Patch of coarse, white fur w/ small scabs

Hi all. I'm writing about my 3.5 year old spayed female DSH. We adopted her from a woman who found her as a stray when she was around a year old. At the time, she been stuck outside during the winter in Toronto for at least a month. She was missing a decent-sized patch of fur near her rump, which the vet assumed was either from the cold or fleas or a combination. By the time we got her the fur was already growing back, but much of it was white and somewhat coarser than the rest of her fur (Audrey is otherwise completely gray). We assumed her hair follicles had been damaged by whatever had caused the hair loss to begin with. Over time there was less and less white fur.

In the past week or two we've noticed that Audrey is again developing a small white patch near the base of her tail. We assumed it was because she was shedding her undercoat, allowing the white hairs that remained to become more visible. I just checked more closely, though, and the white hairs are quite coarse, and the skin beneath seems to have some small scabs. No open sores, as far as I could tell.

We'll be getting her into a vet asap, but in the meantime, do you have any idea what this could be? She hasn't been itching or cleaning that area (or anywhere else) to an unusual extent.

Is it possible she came into contact with something that's causing an allergic reaction?

I can't think of anything new in her environment. She's an indoor cat, so it can't have been from outside. The only thing that's changed is that it's getting a bit warmer out (finally!), but I would expect the increase in temperature and humidity to make her skin healthier, not worse.

I'll try and go back through the last few weeks to see if anything might have changed, but nothing comes to mind at the moment.

Thanks for the quick response!

Maybe some kind of reaction to cat litter? Even if it's the same kind you always use, maybe they change the formulation of it somehow? Definitely let us know what the vet thinks when you take kitty in.

No new developments yet. Just wanted to update and let you all know that Audrey will be seeing the vet on Thursday. She still seems like her normal self, just with that gross patch of weird fur at the base of her back.

Back from the vet, but unfortunately no new info. Both vets were puzzled by the strange fur growth. On the bright side, it doesn't look like fungus or fleas, and they couldn't feel any masses under the skin. It's just some really weird fur, and the skin beneath is sort of scabby.

The vet suggested a skin biopsy, so that we can find out for sure if it's something to worry about. Audrey also needs dental work done, so they'd do both at once. We're going to go for it, but it's really awful how expensive vets are in NYC. Today's visit was almost $400 (included blood work for the anesthesia she'll need), and the dental starts at around $500. With the biopsy and everything I'm guessing this will top out at over $1000 all together. Ugh.

Audrey had her biopsy and dental work today. No teeth needed to be pulled (yay!). They took two biopsies, and we'll get the results in around five days. I think the vet wanted a really good look, so poor Audrey has a big bare patch on her lower back. Her sutures are in bright pink, so she's got quite the look going on!

One weird thing is that her pupils have been fully dilated all afternoon and evening. I assume she's just "stoned" on whatever drugs they gave her, but I have to say that it's starting to get a little disconcerting. She's acting less goofy now, but her pupils are still totally blown.

Depending on the drugs given, the dialated pupils may be a normal side effect. She will be stoned for about a day after surgery. They may have used ketamine and/or valium for pre-meds, which can cause dialated pupils. Anything concerning, you should call your veterinarian.

On a side note: HOLY CRACKERS! $500 FOR A DENTAL! Our clinic's dentals start at $125! $160 WITH bloodwork!

Whooo, glad to get that off my chest!

Glad to hear you'll be getting some answers!

Okie

Ugh, I am turning green with envy here! GREEN!

This is one of the problems with living in NYC, especially without the stereotypical NYC income. I remember when I went to college in Connecticut if I needed to have surgery on one of my pet rats (poor things are very prone to developing large tumors) the entire procedure would be less than $200. But here? $500 for anesthesia and teeth cleaning (the bloodwork was separate). Oof. It's really too bad that decent pet insurance costs a small fortune.

Poor Audrey was stoned all this way through this morning. I woke up and she was staring at me with her glazed, still-blown pupils. Fortunately she seemed to mostly enjoy it. Though you may have seen my other post about trying to medicate her. Apparently the stress of the experience, combined with being stoned, totally freaked her out and she was absolutely terrified for a good ten minutes.

Best of luck with the skin biopsy! Gosh I hope we don't need to get that done tomorrow, but hey, I'll do what I have to do to get my baby well.

Awww, poor baby! Hopefully, she'll learn to take her medications with ease! One could hope, at least!

Okie

One of Audrey's stitches has come out, and the other doesn't seem to be doing much to actually hold the biopsy closed (one stitch for each of the two biopsy sites). She's on ABs, and the site doesn't look infected, but should we be worried?

The biopsy sites seem a little wet (not weepy, just moist), and they're less red than yesterday. Each is about a quarter inch across, and basically just open with no protection.

