Puke, Poop, and Bald

Hey everyone!

Here's my first post. So my cat, Mika, has been having some weird symptoms of something. She has thrown up twice this week, and has been getting a bald spot on her tail (close to her butt). And just now, she ran out from the litter box and started scooting around the apartment leaving a trail of poop smeared on the carpet. We've had her about 8 months now (adopted from the SPCA... she's estimated to be about 6 years old), and this is totally new behavior.

We give her a mix of dry food and wet food, but recently have been giving her more dry food. We thought that might have caused the the puking and baldness, so felt she should get more wet food. But now it seems that her poop was sloppy and stuck to her butt, so maybe it's too much wet food. Not sure what to do or what could be causing this. Also, we were thinking that it could be stress somehow (our daily routine hasn't changed, so I don't know what else would be causing stress), so I just sprayed some Feliway around and hope that will help in some way. 

Here are some pictures, particularly showing the bald spot. FYI, she does have a bit of a weight problem. She's been overweight since before she showed up at the SPCA (apparently she was a stray). She's about 14 lbs, give or take a pound.

Welcome to the site!

Poor kitty, something is definitely bothering her.

Sounds like food could be an issue. When you switched foods/started adding more wet food, did you do it gradually, or all of a sudden? Most cats need a slow transition to a new food. What brand of wet food is it? Maybe she just needs a different brand of wet, as something in the current wet food might be bothering her system.

The bald spot could be a result of the food bothering her. Hot spots can be caused by allergies. So this may be allergies you're dealing with.

MikaDarling said:

 
Hey everyone!

Click to expand...

By "scooting" do you mean she is dragging her butt on the floor?  If yes, this could explain the hair loss but more importantly would indicate that she has impacted anal glands, and that could be explained by loose stool (firm stool helps empty anal glands).  So if this is what's going on then she needs her anal glands expressed in a vets office, and her diet may need adjusting.  Wer food doesn't cause loose stool because it is wet, but a food that she doesn't tolerate due to ingredients can have this effect.