Balding and Blotchy! PLease Help!!!

Hi all!

My eldest male cat Spike is having a few problems, he seems exactly the same as he always has, he's eating pleanty of food, going out regularly, sleeping no mor than usual for a cat and grooming himself just fine... He has started wandering off (yes he has been neutered) for a few days at a time every few days but I understand that this is perfectly normal for an adult male of his age (he's 2 now)...

The problem however is this... A few months ago, my girlfrend and I noticed that up by his ears, towards the front of his head, he was starting to lose his fur, almost like a receeding hairline in a human would.... We didn't think too much of it and thought it was normal enough as he still HAS fur there just not a lot.... Then today something made me look more closely at him, and under the fur, his skin is very very blotchy, almost like he has measles... he has a small bald patch on his belly too which has the same spots on it but these ones are pinker than on his head, the ones there are brown in colour....

Can anyone shed any light on this mystery for me? Shoud I worry? Should I rush him to the vet? What is it, what can it be????

Thanks!

This may be ringworm that you're describing. Does it look anything like this?
http://www.lbah.com/ringworm.htm
http://www.purinaone.com/catcare_con...ticleNumber=16
http://www.provet.co.uk/Petfacts/hea...s/ringworm.htm

Hi there, yes it does look quite similar to this but none of my other animals has it nor any of the humans in the house (that I know of)...

It kind of looks like liver spots or measles, does this sound like ringworm yes?

If so what should I do, get him to the vet or pop into the vet to get some medicine for him? Also, as he's a bit of a wanderer, what should I do to keep him in to take his medicine, it hardly seems humane to keep him in in this hot weather (we're at 30 degrees here, thats hot for Ireland lol!)...

Finally, what should I do if one of us humans catches it?

I definitely recommend that Spike visit his Vet. The first step is to determine the cause (allergy, parasite...). Then, your Vet can assist you in formulating a treatment plan such as a topical medication, change in diet, eliminating the parasite if that is the case, maybe a round of steroids, or whatever may be most effective for Spike.

Cool, I'll do that!

Thanks!

Those sound like the same symptoms my Sebastian had and it turned out he had Hypothyroid.

I would definately recommend a vet check because it could be any number of things besides that.

Good luck with your vet visit, and don't forget to update us as to what is wrong with Spike.

Will do thanks everybody!!!