Bald Spot Between Shoulders

[graywing]

I'm sorry if this should be in the Caring for strays and ferals instead; however, since this is about health I figured that this was probably the most appropriate place.

short version (since I know I can ramble)
A month ago I put flea medicine on a cat. She ended up getting a bald spot between the shoulders where I accidentally dropped some flea medicine though I don't know if they're connected. About a week ago it got powdery looking which scared me about possible ringworm instead. Now it looks mostly filled in. Was I imagining things or is this normal when fur is growing back?

The longer version
One of the ferals I care for is actually rather tame for me now. Her name is Athena and she's getting close to a year old roughly. I noticed roughly a month ago that she was starting to lick concrete. I was worried maybe it was signs of anemia and since she would let me touch her when it was feeding time I put flea medicine on her. I got most of it on her at the back of the head but there were a few drops that fell on the fur between her shoulders. I couldn't really do anything about it though after it was done. A few days later I noticed she suddenly didn't have fur around the same spot. I don't know if the two were connected. The skin however looked white without any trace of redness.

About a week ago though I noticed suddenly it had a rather powdery look. Being paranoid about ringworm (since I vaguely remember Gizmo having had a powdery look), I've tried to avoid petting her. She's gotten tamer since though and has started to have hurt feelings so I've still petted her a couple times and washed hands thoroughly after. Then over the last few days it started looking more filled in. Today it's rather hard to see the spot. So was the powdery stuff perhaps from fur growing back in? Should I still be concerned about ringworm? I can't really examine it well myself. Or maybe she just got into something weird? I'd kinda like to feel more free to pet her to help tame her further and also so she won't look so sad when I don't pet her before she eats.

Btw, she also did stop licking concrete after a few days of flea medicine.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I have no clue what it might have been, other than it almost certainly was NOT the flea medicine. If she were going to react like that, it would have been EVERYWHERE the medicine touched. It may well have been just a very itchy "hot spot" from the fleas, and when you killed those, she was able to recover. Thanks for taking care of those who are so often forgotten. All the ferals around my complex have names, too.

 

[graywing]

I have no clue what it might have been, other than it almost certainly was NOT the flea medicine. If she were going to react like that, it would have been EVERYWHERE the medicine touched. It may well have been just a very itchy "hot spot" from the fleas, and when you killed those, she was able to recover. Thanks for taking care of those who are so often forgotten. All the ferals around my complex have names, too.

The reason I was suspicious about the flea medicine was cause it happened just a couple days later and since the drops around the shoulder ended up on the fur instead of on the skin maybe leading to irritation. But the fact that it didn't cause any issue on her head, makes me wonder if you're very much right. She'll be due again in a couple days I think now so I'll keep a close eye on her to see if anything reoccurs. She also had a wound on her head probably from scratching but it'd be hard to say for certain. I wish I could get flea medicine on her mom since they're together a great deal but she's a lot more feral. (They're both spayed btw.) It starts to get pretty expensive treating so many cats though. I have four indoors as well. I've been trying to make an effort to keep the yard raked to prevent hiding places for flea larvae. Not sure if it'll make much a difference or not though.

Yesterday I could barely make out the spot so I'm thinking the fur is mostly grown back in. I've just been so hesitant to examine between her still being a bit timid and my own paranoia now about getting ringworm again. But the spot looked so clear and white for so long with it only having that powdery look for a few days followed by hair growing back in. So I'm thinking it can't be anything to worry about? I might still just try to pet her closer to her rear for a week to be safe. lol

And thanks, too! Our main current ferals are Dot (Dotty), Athena, and Muffin. There's at least one other tom that visits us pretty regular who I'm rather suspicious is our Gizmo's father. I haven't been able to think of a name for him yet but I'll figure out something for him by the time we get him neutered.

Even though it's sad there being cats that are born living feral lives, it's also been really fun watching the ones we care for. How they interact with each other and just how different their personalities all are. Our four inside were all born feral in the neighborhood as well. I've been also considering eventually taking in Athena but I just can't decide what the best would be in this case. She has her attachment to her mother and she's good friends with both of the main toms. There would also be the possible stress on the cats of there being five of them sharing space together. (I could try adding more vertical space though.) However, she could have a possible great playmate with Wolf who is also rather small and energetic, and it'd be a lot safer for her having an indoor existence as well. It would also definitely help solve her flea issue. Well I suppose the whole issue of bringing her in or not would be best left to a thread perhaps in the caring for ferals section. I might ask people there sometime what they think.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I'd ask about that in the Ferals forum, for sure. The real experts on them hang out there. I've managed to gentle two feral kittens here well enough to get them into homes, but since I can't bring them in, it took MONTHS of patience! And our town has no TNR program, and won't allow one to operate inside of city limits. They want to trap and destroy. AND the local vets are not supposed to treat cats suspected of being feral. I'm working on that. Gathering information. At some point, I'll have to tackle the City Counsel.