Another spot appeared (long)

This morning I discovered Palas has developed a third spot this time on his head in front of his ear. First posts about this here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=114654

Palas has shown no sign of being ill other than these spots appearing. I haven't seen any sign of fleas. For 2 mos in a row the vet at Petsmart Banfield said there wasn't even any flea dirt present. I don't like that vet because he's very short. I believe he makes quick decisions because that vet office is so packed. So I found some other smaller vets around my area but they are closed today. I'll call tomorrow for appointments or walk-ins.

In the meantime, has anyone seen anything like this? The spots are all exactly the same:

• loss of hair about the size of a dime
• a little bloody, but no sign of cuts or reason
• very minor itch, I see him paw at it a little but not very often
• the skin is flat not raised at all
• there is never enough blood to drip or run. its just enough to color the area of skin

The first 2 started to heal in about a week. They never get bigger than they are or any worse. His behavior stays consistant. He's eating, drinking, sleeping, eliminating, playing, playing and sleeping with DeeDee, and I haven't seen anything suspect in his litter.

Additionally, DeeDee hasn't shown any sign of this problem at all in the almost 2 mos since the first spot appeared on Palas. I'm wondering if it's some kind of food allergy. Again, yes I will be taking him to a vet this week. This isn't an emergency situation.

Here are pictures of this new spot:





Thank you in advance for your thoughts

My Twitch every once in awhile scartches herself & gets scabs. Is that what this is? I just give her once monthly baths to prevent the itchiness. I discovered it came from her rolling in the fresh litter whenever I change it(1x a week).

Gosh I don't know. I never see any irritated itching or anything. Does
Twitch's spots look like these when she does it?

Originally Posted by tekgrl

Gosh I don't know. I never see any irritated itching or anything. Does
Twitch's spots look like these when she does it?

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If you hadn't posted the pic, I wouldn't have said anything. But, she has another spot. It is in exactly the same spot as in the pic posted above of Palas. She is just itching to the point that she scratches herself open. Prior to scratching a hole in her head, she never shows any "extreme" signs of itchiness.

I bathe Twitch in Oatmeal cat shampoo. Once a month. The only reason I bathe so often is because she is white, she tends to yellow quickly. So, I slipped for a few months & she started tearing into her head. It's usually above either eye or near her ear, just like in your pic above.

Do Petsmart or Petco carry it? What brand do you use? I would be willing to order some if it would keep this from happening.

The first spot that appeared after I got him appeared on the back of his neck. Almost where I applied the Zodiac Spot on treatment. Thecatsite members suggested it's probably the spot on treatment that was doing it. I took Palas to the vet who said it wasn't ringworm or mange and there were no fleas. Then a few days later, another spot appeared under his neck. At this point it had been about a month, a full wet bath, and lots of babywipe baths since the last spot on treatment. I haven't used the spot on since so that couldn't have been it. I'll do what needs to be done to prevent these occurances I just wish I knew for sure what that was.

I just use whatever Oatmeal shampoo I can get. I buy cat specific shampoo that is Oatmeal. Not very scientific in my methods! For awhile I had Oatmeal & Strawberry, now I have just Oatmeal....I pick out whatever I can get.

Perhaps he had ear mites? Or maybe his friend is catching his claw in that spot--that could cause an itchy situation.

For what it's worth: we took our kitties to Banfield for almost two years, and we came to the conclusion that Banfield is a very bad idea. For one thing, there's such high turnover that we rarely saw the same vet twice... and for another, we rarely wanted to see the same vet twice, because most of them just didn't seem to know much. (One of them told us dry food only, and said "When they misbehave, slap their noses and lock them in a cage for 24 hours!" Good lord, why did that man become a vet in the first place if that's how little regard he has for animals? AUGH!)

On one visit, a course of antibiotics had failed to work for one of our kitties and we had to go back in to see what else could be done. This time, it was a different vet who was only filling in for awhile, and he lowered his voice and explained that the medicine we'd been given was the only thing he had, because Banfield controls costs by not stocking anything else. He told us the name of a better antibiotic, but said he was not allowed to write a prescription for it... so we had to go find a new vet and start over. (And the new antibiotic worked great!)

That did it -- if Banfield is limiting the effectiveness of its own vets by refusing to let them prescribe anything they don't stock on the premises, that tells me they're all about profit at the expense of the animals... and I don't want anything to do with such people.

So my point is -- if you've been going to Banfield, you may want to try an independent vet instead. I hope you find some good help and your kitty feels better soon!

Has your vet cultured these sores? I am thinking it might look like a staph infection.

Originally Posted by Mermaid

Has your vet cultured these sores? I am thinking it might look like a staph infection.

Click to expand...

My vet only did a ringworm culture on the cat. He neglected to mention the many other things and many other tests and cultures he could've done in the one trip. He didn't even offer. And no, he didn't do the instant blacklight test for ringworm, he did an actual 3-5 day culture that cost me $37. That's why I want a new vet this time. This spot just appeared this morning but no vets were open today...only emergency vet care. So tomorrow I'll start calling the smaller vets in the area I found in the yellow pages. Are staph infections contagious? I ask because this is the 3rd spot in 2 months for Palas but little DeeDee hasn't had a single one. And they wrestle and sleep together and groom each other all the time.

