cats losing hair on ears

nancy35

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Hello, has anyone seen this before?
A few weeks ago I took my oldest cat to the vet for a check-up, all was fine. About a week later, I noticed that the hair on the back of her ears was disappearing, and ten days later I noticed the same thing on the other cat. I had called the vet, who advised checking for ear mites, giving Advantage, and dabbing Neosporin on the ears. There was no improvement after several days, so we went to the vet today. The vet found no ear mites or fleas, believes the hair loss is caused by scratching, and put them on antibiotics. We also did a test for ringworm, which could take a week or more for results. There is no hair loss anywhere else. The vet did not sound very confident in her diagnosis, so I'm not convinced it is an infection. They do not seem to be in pain at all and are eating normally. Any ideas? They are indoor / outdoor cats.
 

donna

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Sounds like ringworm? That can cause hair loss. My black turkish angora wannabe Marina (indoor only cat)had ringworm as a kitten and that's where it affected her the most. It could also be a good allergy. Marina has hair loss again on her ears along with some kind of crusty stuff. Earmites have been ruled out as they took a culture. I use Panalog ointment on them. The crusty stuff comes right off. She's not in pain either. Have you changed your cat's diet lately? I fed all my cats Science Diet since they were babies. I changed over to another "all natural" name brand and that's when she started having problems with her ears. If you're unsure
of your vet, I'd get a second opinion. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
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nancy35

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Thanks, Donna. The vet didn't think it was ringworm because there was no crusty stuff, but we did the culture nonetheless. The antibiotics will not help with that, so once the results are in it would be a different medication. What is Panalog ointment, and where do you buy it? Does it help?
There have not been any diet changes recently.
 

hattkatts

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My first thought was ringworm as well. What kind of test did the Vet perform, as the Fungassy test can start showing a positive in as little as 48 hours? Noting the date of your post, you must have the results back by now.

Pete
 

donna

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Nancy,

Panalog is a cream in a tube that is an antibiotic. It helped with Marina's ears once they were healing. Since she's gone back on Scient Diet, her ears have completely cleared up. So it turned out to be a food allergy. You might want to get a second opinion. You can get panalog at any vet.

Keep us posted.
 
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nancy35

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Thanks for all of the replies. I will call the vet tomorrow for the test results. The antibiotics may have helped, it is difficult to tell if there is any real improvement (ie hair growing back, maybe a little) but the cats couldn't seem to care less. No scratching, no obvious pain, no sores or crusty stuff and no spreading to other locations. How long should it take for the ears to look normal again?

Depending on the vet's response tomorrow, I may schedule another appointment and would definitely ask to see a different vet this time to get another opinion. I will also ask about the Panalog cream. At different times, they have recommended Neosporin or Cortisone cream. I stopped applying those because the cats would wash it off as soon as it was applied, and I was nervous about those things being IN the cat instead of ON the cat.
 

sharianne1

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hi did you find out what was causing the hair loss as i have 2 cats and they are the same as what urs was they are not botherd by it at all  thwey are frontlined wormed and i got ear mite droms even tho ther ears were clean xx
 
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