5 week old kitten with severe hair loss

I am currently fostering two kittens. They were  abandoned and in poor health when they came in. Their two siblings died (severe diarrhea).

They are almost 5 weeks old now and doing well. Over 1lb and their diarrhea is under control. They have been treated with

Revolution and just came off a dose of Amoxicillan.

I noticed the one girl "Honey" seemed to have rough edges to her ears this morning. Tonight I noticed the fur around her bottom is thinning dramatically. I ran my fingers around and there is a ridge where bare skin meets fur, if I rub my thumb against the ridge her fur come out and large flakes of dry skin. I could literally peel her fur off. It's like when you get a sunburn and rub your skin one way so you can pick the dead skin off. It's like that...but its fur and not skin!

Her skin is redder than than her sisters (who has none of these symptoms). Also, the tips of her ears are swollen tonight.

Other than that, she's acting normal, eating, playing etc. She does not seem overly itchy.

They have had a lot of stress. They are not easy going kittens. (nervous)

Another foster home had them and they just came to me one week ago.

I am perplexed!

The classical question:  What is your vet saying?  As it sounds like a vet errand.

I do hope you DO have access to a vet?

Good luck!

Do you mean revolution the flea medication? From my understanding, they can't get that until 8 weeks of age. Could the medications be causing an allergic reaction or something?

 When did she get the Revolution ?   just wondering since it's possible she could be having some allergic reaction and she is pretty young  to be getting Revolution.  (good call ,  toddypu!) 

 Any change in diet?   She's 5 wks so at an age where there usually IS a diet change going on from mother's milk or formula,  to kitten food. 

    I would go over the kittens carefully with a flea comb too looking for flea dirt ( or fleas) .   Some cats are allergic to flea bites and can lose a lot of fur.  

  There is such a thing as psychogenic alopecia.    fur loss from stress.  

 Can you get her to a vet?     I do think that would be a very good idea. 

Yes, she had revolution... we treat even under 8 weeks as no one wants flea infestation either shelter or foster homes.

She had a vet visit today and the vet really didnt know what it was. She said it is presenting like a food allergy or similar. Not ringworm or mange.

She was going to do some research but we came away with trying a food with no grain and no chicken.

I asked if she could have had a reaction to the revolution, or the antibiotics she has been on. She wasn't real sure.

Her behind is much worse tonight. However, you would never know. She is playing and happy and eating etc.

There had been a slight change in diet in the past week. The other foster home had her on Royal Canin kitten with RC recovery wet food. I switched her to RC baby cat (smaller kibble) and performatrin chicken wet food. I have not given wet food for several days though.

The only other thing they have had is Amoxicillin and Forti Flora.

They were motherless from 3.2 weeks.

She does stress much more than her sister. Even at the vets today. Her pupil size was twice the size of her sibling while happily in crate. When picked up...her pupils were full blown! Heart rate up up.

They did have fleas but it's been two weeks since the revolution.

I've heard of a reaction to Revolution but  I should have said the cat lost her fur right in the spot that it was applied, not elsewhere..  

I had almost been going to say ( i thought I did but I guess not)  that this looks like what one of my cats has had occasionally that seems to be some allergic reaction.   It  may be  if he gets too much of a food that has flaxseed.      ( but the same  sort of reaction could go with a food allergy to something else).   hope you do get if figured out.  

So, I ended up giving them both Taste of the Wild Venison and Salmon kibble. It does contain chicken meal but is grain free.

Last evening her skin was SO red there was so much more hair loss than even 24 hours before.

This morning, the reddness was much better and the scabby line where the skin met the fur was gone. I also noted there was alot less poop in the litter.

It cannot be a coincidence. How strange is it that a kitten so young would have such a severe reaction? I'm assuming to grain...

Here's a pic of her today. It actually is an improvement ... her skin colour is normal.

 awww poor little thing .. and this is the " improved"  picture! 

  Yes sometimes food allergies can happen quickly.  And several kinds of grains are common allergens for cats.    I had a cat who had a bad reaction to corn.   but in his case the inflammation was in the GI tract.  

If you keep seeing an improvement and gets totally normal  then you at least narrowed it down to something that was in the previous food  -- like the grain .

 If it doesn't get to normal then of course eliminate the chicken.