gray face??

katiemae1277

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not sure if this is the correct place to put this but I'm having an interesting phenomenon with my Meezer. Now I'm not sure if he's purebred, but I can't imagine anything else being in him, because he looks and acts like a typical Siamese. So anyway this is my question, have any of you Meezer owners ever noticed that sometimes the fur on their faces turns gray? Not totally solid, but its like every other strand approx. It did this before and took about 6 months to go back to solid seal. Then about 6 months after that it went gray again
it happens almost overnight! he is FeLV postive so that "might" have something to do with it, but he's extremely healthy. Any ideas?
 

goldenkitty45

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Reminds me of a "fever" coat that sometimes happens in persians (black) where they get grey in it cause of illness.

Perhaps the FELV is doing something along those lines. Or it could just be a natural shedding process.
 
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katiemae1277

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Well I think it happened right around when he got bit by something, a bug or spider, so maybe that made him run a fever? his face is starting to get dark again, its been about 3 weeks since the incident. His face swelled up badly and I had to take him to the emergency vet, and they just gave him benedryl and a steroid shot, but ya can't be too carefull with the leukemia babies
Thanks for the suggestion, I'd never heard of a fever coat
 

familytimerags

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I thought of fever as well, my 4 year old seal had a very high fever and his coat had the gray ticking marks in the seal areas that went away in a few months. He hasn't had it return, however.
I thought it would only happen it pointed breeds, from the temperature change, very interesting that it happens in others.
 

goldenkitty45

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I've heard it a lot with persian people (at shows) talking about the "fever coat" in their dark colored cats. I never noticed it in my shorthairs but then again, they rarely got sick.
 

wellingtoncats

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It definitly sounds like a fever coat. I bet those shots did it. I find the slightest thing makes my black cats get a fever coat. (I don't have any currently)
 

mimosa

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I think of changes in body temperature too. My DLH sealpoint Mimosa had an eye infection and the fur around her eye turned lighter.

Makes sense too, because the Siamese/Himalayan pattern is temperature sensitive, the colder areas (points) get dark, the warmer areas stay lighter. Once the body or a certain part of the body gets warmer, the colors of the hair/coat will reflect that too.
 

april31

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its realyl kind of neat when u think about it how it can change from temp. when i worked at a animal hospital a lady brought a siamese in with a broken leg that we put a cast on when the cast came off that leg it color had changed. it did go back to normal eventually the lady was a little upset though she ddnt relise it would happen.
 
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katiemae1277

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Its been about a month since the bite incident, and his face is definitely getter darker again. Thanks for all your responses, its amazing what you can learn on this site!
 
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