Kitten chewed his fur off paw?

vik61

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I noticed this yesterday on Shadow, one of my feral / foster kittens, when I was clipping his claws. It's a bald spot on his hind paw. I'm wondering if it could be he did this to himself, by chewing, when he was sick. (They all had a bacterial problem but are now treated with Albon and doing much better, no more runs and gaining weight.)

Has anyone seen anything like this and maybe know what it is or could be? He seems fine and I do not see him chewing on himself when I'm in the room with them....
 

cathyc

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Is this the only spot? The first thing that comes to my mind is ringworm but it's been so many years since I've seen ringworm I don't really remember what it looks like. Just in case though, since it's contagious, I would get it looked at by the vet.
 

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My cat is developing hairless patches on her head and scratching her ears bloody. Have the cat tested for ringworm (a culture is taken from the skin) and checked for allergies. That's what I'm doing for my poor girl. I have a topical medicine for her but am not sure it's working.
Ringworm is contagious to humans as well as cats so wash your hands after petting him til you know what it is!
 

reddicequeen

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it sure looks like ringworm but vet check is always best. Before we had cats we got ringworm from out dog. It was a mess to be rid of it!!!
 
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vik61

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Oh no. I have them all playing together today....
 
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vik61

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Any idea on what I need to do until tomorrow with the vet. Let's assume it's ringworm. How do you clean up? I was reading another thread but it just said disinfect/clean the spores which spread like mad. They were in two rooms and the bathroom today, the ferals, playing with my kittens, I wiped my kittens down, don't know why I did that but I did. Should I bathe them?

Please advise; I can't believe this. Things were almost promising to calm down.
 

cathyc

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Many years ago my best friend and I lived next door to each other in an apartment. Her Mom and my niece found a little kitten while out for a walk. Best friend kept the kitten and also had a pregnant cat. Pregnant cat had kittens which I took at 5 days old because Mama Kitty didn't have any milk so I bottle fed. Turns out the little kitten they found on walk had ringworm. Mama Kitty got it from from her and passed it to her kittens. Also best friend, her husband, her Mom, Me, my niece, my boyfriend and little girl I babysat got ringworm. It was a freaking nightmare!! I don't know why but the vet didn't give us any medicine for the animals but he recommended Captan. It's a powdered fungicide for roses. I just added a little of the powder to a pan of water and washed the kittens down with it using a washcloth. The kittens had it really bad and this cleared them up in no time. It took us humans forever to get rid of it. Again I don't know why he didn't give us any meds or maybe they didn't have anything then...it was about 14yrs. ago...but it really worked. DON'T try this without asking your vet. I also washed everything they had been on in hot water with liquid lysol or bleach and sprayed lysol on things that weren't washable.
 

commonoddity042

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Originally Posted by CathyC

Many years ago my best friend and I lived next door to each other in an apartment. Her Mom and my niece found a little kitten while out for a walk. Best friend kept the kitten and also had a pregnant cat. Pregnant cat had kittens which I took at 5 days old because Mama Kitty didn't have any milk so I bottle fed. Turns out the little kitten they found on walk had ringworm. Mama Kitty got it from from her and passed it to her kittens. Also best friend, her husband, her Mom, Me, my niece, my boyfriend and little girl I babysat got ringworm. It was a freaking nightmare!! I don't know why but the vet didn't give us any medicine for the animals but he recommended Captan. It's a powdered fungicide for roses. I just added a little of the powder to a pan of water and washed the kittens down with it using a washcloth. The kittens had it really bad and this cleared them up in no time. It took us humans forever to get rid of it. Again I don't know why he didn't give us any meds or maybe they didn't have anything then...it was about 14yrs. ago...but it really worked. DON'T try this without asking your vet. I also washed everything they had been on in hot water with liquid lysol or bleach and sprayed lysol on things that weren't washable.
I was told to just use anti-fungal spray in case it was ringworm (lotrimin, athlete's foot medicine) by a few vets and vet techs when I asked about Squeak's (one of my foster kittens) bald spots.
 

taterbug

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It doesn't look like ringworm to me,but more like a scrape or yanked out fur. I hope it isn't any thing serious. Sure is a cute little foot!!
 

