Onyx has been going bald for a while. We took him to our vet in CA and he said it was most likely an allergic reaction to fleas. So we put him on flea medication and he is getting worse. His back legs are bald, and now his armpits are going bald and hair thinning. He has an appointment at a new feline vet for Monday. I have looked at the identifying skin disorders and nothing really seems like what he has except Feline Endocrine Alopecia, but I don't think he really has that. He doesn't have any red sores, just hair loss, where it is bald he has little curly short gray coarse hairs. I have felt a couple scab like things on his back thighs, pea size. Any idea what this could be and what tests I should get run on him?
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Balding
- Thread starter chixyb
- Start Date
I had the same thing happen but I figured it was stress fro my female cat I use to own. She lost fur all over her neck. I washed hjer real good and it slowly grew back. She started again and it was on her legs. I figured she was over grooming her slef from stress of a new litter of kittens.
Ashley
Ashley
My QT has a similar problem, only hair loss, no scabs or whatever. I suspect it's stress from Wawa's arrival and the fact that he is so in love with her, he won't leave her alone. I've started her on vitamins and things are improving. I'm also discouraging Wawa from pursuing her so much.
Hi,
It does sound somewhat like fleabite dermatitis. You didn't mention if the vet gave your cat a shot of cortizone or you just started using flea preventative medication. The flea preventative medication will eventually help as it removes the causative agent - the fleas, but in the meantime, your kitty may be having an allergic reaction and that needs to be addressed. The cortisone shot will calm his immune system histamine response and allow him to stop reacting to the fleas. Even one fleabite will be sufficient to trigger an allergic reaction, so if he hasn't had the cortisone shot, he will continue to get worse until there are absolutely no fleas in his environment and his system has a chance to 'calm down'.
Find out if you vet gave him that shot or not. If not, see if that makes a difference. If he did, then yes, you are looking for another cause.
We had a black cat, Corky, when I was growing up who was deathly allergic to fleas and had to get shots every 3 months or would wind out absolutely de-furred and horribly itchy all the time.
Good luck
Kathryn
It does sound somewhat like fleabite dermatitis. You didn't mention if the vet gave your cat a shot of cortizone or you just started using flea preventative medication. The flea preventative medication will eventually help as it removes the causative agent - the fleas, but in the meantime, your kitty may be having an allergic reaction and that needs to be addressed. The cortisone shot will calm his immune system histamine response and allow him to stop reacting to the fleas. Even one fleabite will be sufficient to trigger an allergic reaction, so if he hasn't had the cortisone shot, he will continue to get worse until there are absolutely no fleas in his environment and his system has a chance to 'calm down'.
Find out if you vet gave him that shot or not. If not, see if that makes a difference. If he did, then yes, you are looking for another cause.
We had a black cat, Corky, when I was growing up who was deathly allergic to fleas and had to get shots every 3 months or would wind out absolutely de-furred and horribly itchy all the time.
Good luck
Kathryn
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #5
The vet didn't give him a shot. We had to move the vet appoinment to tomorrow at 4 pm, so I will find out more then. I haven't seen any fleas on him or any of the others since we moved here, but that doesn't mean they aren't hiding somewhere, this house was empty for a while.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #6
Sure sounds like over grooming to me - the reason though could range from alergic itching to plaine stress. Good to have it checked.
Let us know what the Vet thinks
Let us know what the Vet thinks
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #8
Ok well she did a skin scrape and their were no mites, she wants a fecal sample to check on anything internal. But she believes it was from when he had fleas in California, he was allergic and it started and just never stopped. He has no fleas now, so she has him on a steroid and a omega 3 supplement. So hopefully this will work! This vet was great, it is a cat only vet clinic and I will bring the rest of our babies to this one. For two prescriptions, a pill popper, the vet visit, and the skin scrape it was only $65! That is amazing compared to what it would cost in California, she also gave him some catnip because he was being such a good boy. I also bought them 4 mice with faux fur and feathers. Also, they have these big cages (like what you would put a queen in or a tom) with cats up for adoption, I got the number of the woman who organizes it to see if she can find Mia a home.
Glad to hear Onyx balding problem is solved.
Daisy had a similar problem, she went bald on her tummy! Once we had solved the flea problem, I thought our troubles were over, but she too had to go on a steroid course. She had these pills that she thought were yummy and would eat them as though they were treats! The vet said that although the fleas weren't biting her any more (because they were dead HAHAHA) the skin was still sensitive, and itching due to healing, so the steroids just calmed down the itching, allowing her to heal normally. They worked!! She is now a happy healthy furry flea-free no itchy cat. Hope yours is too, very soon.
Sue
Sue