I'll call the vet tomorrow to check, but based on what I've described do you think there's any cause for concern?

BTW, we stopped giving her the pain meds. They seemed to cause more discomfort than they alleviated. We gave them to her maybe three or four times, and each time she would spend around 15 minutes running around the apartment leaving a trail of spittle and foam behind her. Really awful. I did check with the vet, who said it's normal.

I would bring her in to the vet soon. They can throw a couple of skin staples in there to hold the incision together, at least. If it's open, infection can set in, even with antibiotics. I would greatly recommend an e-collar, too.

Okie

Thanks for the response! I'll see if I can get her in tomorrow for a quick check. Maybe I'll get a better-flavored pain med at the same time.

I haven't noticed her worrying the stitches, so unfortunately I don't know that a collar would help much. Frankly, I don't know what happened to the stitches. They didn't look too secure to begin with. It might just be that she was too active. It's right at the crease between her tail and her back, so I imagine there's a lot of strain there when she runs.

Would you suggest something like bacitracin in the meantime? I seem to remember that this is okay for cats.

Unfortunately, a lot of pets are what I like to call "closet lickers". As soon as you turn your back (or sleep), they lick their incision. Usually when incisions are open, the tongue is to blame. So, I would still recommend an e-collar. You can take it off anytime you are DIRECTLY supervising her, but she really doesn't NEED it off. She will learn how to eat, drink, and sleep with it.

Neosporin can be used on cats safely, however, without knowing how open the wound is, I wouldn't recommend putting anything in it right now. You don't want to introduce any other bacteria to the wound. If she's still on oral antibiotics, that should keep the infection down for the night, until you get her in tomorrow.

Okie

Just got back from the vet again. Audrey is healing well enough that the vet just removed the second stitch and said to keep an eye on the biopsy sites. Shouldn't be a problem at all.

The biopsies came back, and they were totally benign! Apparently she has chronic dermatitis, probably from whatever caused her fur to fall out in that area before we adopted her. The vet said that as long as it doesn't flair up and look really weird, it's not a problem. The most recent flair up was already over by the time she got checked out.

So all is well! And she has clean teeth now, which is certainly a plus.

Reviving this thread because Audrey's dermatitis has flared again. I just realized that she has a bare patch on her lower back in a slightly different location than last time. She's obviously been chewing at it. I'll be calling the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime is there anything I can try to make her feel better?

I was reading through your post, I understand this dilemma was happening 6 years ago to your kitty, but I was wondering if you ever did receive a conclusion from the vet.  In the last few weeks I have been noticing the same scenario happening to one of my long hair cats.  He was born into a wild cat colony, but all of his siblings along with himself and his mother were picked up by animal control, given treatment, and were all adopted out.  Today, he turned 4 years old.  He is a tuxedo long haired indoor cat.  A couple weeks ago I was petting him and felt that he had small scabs on his lower back only traveling down towards his tail.  There were only a few, at the time it was not alarming.  I chalked it up to the weather and temperature getting much warmer outside, even though he is an indoor cat, along with shedding and maybe this was irritating his skin.

Today, I was checking on it to see if it had cleared up, and noticed that it is much worse.  The scabs are small, not open wounds or anything of that nature, almost kind of like under the first layer of skin.  While examining closer under the light, I am seeing these small white coarse hairs that are growing where the scabs are.  They feel much coarser than his normal coat, and are white, all of his fur in this area is black.  I have examined the rest of his body, and these small coarse hairs are only growing on the middle of his back and travel down towards his tail (did not see any on the actual tail itself).  I have read all through the posts, and have ruled out all other hypothesis: food, litter, treats, environmental, fleas, pet lice, etc...

He eats an indoor formula food with all indoor wet food as well.  I do not give my cats any seafood flavor food or treats at all, due to my other cat (14 years old) having been diagnosed with kidney crystals years back (when the first major recall on pet food came out that would cause kidney issues in your pets), I was told by the vet to avoid the seafood flavor foods as it carries a specific enzyme that can cause flare-ups of the kidney crystal symptoms.

I don't think it would be an allergic reaction to anything considering the small white coarse hairs are accompanying the scabs, but I haven't ruled it out considering I don't know for sure.  Reading through all of your posts and responses, I noticed that the biopsies came back negative for any diseases or bacterial infections.  I plan on taking him to the vet this week, but was hoping you may have some insight you could offer, or anyone that may read this blog.  I appreciate any feedback that can help diagnose this issue, even though I am taking him to the vet, it seems by all of the responses that the vets may be charting unfamiliar territory.  If I can avoid additional poking and prodding of my fur baby, I would be extremely grateful.

Thank you in advance,

kathier2003