I've been dealing with hair loss in Mika for a long time. She came to me with the backs of her legs and her entire belly completely bare. I was told that was because she had been on the streets and had likely had kittens. All the nutrients she needed to maintain coat and hair health went to the kittens, plus with her pulling out hair for feeding, the vets assumed thats why she was bald. I also suspected (I stand 100% behind the notion that Mika was dumped when I found her) that the family that had her before me did not give her proper nutrition either.
After I found her, she SLOWLY started growing hair on the back of her legs. But with all the health issues she had, she got shaved in multiple places including her belly. Her leg where the IV was placed is somewhat filled in? It's grown in oddly with the front almost fully regrown but the back of her leg is lacking very much. Her sides had started to fill in better but her belly has sparse hairs.
I noticed about 2 months ago that Mika was losing even more hair again. Under her front legs and down the back of her hind legs. I was so upset. The vet told me because there was no irritation in those places it was stress related ie. her being medicated stressed her the f out. Which I can't blame her. I was given some Feliway diffusers and set one up in my bedroom (where I do her medicating) 2 weeks ago. I have noticed some behavioral differences but I noticed today that her hair loss has gotten worse again. She has full on bald spots now and more places have shown up.
I also noticed she has these brown/red spots and blotches just above her eye (where her eyebrow should be). They aren't painful for her, I accidentally scratched one when she moved her head and they're flaky. I noticed them two days ago and they seem to be going away but I have never seen them before on her. The all-knowing Google directed me to feline acne which seems a little odd above her eye like that.
I'm wondering if maybe this is all an allergy? I can't think of a particular protein but if it is food related, should I go about trying to figure out the culprit? How long do you stay on a protein to see if it causes a reaction? I did recently get a different litter. It's Cat's Pride Fresh and Light unscented. Her accelerated loss of hair did coincide with the change but she was having the hair loss much sooner than that. The original cat litter she was on when she started regrowing hair was either Tidy Cats 4-in-1 or 24/7 protection (I can't really remember, I just grabbed a jug of Tidy Cat off of the shelves at petco when I found her because I needed a quick litter box thing). I've switched 3 times since then and I'm considering putting her on a grass litter because the litter clumps on her feet sometimes and she tracks to lots of places.
One last piece of information: Mika came to me with a scaly patch of skin just at the base of her tail on the top side of her body. All of the hair had been loss there. The vet at the shelter I took her to said they didn't know what it was but put a topical ointment on once (I don't know the name because it was never given to me to bring home or anything). It cleared up on its own and now has lots of hair there and the skin is fine. It did take like a month to do so though.
Any ideas? I hate she's losing hair because she has so little right now. (Lots of pictures)
The brown spots. You can't see the red marks well because she's still jaundiced in her face and ears pretty bad.
Front left elbow/underarm
Same foot. Back right foot has lost hair on both the inner and outer spots around the ankle.
Front right elbow is worse than left.
Next one is a booty shot because she's lost hair under her tail. She has never had lots of hair there so, just warning, you're going to see full on booty hole.
Sorry for the full frontal booty shot, but the areas around there have lost more hair and you can kind of see where she is missing hair down the back of her legs there. The hair missing on the legs connects around to the whole inside of her legs and up to her belly. It's like (excuse the language) ass-less chaps.
After I found her, she SLOWLY started growing hair on the back of her legs. But with all the health issues she had, she got shaved in multiple places including her belly. Her leg where the IV was placed is somewhat filled in? It's grown in oddly with the front almost fully regrown but the back of her leg is lacking very much. Her sides had started to fill in better but her belly has sparse hairs.
I noticed about 2 months ago that Mika was losing even more hair again. Under her front legs and down the back of her hind legs. I was so upset. The vet told me because there was no irritation in those places it was stress related ie. her being medicated stressed her the f out. Which I can't blame her. I was given some Feliway diffusers and set one up in my bedroom (where I do her medicating) 2 weeks ago. I have noticed some behavioral differences but I noticed today that her hair loss has gotten worse again. She has full on bald spots now and more places have shown up.
I also noticed she has these brown/red spots and blotches just above her eye (where her eyebrow should be). They aren't painful for her, I accidentally scratched one when she moved her head and they're flaky. I noticed them two days ago and they seem to be going away but I have never seen them before on her. The all-knowing Google directed me to feline acne which seems a little odd above her eye like that.
I'm wondering if maybe this is all an allergy? I can't think of a particular protein but if it is food related, should I go about trying to figure out the culprit? How long do you stay on a protein to see if it causes a reaction? I did recently get a different litter. It's Cat's Pride Fresh and Light unscented. Her accelerated loss of hair did coincide with the change but she was having the hair loss much sooner than that. The original cat litter she was on when she started regrowing hair was either Tidy Cats 4-in-1 or 24/7 protection (I can't really remember, I just grabbed a jug of Tidy Cat off of the shelves at petco when I found her because I needed a quick litter box thing). I've switched 3 times since then and I'm considering putting her on a grass litter because the litter clumps on her feet sometimes and she tracks to lots of places.
One last piece of information: Mika came to me with a scaly patch of skin just at the base of her tail on the top side of her body. All of the hair had been loss there. The vet at the shelter I took her to said they didn't know what it was but put a topical ointment on once (I don't know the name because it was never given to me to bring home or anything). It cleared up on its own and now has lots of hair there and the skin is fine. It did take like a month to do so though.
Any ideas? I hate she's losing hair because she has so little right now. (Lots of pictures)
The brown spots. You can't see the red marks well because she's still jaundiced in her face and ears pretty bad.
Front left elbow/underarm
Same foot. Back right foot has lost hair on both the inner and outer spots around the ankle.
Front right elbow is worse than left.
Next one is a booty shot because she's lost hair under her tail. She has never had lots of hair there so, just warning, you're going to see full on booty hole.
Sorry for the full frontal booty shot, but the areas around there have lost more hair and you can kind of see where she is missing hair down the back of her legs there. The hair missing on the legs connects around to the whole inside of her legs and up to her belly. It's like (excuse the language) ass-less chaps.