Bald patch on the back of right ear? ):

My roommate/boyfriend and I just came back from a three day trip. Usually we're around a lot. We came back to my purring kitty with a bald patch on the back of his ear! It's not even that the fur is thin, but I can actually feel his skin through it. Can anyone tell me why this might be? I'm worried for my sweetie. You can see it in the photos. He was moving so they may be blurry but it's still quite visible.

Looks like ringworm to me. While not deadly or anything, it can be a pain in the butt to get rid of. 

I would bring kitty in to the vet so they can do a culture and give you medication for it. Just in case you don't know (because I didn't when my first cat had a ringworm!), ringworm is not an actual worm it is a fungus on the skin.

In the meantime, you can go to the store and get Miconazole (jock-itch cream) and apply it topically on the ear.

Wow, really? I don't understand where he could have caught it, because he's strictly indoor and my only kitty. He has none of the other icky symptoms, and the skin on his ear looks like plain skin.

He has been scratching at his ears a lot and has had fleas before, so I thought this might have been it. 

He looks maybe a little sick to me, or like he's breathing a bit harder than normal though, and he's taking more deep breaths...but I don't know! I'm a bit of a hypochondriac when it comes to my own health, when I know how I feel...when it's my cat and I have no idea how he feels, I get really worried.

I noticed he does have a little scab in that spot that looks like a tiny thick line. It's not a ring though. He has little crusties in his eyes as well.

That's just what it looks like to me  Best way to find out is to bring him to the vet so they can take a look. 

Ringworm doesn't necessarily have to be in the shape of a ring. It can just be a bald patch, some hair thinning or just inflammation with no hair loss at all. Some cats don't show symptoms of ringworm at all.

Ringworm doesn't necessarily itch so if he is indeed scratching his ears a lot maybe it could be an allergy, ear mites or like you mentioned, fleas?

I'm not sure what's up with the heavy breathing. That seems weird.

Definitely a vet visit to diagnose would be my suggestion 

Sometimes you can look at classic ringworm "symptoms" combined with knowing a cat's environment and "know" what it is, but almost all the time you need a culture to prove it, and an indoor cat shouldn't get it, but there are many MANY causes of skin ailments in cats, so many that the book on the subject is 3-4 inches thick.

But heavy breathing, or rapid breathing or open mouth breathing when a cat is at rest is VERY serious and needs immediate vet care.  Over 30 breaths per minute when resting and not purring is concerning, and 40+ is an emergency.

Oh, well he had been purring, and it was right after I played with him. He has had a bout of fleas that I hadn't finished treating, so I'm going to give him his last dose of Revolution and see how this pans out. I'm thinking it was his incessant ear scratching because of the fleas, as he has displayed some obsessive-compulsive behaviour previously. It's also possible that because we were away, he was more stressed than usual, and he scratched more/harder. He seems totally fine now behaviourally. 

OK good, and your explanation would explain the breath rate.

Ok yeah and he seems a lot more himself today, he was very cuddly yesterday when he usually jumps off me pretty quick if I scoop him up for a snuggle. I think he was stressed by our absence and that combined with the fleas must have been really hard to deal with.

That sounds great!