Help with skin/coat issue?

cazlee

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My black and white cat, Moo, has developed a patchy loss of fur spots that come and go. Vet checked for bacterial/fungal, both negative. Already gave her an antibiotic shot and cortisone shot a couple of weeks ago to see if it helps. Going to take her back to the vet on Monday for another opinion.

I started noticing the spots a couple of months in to Blue Buffalo. It may or may not be related? Another cat we have has dandruff issues, which were better on Wellness indoor, and got worse on the Blue Buffalo. They have since been switched back to Wellness Complete Salmon formula about a week ago. Fingers crossed :/

The picture is a spot underneath her front right armpit, and it's pretty true to color. The spots aren't ever particularly inflamed/irritated in appearance. I don't ever see her excessively licking or scratching. The first spot she had was in a spot that it would have really been hard for her to do to herself, kind of behind her front elbow. All the rashes occur only where there's white hair and I've heard skin problems are not uncommon where the white hair grows. Any advice??

 
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cazlee

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update on moo

She's got an appointment tomorrow since thursday, but she's got more spots =/

New one on her leg just come up yesterday, the one under her armpit is still there, and the two on her chest are new tonight too... one on either side...

still not seeing her excessively/obsessively grooming...

 

sharky

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Please make sure they test for ringworm... And do a scraping( sounds bad not to much for kitty though)
 
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cazlee

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Thanks sharky, that's the first thing I suspected actually. Im requesting a new test for sure tomorrow. None of the other pets or us are showing anything yet... and I'll usually break out too if I'm exposed.... going on a month now with this rash coming and going on her.... the spots still don't seem to itch or hurt. I'm at such a loss.
 
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cazlee

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The vet didn't want to retest for ringworm. Isn't there a somewhat high rate of false negatives with the tests available?

She rX'd a rinse of chlorhexidine, chlorpheniramine (an antihistamine), clavamox, depo-medrol shot, and glenhaven f2/s shampoo....

She's convinced it's behavioral or that I don't keep the pets areas clean enough, which is ridiculous... kind of upset me that she said that. I'm going to get a 2nd opinion from the office that sees my mini pin next week.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by cazlee

The vet didn't want to retest for ringworm. Isn't there a somewhat high rate of false negatives with the tests available?

She rX'd a rinse of chlorhexidine, chlorpheniramine (an antihistamine), clavamox, depo-medrol shot, and glenhaven f2/s shampoo....

She's convinced it's behavioral or that I don't keep the pets areas clean enough, which is ridiculous... kind of upset me that she said that. I'm going to get a 2nd opinion from the office that sees my mini pin next week.
Definitely a second opinion, I take it this is a multi vet office? If not a multi vet clinic PLEASE run to another clinic


Ringworm can have a false negative but most follow up with a black light test which is fairly accurate( and not $$)..
 
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cazlee

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Hi Sharky,

The office where I take the cats has more than 1 vet on staff yes. I take the dog to an entirely different vet, where my stepmother takes her dog. My driving decision to take the mini pin there - she broke her leg some time ago, requiring emergency care, and they're one of the few offices in the area fully staffed for emergencies 24/7 with on call specialists. I've been impressed with the office since then, really great ongoing care for the mini pin.

Today was kind of the last straw for me with the office where I take the cats, I've had issues with their tone and quality of care in the past. I really don't like that she jumped to behavioral without rerunning a sample of the spots, this is a reasonably new issue (ongoing about a month now), and she's never been a neurotic cat. She's well adjusted and social in my opinion and doesn't have any other behavioral issues. I just really felt on the defensive the entire time this visit from what food I feed them to the possible dX's. She basically said I don't play with her enough, she doesn't like something in the house, it's a neurotic behavior or the house is dirty.
 
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cazlee

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I was able to get a really good picture of the worst spot she has on her chest. She has an 8 AM saturday appt with the vet that sees my mini pin.

 

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Good for you for seeking another opinion, from an outside source. I went through the same thing with the large vet hospital in my neighborhood. Every time I went the default opinion was that it was either something I had done or the fact that Franklin is a pedigree cat. They were too busy jumping to conclusions to actually treat him. My new vet is far less convenient, but much more effective!
 