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Oscar has been doing that but not as severe. His is just missing a little fur. You can barely notice it at all. He is eating and playing like normal too so I don't know....I also haven't noticed anything different in his stool. Sorry to hijack by the way.....just curious....

When they have ringworm, does their appetite change or behavior?
 
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vik61

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Originally Posted by CathyC

Many years ago my best friend and I lived next door to each other in an apartment. Her Mom and my niece found a little kitten while out for a walk. Best friend kept the kitten and also had a pregnant cat. Pregnant cat had kittens which I took at 5 days old because Mama Kitty didn't have any milk so I bottle fed. Turns out the little kitten they found on walk had ringworm. Mama Kitty got it from from her and passed it to her kittens. Also best friend, her husband, her Mom, Me, my niece, my boyfriend and little girl I babysat got ringworm. It was a freaking nightmare!! I don't know why but the vet didn't give us any medicine for the animals but he recommended Captan. It's a powdered fungicide for roses. I just added a little of the powder to a pan of water and washed the kittens down with it using a washcloth. The kittens had it really bad and this cleared them up in no time. It took us humans forever to get rid of it. Again I don't know why he didn't give us any meds or maybe they didn't have anything then...it was about 14yrs. ago...but it really worked. DON'T try this without asking your vet. I also washed everything they had been on in hot water with liquid lysol or bleach and sprayed lysol on things that weren't washable.
Okay let's take these one by one since I am totally freaked out by this and I am sick. I also have a strange immune system. I havne't been taking the Interferon that weakens my immune system so that may help me from getting it. I have Multiple Sclerosis which is essentially an overactive immune system.

I've got some very dry painful areas on my fingers but I am hoping those are from the vinegar in the new cleaning solution I've been using. I wash my hands like crazy so they are dry. But yesterday I couldn't bend one of my fingers because the hurt spot was on a joint. Today it is better.

For this post I wanted to say THANK YOU. I had no idea so all and any advice is necessary.

I feel that I need to get these two ferals into the rescue society anyway. One more sickness I cannot afford to treat and they are no kill and take very good care of their cats. Of course if it is NOT ringworm I will try to get them to take them. If it is ringworm, I guess the humane society is the best place to take them since they will treat the kittens. And foster them out to someone who doesn't have other cats/kittens to worry about!!!!!!!!!
 
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vik61

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Originally Posted by CommonOddity042

I was told to just use anti-fungal spray in case it was ringworm (lotrimin, athlete's foot medicine) by a few vets and vet techs when I asked about Squeak's (one of my foster kittens) bald spots.
Okay cool; another option for treatment. Sigh sigh sigh, bridge of sighs. Thanks SO much. I can't say thank you enough. Hugs, Vik
 
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vik61

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Originally Posted by taterbug

It doesn't look like ringworm to me,but more like a scrape or yanked out fur. I hope it isn't any thing serious. Sure is a cute little foot!!
Isn't it though, a cute couple of back paws...


I didn't want to touch it today. You can see how close my fingers are to his little paws in the first pic. And I did clip his front claws the other day...BUT

It looks like a tiny bit more fur is missing today. I took a pic just now. See if you think this looks different....
 

taterbug

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There is more fur missing,but it doesn't look as inflamed as it did. Where does he lay most of the time? Could he possibly have something like a rug burn? Looking at that first picture and the way he is laying on the "good" leg,and with the location of the "sore" on the outer part of his leg,it looks to me like he may be rubbing that portion of his foot on something?? Just an idea....cause I'm certainly no expert!!
 
