Hair Loss Above Eyes And In Whiskers

[Dcmbrfrost]

Hello everyone! I'm posting because I'm concerned about my old man,and truly hoping someone has some insight for me. First, a little information on my Neddy-pot (Fatty, Ned.... They all work haha)

Ned is about 13 years old, from what my vet and I could guess. I rescued him over 6 years ago. He has a collapsed lung with complications from pneumonia, so he has a chronic cough. He is FIV+, has a heart murmur, and has no teeth left (what remained in his mouth was broken, cracked, and infected so I had them removed for his health). Aside from his coughing he acts like a kitten still. Very happy, healthy (had a check up just a few months ago) and loves rough housing with his siblings.

The issue is that over the past couple of weeks I've noticed increasing hair loss above his eyes, and today I noticed he's got hair loss around the roots of his whiskers. There doesn't seem to be any visible irritation, aside from the usual scuffs he gets when attempting to beat up his brother. I'm really truly hoping this is just him getting old, even though it breaks my heart to think about. Any advice?

The first 3 pictures show his hair loss. The last one was before it occurred.

 

[stephanietx]

What a sweet old guy! Looks like maybe some kind of skin issue or it could be food or litter allergy. Have you changed food or litter recently? I'd definitely get him to the vet for a skin scrape to rule out something like ringworm (which it doesn't look like to me) or some other kind of fungal skin condition.

 

[Dcmbrfrost]

stephanietx-
Thank you so much! He really is a sweetie, all he wants to do is cuddle. Thank you as well for your advice. He's been eating the same food for 4 years, and his litter has been the same since I got him. I'm worried it could be fungal or allergy related, as you said. Just trying to rule things out before I take him to the 'boogeyman' (he's not a fan of the vet since he got his teeth pulled haha).

 

[tmactoth]

Having just gone thru ringworm with 2 kittens, it looks very much like the ringworm symptoms shown by my kittens. Healthy adults have a resistance to ringworm, but since he is FIV, maybe the FIV has reduced his natural resistance.