Odd Skin Issue With Feral Cat

[cat_daddy]

We are feeding four feral/barn cats. They all can be touched a little at feeding time which allows us to treat for fleas. One can be pet some but not picked up. It has always had thin hair, since being found as a 5 week kitten almost dead. It has always had a tendency to collect little bits of dried blood/lymph that stick to tufts of hair. The cat pulls some of them out. Sometimes I can use a flea come to comb to get more out. Recently she has more of them some as big as 3 mm. A lot of them are around her neck where she can't lick them away. Someone mentioned over grooming. I have never observed ticks, fleas or flea eggs on her or any of the feral cats. I have been to sites that have pictures of cat skin problems and I don't see anything like this.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome!!
Can you send that in to your vet and see what they think?
I think I'd stop with the flea treatment, if possible. She may be having a reaction to it?
What are you feeding? Is she having a sensitivity to something in the food?

 

[cat_daddy]

Well, we don't have a vet because we don't have pets. These cats agreed to adopt us because we feed them well (4Health (no grain)) and keep the coyotes away. Other than that they are happy that we do our best and let Nature take care of the rest.

I will avoid flea treatments on her. It will be hard to feed her separately but I will see what I can do.

Note that they all appear to keep themselves free of fleas and ticks by rolling around in several puddles of dry clayey silt around the property, similar to how birds take dust baths.

 

[maggiedemi]

What brand of flea treatment did you use?

 

[cat_daddy]

Frontline or the generic equivalents for the past few years, but only during "serious" flea season. Previously, other back of the neck liquids, but I forget the names.

This issue has persisted to one degree or another (mostly lesser) through out the cats life (6 years). It's just the past few months that the quantity of these things has me wondering. The cats behavior has not changed. Her fur is thicker and she has gained weight.