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vik61

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I'm not on good terms with the vet who does the spay/neuter for the foster kittens because they got defensive about some kittens who had a very bad case of litter cemented into their paws when I got them from their office. Trying to talk to them about it went badly and I tried to be nice about it. Since then they've been nothing but out and out rude to me, even throwing a kitten's paws in my face to "show" me it's paws were clean. What a show...

So today I took Shadow over and hoped they would put him under a lamp to diagnose it for sure or not but they didn't. It would've taken no time at all so they just returned him to me and told me "Yeah, it could be ringworm."

My vet suggested coming in for some Hexadine to bathe all the kittens. So I"m going to do that now. Hugs everyone.

I"m trying to figure out how to clean my kitten rooms now too.
 

cathyc

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Some vets!!! It's hard to find a vet that you like and can trust. I had such a hard time when my vet moved out of town. Thankfully she came back but only works part time as she just had a baby. I personally have had better luck with female vets and have found them to be more cat friendly. When my Scooter was so sick and months before he was diagnosed with a liver shunt I mentioned this possibility to the vet. Told him that I had read about it on the internet he had all the symptoms. He totally blew me off and said I needed to keep away from the internet and then he said I shouldn't pin my hopes on this kitten because he was so unhealthy and there were plenty of healthy kittens that needed a home. I have never been so mad.

I hope the hexadine helps Shadow's skin and make sure you keep an eye on your skin if it's definitely ringworm. Sorry to say if you've been handling him there's a good chance you will get it too. Oh, how is little Boo doing?
 

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Hello,

My Stanley did the EXACT same thing except it was the fur behind his ears. He would itch, and itch, and itch! I went to the vet because I was becoming quite worried. She did ringworm tests and nothing happened so she gave him a cream (unfortunately I am not at home so can't tell ya what it was). So then I had to struggle with him to get the cream on.

That didn't help and the spot was getting bigger so we then put a cone on him to stop the scratching. Well that only made things worse as the cone really irritated him.

So then it was pills (
) and to keep an eye on him. After that the hair started to grow back and the scratching became a lot less. Plus after the first visit I immediately bought new food and ditched the Whiskas as the vet figured that was probably it.

He's totally fine now and all the hair is back to normal thank god! He eats Iams and that seems to be okay for him. But the whole left side of his neck from his ear to his shoulder was completely bare like the spot on your kitties leg. Also behind his right ear was also bear. Quite a scare for me!!


I know I didn't really give any advice. Just thought my experience might help some.
 
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vik61

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Originally Posted by CathyC

Some vets!!! It's hard to find a vet that you like and can trust. I had such a hard time when my vet moved out of town. Thankfully she came back but only works part time as she just had a baby. I personally have had better luck with female vets and have found them to be more cat friendly. When my Scooter was so sick and months before he was diagnosed with a liver shunt I mentioned this possibility to the vet. Told him that I had read about it on the internet he had all the symptoms. He totally blew me off and said I needed to keep away from the internet and then he said I shouldn't pin my hopes on this kitten because he was so unhealthy and there were plenty of healthy kittens that needed a home. I have never been so mad.

I hope the hexadine helps Shadow's skin and make sure you keep an eye on your skin if it's definitely ringworm. Sorry to say if you've been handling him there's a good chance you will get it too. Oh, how is little Boo doing?
Shadow and Streak went to the shelter today. Animal rescue will get them when they have been treated. I am still freaking out over this.

I had already cleaned my house over the last three days little by little so all I had to do was disinfect all the surfaces and lysol all the non wipable surfaces including the carpets, all of them, and floors, with bleach then rinse.

Not being exhausted enough I had to bathe all three of the kittens I have left. Pixel I am letting go since she spends most of her time outside and doesn't really come in contact with the kittens or the foster kitten rooms. But I will bathe her tomorrow. You have to thoroughly wet them and soak them in the Hexadine for ten minutes then rinse it all out. I even did their heads. They are all three now in the sun grooming themselves dry. What a day and it's only 1 PM now...
 
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