11 year old cat with bald patches.

Hello, everyone. 1. Let me say I'm typing this on my phone so it may not be beautiful, lol.

My cat Ella is 11 years old. She's always had an issue with over grooming. So I'm often used to seeing a bit of a bald tummy, but today I noticed that she has a small bald patch on her leg, on the back of her tail near well you know, along with the normal bald tummy.

I checked each spot thoroughly, none of them are red, or scabbed, no black flea dirt, just mildly bald skin.

I've noticed that she has been spending extra time cleaning herself.

She's been eating normally, only a little more lovey than most times.

If it gets worse I want to have her checked by a vet, but I'm concerned on how my husband will react, because lately he has been stressed about money, and has been talking like he has had to pay for everything for himself since he was 16, and it's time I start paying for everything of mine, myself. I'm a house wife/stay at home mother. I tend to our daughter, house, property, 2 gardens, chickens, rabbits, and fish we raise for food.

I feel at a loss, because if she does need too see a vet, I don't know how I will pay for it, out what I should do.

Feel free to ask any questions you'd like.

Any advice on why she's getting these bald patches would be greatly appreciated.

This is Ella, I couldn't get her to sit still long enough to get a pic of the bald patches.

It could be an allergy either food or environmental.  You could try changing her food and see if that helps.  It can take several weeks to see if that helps.  If it doesn't you could try changing litter.

it's so frustrating... we did a lot of eliminating things to no avail with our 2. They each had different symptoms. .. Min had the stomach fur and hind leg fur baldness and Mik has scabs on her back. For Min, zyrtec totally worked, but not for Mik. We are still working on her. Not saying you should try zyrtec but can read up on it.

Update: After inspecting Ella further, I noticed 1 single FAT FLEA on her belly. I picked that sucker, and crushed it to death! Haha, that was the only one I saw, so hopefully that's all it was!

It could well be.  Some kitties are very allergic to fleas.  If you can I would get some Advantage and treat him with it.   You can also use food grade diatomaceous  earth both on the kitty and carpets and furniture in your home.  It might be hard to get this time of year but a lot of garden centers sell it.

OHHHHH I think you solved your problem!!!

I'm going to keep a close eye on her, and see there's anymore. I'm hoping that was all.

Hello again everyone, here is an update. It's been about 3 weeks since I last posted about Ella. Some of her bald patches have grown the hair back, and some are just starting to grow hair back. This what her leg looks like now, and I just want to see if anyone thinks it is looking better, or what it might actually be.