Staph is often contagious... but it is possible the other cat has a stronger immune system...

Well, yes and no. It's something that's around normally, and a cat with a normal immune system wouldn't be likely to have an issue.

I'll be interested to hear what your new vet has to say about it. Scritches to your kid.

We went to the new vet this morning...a smaller practice with a single vet. I really liked the vet. He seemed really personable and asked a lot of questions. But, we'll see how things go with the meds he prescribed.

I told him that the Petsmart Banfield did a ringworm culture and it came back negative. He didn't run any tests but said that it looked like a scratch that got infected or a bug bite. It's possible it could be spiders because I find and kill them every so often. I assume that means there are many more in hiding somewheres ewww. Anyway, he kept saying that it's probably a scratch from them playing together and brought up declawing 3 times I told him I don't believe in declawing and that it's mean. In any case, he told me to wash the infected area with peroxide and then apply Panalog cream that he prescribed. He also said that the spot is hardened a little and may require surgery if it turns into a tumor. But he said that if the infections continued to heal and a new one appear, then it's being caused by an outside agent (like spiders or being scratched). He advised that I bring Palas back immediately if more than one lesion appeared simultaneously. I also showed him the healed lesion that hadn't been covered by hair again yet and he said it healed nicely and was no longer concerned about it.

He checked Palas's ears and said that he had too much discharge in his ears and gave us GentaOtic Otic solution to be dripped into his ear and massaged in. He went ahead and did it the first time for me to show me how to do it.

Then he took Palas's temperature and said he had a fever at 102.6 degrees. He said that normal cat temp is 99.5 deg to 102.5 deg so 102.6 wasn't a horrible fever but he would prefer his temp be closer to 100 deg. He gave me Amoxicillin Pediatric drops.

He was very pushy about the FELV and FIV shots and gave me a discount on them so I'd get them for both cats. Its a discount because he only charged me for FELV and FIV but gave distemper as well which DeeDee needed one more time anyway. I figured it couldn't hurt and they haven't had them since I've had them.

All in all, I felt that the vet was thorough and likable (even though he tried to persuade me to declaw) but the proof is in the pudding. We'll have to see how the lesions go.

When I got home, I gave Palas a drop of the Amoxil orally and applied the Panalog cream to the lesion. Then I fed and watched both kitties devour a pouch of Natural choice wet.

Anyone have any suggestions or comments or experience to share? Any info is helpful.

He gave your cats the FIV vaccine? I'd be finding a new vet and possibly suing for malpractice unless you were informed of the risks. Are you cats microchipped? If not, please do that as soon as possible. The FIV vaccine will result in a positive FIV test for the rest of the cat's life. That doesn't mean they have the virus, but if they were to go outside and be taken in to someplace that tests them (i.e. animal shelter, person who thinks they are lost), the test result would indicate that they are FIV positive. I would hate to see a vaccinated cat put to sleep as a result of the positive test result, so please, please get your cats microchipped. Also, both the FeLV and the FIV vaccines are adjuvanted, and there has been a correlation between adjuvanted vaccines and vaccine-associated sarcomas. There are times when the risks are worth it for the FeLV vaccine (particularly in cats who go outside and have a higher risk of exposure), but for indoor only cats, it is something that should be carefully considered.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_fiv_vaccine.html
http://cats.about.com/cs/vaccination/a/fiv_vaccine.htm
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/nov02/021101a.asp

If this vet is pushing declawing and also pushing FIV vaccinations - find another vet IMMEDIATELY!! No responsible vet will push either one of these.

Once your cat is vaccinated for FIV, any subsequent test turns out positive and you will never know if your cat gets it. Vaccinations are not fool proof and cats can contract the disease (lower risk) in spite of them.

I may have made a mistake. It sounded like he said FIV but on my printed receipt it says FIP. Is that the same thing?

Yea the more and more I thought about the visit the more I didn't like how he talked about other pet businesses. He tried to tell me that the low cost spay/neuter place I go to ties off the ovaries and leaves them in the cat. He wanted me to get DeeDee spayed with him for $150 but won't do it until she's 6 mos and then said he'd charge extra if she's already in heat. So I called the low cost spay/neuter and asked if they left the ovaries in and they were appalled. They said of course they removed the ovaries and the uterus. They spay/neuter for $25 at 4 mos of age.

If it's the FIP vaccine, it appears that it is not dangerous, but it is also not very effective (i.e. waste of money). I would still be seeking a new vet.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/fip.html
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Con...=1&SourceID=19

For general guidelines about vaccines:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?articleid=951
http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/vmth/cli...ccinproto.html
http://www.petplace.com/cats/feline-...ons/page1.aspx

Yea I need a vet that isn't just trying to rip me off but cares enough to actually talk to me and give me options...anyone know one in the Indianapolis area? This is frustrating. I hate wasting money on salesmen.

I certainly would be changing vet - neither the FIV or the FIP vaccine are good things to be given without a decent explanation, there are drawbacks to both of them. Good luck in finding another vet.

If your cats don't go outside, then I don't think they need FIV, Felv or FIP vaccine. I certainly wouldn't get those for my cats.
Now, of course if cats are not indoor, they could come in contact with those infections diseases.