I've been caring for a female stray, we named her Gypsy, for about 6 months now. I can't bring her inside because I don't want to expose my indoor cats to any outside diseases she may carry because I suspect that she is sick. She is fixed and by no means feral, in fact I can't believe that someone would just abandon her because she is the absolute sweetest cat I've ever met. We've raised our 2 indoor ones since birth and they aren't even close to being as friendly and sweet as she is, she's definitely a lap kitty. Anyhow a few weeks ago I had some spare cash and decided to make her a vet appt. I wasn't gonna bother putting her in the cage until it was time to go because I knew I could easily pick her up and put her in there. Unfortunately about 15 min before it was time to go a thunderstorm came and she ran off to hide. So I had to cancel the vet appt. Two days ago my situation changed and money is quite tight so I'm not sure when I will be able to take her in. Today I noticed that her fur is looking quite sparse near her tail I'll attach pictures. I would like to know if this is indicative of illness or perhaps from a fight or whatnot. I try to remember to go change my clothes and jump in the shower after playing with gypsy and petting her etc before I handle our kitties but sometimes things don't work out like that. I just want to know if I should use more caution from here on out.
