provide immediate relief against itching. The moisturizing properties will also help soften dry skin and prevent itchiness for at least a few days. Oats have anti-inflammatory properties, which give the soak its soothing properties. Premade oatmeal sprays are available for purchase, but homemade is best!

The best pet shampoos are carefully formulated to clean your pet without causing irritation. Hepper’s Colloidal Oatmeal Pet Shampoo does a great job of this by combining soothing ingredients like aloe vera and colloidal oatmeal. It is also pH-balanced and free of irritants like dyes, soaps, sulfates, and phthalates. You and your pet will both enjoy the fresh, clean scent, too! 

At Catster, we’ve admired Hepper for many years and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding designs of this cool cat company!