My cat is losing fur! Why?

peroy924

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Would some body know why my domestic short hair house cat is losing her fur on the back of her front legs and on her belly? This is concerning me. I have one other cat and he is fine. We recently moved in with a dog so I thought it might be stress but I'm not sure. She always had this small patch of exposed skin on the back of her front leg and I thought she was doing it to herself because sometimes it would look really raw and red and then sometimes it would look like it was healing and now these big patches look really red sometimes too. I have no idea what could be causing this! Please help!
 

goldenkitty45

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Take her to the vet - its probably either ringworm (which is contagious) or some kind of allergy (flea, food).
 
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peroy924

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I had gone away this past year for about 6 months and left the cats with a family friend and when I came back the cats did have fleas and I took them to the vet and was given 3 month worth of doses of heartgaurd (?) and I gave them the last dose a few weeks ago and they no longer have fleas. They have been eating the same food for years.
 

sicycat

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It's possible that cats can develp a food allergy at any time, even if they've been eating the same food (my vet told me this). But like you said it could also be from stress.
 

flisssweetpea

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You really need to take kitty to the Vet so that a diagnosis can be made. While we can make suggestions, none of them will be properly informed without seeing the kitty even assuming there were experts on the site.

It could be any number of things - they may be easily cured, but if it is something like ringworm for example you would want it treated for the kitty's sake and to stop it spreading to you, your family and other pets.
 

cloud_shade

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The allergy isn't necessarily about food either. You moved to a new place, so your cat could be experiencing an allergy to dust, pollen, or other environmental factors, including the dog! We had a dog once that was allergic to everything, including, mold, grass, cats, and even humans, if I remember correctly.
 

carm

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As everyone has suggested, go to your vet to exclude some of the mentioned possibilities. In many species of animals including cats, mild hair loss is indeed a sign of stress. Once, my 2 cats were wrestling and locked themselves in the bathroom for a couple of hours. When we returned home, there are clumps of hair all over the place due to stress.

Let us know what your DVM says!
 
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