Bald spot

vneidell

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My older cat developed a bald spot on the back of her neck. I was moving houses at the time. I assumed it was stress related. Two weeks have passed and life has calmed down a bit, but I noticed the bald spot is bigger.

Two things:
1 my cat is impossible to get to the vet. To just get vaccinations, I had a $400 bill for sedation. So I sent my bet pictures.
2 I volunteer at a rescue and we had kittens with ringworm in the other week.

Could it be ringworm? I've attached a problem I sent my vet? Would you trust her being diagnosed through a picture? Could it be something else?

Pic attached
 

mrsgreenjeens

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If you've been exposed to ringworm, then it's entirely possible this is ringworm.  Did you shine a blacklight on it just to try to verify? 

You said you sent a picture to your Vet...what do they think? 

You haven't applied a flea product to that area lately have you?  That's the only other thing I can think of. Does it bother him? 

As far as trusting my Vet to diagnose via a picture, that kind of depends on what diagnosis they give, and whether or not it seems viable.  I highly doubt they CAN give you a 100% guarantee.  Do you have any mobile vets in your area? 
 

red top rescue

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It doesn't look ike typical ringworm in the photo, since it isn't round or flaky.  It looks more like the kind of hair loss they get from either a reaction to vaccines or else a reaction to flea medicine being applied to that area. 

However, you could have brought home ringworm since the spores travel on clothing, shoes, and any items of clothing you may have worn if you were handling the kittens.  Since your cat isn't a good candidate for a quick diagnostic trip to the vet, you might try using a blacklight -- they are available at pet stores and used to see things like cat urine spots in the dark.  Many forms of ringworm DO fluoresce, i.e they will glow green when you shine a black light on them in the dark.  If she glows green, I would say yes it is ringworm and you should treat accordingly.  If it doesn't glow green, that does not mean it isn't ringworm, because not all varieties do glow under a black light. 

In that case you might want to try the medicated bath which will not hurt and has been known to clear up mild cases of ringworm in one to two treatments.  The best shampoo to get rid of ringworm topically is a combination of chlorhexidene and ketoconozole. 

http://www.virbacvet.com/products/detail/ketochlor-shampoo

If ringworm does get into your environment and your cat doesn't respond well to fighting it off (their immune system can overcome it when they are mature), then you should use our Search bar at the top of the page to get a list of threads about treating ringworm, but I would try the black light first.  I have had cats get a bald spot from Advantage Multi flea medicine, which I do not use anymore.
 
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