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Just want to add my thoughts on Blue Buffalo. I tried it for a couple of weeks one time and some of my cats fur became very dry and brittle over that time. I stopped using it and their coats went back to their normal silky feeling. It seemed to dry out their skin.

It sort of looks like ringworm, but it also looks like an allergy spot. If you have a black light that you use to find spots in your home, shine it on Moo and see if it glows. I've been told that about 50% of ringworm cases will glow under a black light, and if it does, he has it and there is no need for a skin scrape. I've seen it glow when my dog had it, and there's no mistaking it.

If it was a bad reaction to the Blue Buffalo, it should clear up in a few weeks.
 
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cazlee

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I called the office that usually sees the cats and politely complained to the office manager about Saturday's visit. I expressed that I did not feel like the proper time, consideration to my pets health and professionalism was shown to me on Saturday's visit. I went on to elaborate that I felt like I was being accused of harming my pet - from the food that I feed them (really? since when is Wellness a generally "bad" food? just because it's not the stuff they push??) to the comments that the vet made about a neurotic behavior being my fault or I don't keep my home clean, and it does not facilitate the necessary communication between myself and their office to diagnose and treat my pet.

She offered to extend a courtesy re-check. I'm not yet sure if I'll take them up on the offer since this seemed to be the best they felt like doing for me, considering the office visit would be included with their proprietary "health plan" anyway. I ended the call with the same bad taste in my mouth left over from Saturday's visit. It still feels like a $100.00 slap in the face.

KyleW and Momofmany, I really appreciate your thoughts on this whole situation. I'm not convinced it's ringworm (negative inital test and doesn't glow - They refused to retest another sample of the lesion so I don't feel like I can yet rule ringworm out entirely based on prior history... I was incorrectly dX'd as a kid with a "heat rash", then it was found to be ringworm later - after their immune suppressants made me break out all over.. the initial sample was also negative and it didn't glow), but I'm also not convinced that it's a neurotic behavior/self-harm.

I could cry from frustration at this point. I care very much for my pets and it troubles me deeply when they are not well.

Blue Buffalo has gone the way of the dodo and is no longer in my home and they are fully switched over to Wellness. I probably rushed the transition but they don't seem to be having tummy issues with switching them back over to Wellness. I'm sure Blue Buffalo is a good food for alot of pets, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the right food for my kiddos.

*deep breath, exhale*

Thank you everyone, my rant is over. lol
 
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cazlee

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Howdy,

After noticing the spots getting worse since Saturday, I opted to give the office I normally take the cats to another chance with the other veterinarian.

I was very pleased with the outcome of the visit. The dr. took the time to thoroughly examine all of the spots (which the dr. on Saturday did not), and decided to pull a few hairs for view under a microscope to come to a final conclusion whether or not the spots are self-harm.

They are not.

She explained to me that if it was her pulling/biting her own hair out, the hairs would look one way, a normal thickness with a sharp cut end, but if there was an underlying condition causing the hair to fall out, they would appear the way she viewed them under the microscope, fine/thin with no sharp cut end.

She also took a 2nd sample of the affected areas to double check for mites/scabies/etc, which continues to be negative.

She brought a book containing the differential diagnosis process of the type of condition Moo is experiencing, and explained what they have ruled out so far (mites/parasites, fungi, bacteria) and the options we have left (allergy of some nature, autoimmune alopecia) and further went on to advise me that while rare and hesitant to take the leap at this early point, if the areas continue to get worse and we are not able to find another cause, she will want to start ruling out various types of cancers.

Hopefully with switching them back to Wellness, I will start seeing an improvement. I'm really hoping it's an allergy she developed from the BB and that whatever she might be allergic to from the BB isn't also in the Wellness. I can live with an autoimmune condition, should that be the underlying cause. Prayers from the bottom of my heart that I'm not looking at a cancer in my baby at such an early point in her life.

I feel better for the detailed, thorough approach this dr. took in really trying to get to the bottom of what's causing the hair loss, instead of throwing blame on me. She really took the time to examine Moo, ask me questions, answer my questions and open up the necessary dialogue to get to the bottom of this whole situation.

 
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