Cat Dandruff & Oily fur around Tail

My oldest cat Isabelle in the past day or so has developed a real oily patch around her tail and today she seems to have dandruff around her neck and tail. The rest of her seems ok.

I'm thinking about giving her a warm bath today with some conditioner, anyone have any thoughts? I checked out the site on cat skin disorders and everything there seems a little more severe than what I'm seeing right now. She's not itching or anything like that. It just seems like some dry skin.

I changed their food a little while ago to Purina Indoor cat formula and recently started putting out Prescription Diet G/D to get the cats used to it as they will need to be switching to it soon. I'm wondering if the change of foods is the issue here. They used to get Iams.

I would be concerned that it might be what is called stud tail. If it is, a vet visit is warranted to get the proper medication to get it under control.

Yeah I read that one... Do you know of a place that might have a better description of that disorder? I'd like to read about early stages of it, and find out whether this is a contagious disorder.

She and her daughter have always had oily fur compared to the rest of my cats and both of them have also always had a little dandruff. But it seems suddenly a bit worse and specifically in two areas. Am I right in saying cats have oil glands on their back just above the tail? Her oily patch begins about 2-3" before her tail.

Thanks for getting back to me Hissy! I really love reading your posts out here! You are a real encyclopedia of knowledge!

Well thank you, but I'm not really. I have an extensive library of cat health and behavior books, I read a lot and I love to do research. Writing articles about cat care has prompted me to just be better informed. I run into different scenarios with the cats I rescue and I talk to a lot of people who are true "cat experts."

Here are some good websites:

http://www.pethealthcenter.org/showp...D=85&Private=0

http://www.vetinfo.com/cmale.html

http://www.eightsecrets.com/27/1/cat-acne-.html

I realized that I should add a couple more details to this post. Last week I used a product called Skin & Coat Emollient by Jeff Werber Pets on her coat. I used it in conjunction with my rubber love glove that generally she and my other cats really love. I sprayed it on the glove then rubbed her with the glove. Then I used a comb to brush her fur backwards and sprayed the stuff on her directly and rubbed it in.

Well she HATED having this stuff on her fur and proceeded to lick every last bit of it off... right in front of me none the less... I love her! So I don't know if that has anything to do with it. But I don't think she can lick the part of her neck where the new flaking skin is and I would have to imagine I got some that far up. She might have a skin alergy to this stuff.

She's also been getting more combings lately than usual with me home all the time right now.

I just read an article on cat dandruff and their recommendation is to bathe the cat regularly, which she really could use a bath. I will also call the vet tommorrow when they're open and see what they recommend. All other suggestions are welcome!

Those are great links and they really confirm the information I was just reading on stud tail. Sounds like a bath is in order for my cat for starters, then I'll go on from there.

a good thing to do if any creature is having skin irritations, is to put a little tee tree oil in their shampoo. Tea tree oil is a soothing agent used for all form of skin conditions, and does really work well. I had a dog with a habit of gnawing his tail, and that helped his skin heal up and to dry out the infection.

Originally Posted by turtlecat

a good thing to do if any creature is having skin irritations, is to put a little tee tree oil in their shampoo. Tea tree oil is a soothing agent used for all form of skin conditions, and does really work well.

Click to expand...

Please don't use Tea Tree Oil on cats since it has been noted to be toxic! Here's one article that talks about it in more detail:

Tea Tree Oil Toxic To Cats

When Zoey was a kitten I remember her having some kind of chewing or scratching herself issue. I can't remember what the problem actually was... but I remember trying tea tree oil to get her to stop the chewing and it didn't work and it really stinks! I ended up with an E-Collar for her which she hated but stopped the itching and got whatever the problem was fixed... I have pictures of her with the E-Collar back then and they are really funny! She was so little back then!

The situation with my cats now seems to be dry skin, which after doing some homework on the food I recently changed them to, Purina Indoor Cat Formula, I've come to realize is extremely low in Fat Content which is likely the root cause of the dry skin.

I think today is Bath Day though! It's finally warm enough! Oh they're just going to love me later!
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