Cat's Face Has Turned White After Illness

[purrrrrs kittys]

Yes catspaw I did read Every post... did you read mine? I said I had got this site from a friend after going to 3 different vets. I also said I hope my cats have the same happy ending .

 

[catspaw66]

Sorry, yes I did but I must have misread it quickly. The old eyes and brain sometimes don't mesh.

 

[Agerber2011]

My little boy, 10 year old had the same thing happened to him as well, he was deathly ill. I really thought he was going to die on me. But he pulled though sweeter than ever. I posted before and after photos of him being sick. Hope his real coat comes back soon.

 

[LeftHanded]

People....thank you so much. I was scouring the internet wondering what the heck was wrong with my cat's face currently. Very reassuring that it's a "thing."

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[loay13]

Hi my cat got this too. He had got sick (upper respiratory infection & an eye infection) he is only 8 months old. I had took him to the vet to get his vaccinations and he got sick 4 weeks later. when i went back they gave him, his boosters. Gave me medicine and eye drops. I gave the medicine as told and he went back to a very hyper cat and loud. I started to notice the white spot it was only a little and now its a lot but only on the one side of his face.

 

[simona.pau]

Hi! I am very late to this thread but it’s the only place I have found answers!! This happened to my boy Bailey, 5 year old Siamese, took him to get vaccines and after the upper respiratory distemper shot he got sick. Coughing, sneezing, lost his meow entirely, and a crazy bad eye infection to the point where he lost his eye hair and now it’s grey! So assuming this means he was FVRCP(?) positive prior to the vaccination which is what made him sick? Sounds like there is a chance that his hair color returns to normal. The vet says they have NEVER heard of a vaccine making a cat sick like this… but the timing was so just perfect it couldn’t be anything else I don’t think.

 

[Romeo&Julian]

I have a seal point rag doll. 4 years old. Same story. I’m convinced he has COVID. First Romeo (other kitty) had the illness and recovered really quickly. Then Julian was sick for about two to three weeks. He was slow going up the stairs, wheezing, sneezing, sleeping all the time, my poor kitty. He recovered and I just noticed more and more of these white hairs all over his black face. Googling brought me here. Glad to hear he will get his black shiny face again. They are both totally indoor cats and haven’t been to the vet in a long time. I’m thinking we may have passed them COVID. I read that it happens. The vet just gave me antibiotics for him in case he had an infection. No cat COVID test. Just glad he’s better.

 

[Ktgpenny]

My Gus just recovered from a delayed reaction to the FVRCP vaccine and now has these white hairs around both of his eyes. Upon googling it, the closest I can find is that it’s Bilateral Periocular Leukotrichia and it happens in color point cats after stress or illness/fever. Hopefully the white hairs go away given enough time. Poor guy. I’ll include before and after photos of him.

 

[Monarch75]

Hello, I am new to this site and it is the only place I was able to find what has happened to my 2 year old male Seal Siamese! On May 1st we adopted a rescue cat and within a week, my male started to get sick with what seemed like the flu to me. His eyes were runny/ weepy, his nose was runny, and his breath began to smell "sick". He also lost his voice and he stopped eating and drinking water and only would lay in a ball. I went to the ER and they diagnosed him with Gingivostomatitis and would need to have all of his teeth pulled!! Very long story short, we went to a cat dentist and she said he did NOT have the Gingivostomatitis and actually had great teeth and gums. She felt he caught a virus from the rescue kitty. During this time, we noticed his face hair started to turn white. See the photos. I am so happy to hear the hair does go back to black after a while. When I mentioned these findings and the site to the Dr. she said she had never heard of such a phenomenon in Siamese before but this is obviously "a thing" that happens after a very bad illness....thanks to this site and post I at least have validation that I am not seeing things or crazy!

 

[Monarch75]

Hi! I am very late to this thread but it’s the only place I have found answers!! This happened to my boy Bailey, 5 year old Siamese, took him to get vaccines and after the upper respiratory distemper shot he got sick. Coughing, sneezing, lost his meow entirely, and a crazy bad eye infection to the point where he lost his eye hair and now it’s grey! So assuming this means he was FVRCP(?) positive prior to the vaccination which is what made him sick? Sounds like there is a chance that his hair color returns to normal. The vet says they have NEVER heard of a vaccine making a cat sick like this… but the timing was so just perfect it couldn’t be anything else I don’t think.

Simona, I was late to comment as well, but it is sooo helpful to hear others have similar stories. My Sam lost his voice completely too just like your Bailey. His eyes were also both so runny and his nose was running. Perhaps yours got it in the vet's office? I definitely feel these cats must be getting a virus of sorts. Did Bailey's hair go back to black?

 

[fionasmom]

S simona.pau

 

[avemaria02]

I know this is a pretty old thread but the same thing has recently happened to my 2-year-old Siamese. He was sick and was sneezing a lot and we had an appointment to take him to the veterinarian but he started getting better and wasn't sneezing nearly as much so we canceled the appointment to save money. He is still sneezing once or twice a day but that's it. Anyway, the fur on his face has got a speckled white appearance similar to other pictures posted in this thread. It has me really concerned. He also has a slight white spot on his back adjacent to his tail. I'm really hoping it's not a permanent change. He seems to have caught a virus from Tigger, a Domestic Short Hair cat that we just adopted a month ago. I'm guessing what's going on is a fever coat but I don't know for sure. I want to take him to the veterinarian and get him checked out but we don't really have the money to do so at this time. He's no longer sick like he was so it's not a necessity to take him. He just has the color change in his coat.

 

[Meowmee]

I know this is a pretty old thread but the same thing has recently happened to my 2-year-old Siamese. He was sick and was sneezing a lot and we had an appointment to take him to the veterinarian but he started getting better and wasn't sneezing nearly as much so we canceled the appointment to save money. He is still sneezing once or twice a day but that's it. Anyway, the fur on his face has got a speckled white appearance similar to other pictures posted in this thread. It has me really concerned. He also has a slight white spot on his back adjacent to his tail. I'm really hoping it's not a permanent change. He seems to have caught a virus from Tigger, a Domestic Short Hair cat that we just adopted a month ago. I'm guessing what's going on is a fever coat but I don't know for sure. I want to take him to the veterinarian and get him checked out but we don't really have the money to do so at this time. He's no longer sick like he was so it's not a necessity to take him. He just has the color change in his coat.

Here is an article about what can cause this in meezers, my Quinn is a seal-point meezer. He has never had this happen.

Why Is My Siamese Cat’s Face Turning White - 6 Causes