Cat losing hair

[Benny2021]

Morning! My cat Benny has these scabs and is losing fur around his neck and ears. We took him to the vet last week and they gave him antibiotics and steroids and said it was dermatitis. The original sites have cleared up (still hair loss) but now a couple new spots have shown up. They tested him for ringworm also which was negative.

Is this dermatitis or something else? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[FeebysOwner]

HI. Dematitis is a pretty generic term, and there can be a number of potential reasons/causes for it happening. Antibiotics and steroids are just band-aids and do not address the underlying cause which is what needs to be determined and resolved. Food allergies, environmental allergies are two examples. If you made a recent change to Benny's food, that might explain it. However, not as common but it does happen, cats can become allergic to certain ingredients in their food even after they have been eating it for a while. Changes to litter can do the same thing. New cleaning products you are using in the house, new carpeting/rugs/flooring, dust, arid/dry conditions in the home, and so on.

I would start looking for possible triggers such as those listed above - and beyond - to see if you can narrow down the potential culprits. I have also included a link below of an article that discusses allergies/dermatitis in case that might help.
Cat Skin Allergies and Dermatitis: Causes and Treatment | PetMD

 

[Benny2021]

Thank you so much for your response!

Benny's skin issues started when my daughter moved out and took him to her new apt and her roomate got a new cat who seemed to have ringworm (Benny was tested and it was negative for ringworm) so she brought Benny back to me and his skin issues have continued ever since. So I dont think it is environmental since its two different households and the skin issues are persisting. We have not changed his food, but perhaps I should switch to a hypoallergenic food. Any recommendations?

Also, we have not changed his litter in over 6-8 months, so not likely it is that.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I would ask the vet about retesting for ringworm then. Sometimes, depending of the type of ringworm, and the cat's own personal body chemistry, it can be hard to detect. If they did not take a skin scraping and/or hair samples, that should be done. A culture will be performed on those samples, and it can take several days, sometimes weeks, to get a positive or negative result. It might be worth it to go ahead and proceed with topical and oral treatments as a precaution.

 

[Benny2021]

Thank you so much! Its so confusing, since the roommates cat seems to have no issues now at all but my poor Benny still is showing issues of this confusing skin condition. The vet tested him via a uv light but not skin scraping. Its so frustrating when vets don't do everything they should be doing.