hair loss at the base of both ears

[mwallace056]

small patch of hair missing behind at the base of both ears. there no marks or anything, she doesn't appear to have any fleas. she doesn't seem to itch them. she seems really happy and confident so i don't think its stress. i should note she was stuck in my bedroom for few months until recently, and i only noticed few days ago, so i don't know if she been eating the dogs food and that what causing it or what. none of my other cats has hair missing yet. so that leads me to think its allergies. if she is eating the dog foods, maybe that what is causing it? i am planning giving her a bath with Antiseptic & Antifungal medicated shampoo from i got from walmart unless someone has something better but it will be very difficult since she hates water and not being in control, and being restrained. hopefully giving her something for grip like a towel will help. something ive been confused about, should the water be lukewarm or body temp warm? anyways if you have any ideas what could be causing, please post.

if you need a pic of the hair loss, i can upload, it just that she doesn't hold still for long as she hates being restrained. also the camera is poor.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Is this actually behind her ears, or in front of the ear, above her eyes? I wasn't sure. But, if it is the latter, it could just be normal for her. Feeby has had thin hair (where I can see her skin underneath) in front of her ears for probably her whole life. It's been long enough that I can't actually say for sure when I first noticed it. My other cats did not have that, but they also had much thicker fur overall than Feeby. I would be a bit hesitant to give her a bath given she is not itching those places nor seems bothered by them. It could potentially be allergies, and if it is, the bath won't do anything for that anyway.

Dog food, especially in any noticeable quantity, is not really good for cats - allergy related or not. The nutritional values are not the same. So, if you can get her to stop eating it, those spots might just clear up on their own - either because of a possible allergy or a nutritional deficiency, if she is eating a lot of it in lieu of her own food. Other than that, I would just keep an eye on the hair loss, see if it spreads, goes away, or starts to bother her before taking any real action.

If I am on the wrong path, maybe you can try to get a pic or two to share with us.

 

[kittenmittens84]

Unless it’s getting bigger and spreading or looks off in some way (red and inflamed, scabbing, flaky, etc) I’d say it’s normal, lots of cats have a fur pattern on their ears where parts of the ear are fairly bald and then the tip has more hair.

 

[mwallace056]

Hi. Is this actually behind her ears, or in front of the ear, above her eyes? I wasn't sure. But, if it is the latter, it could just be normal for her. Feeby has had thin hair (where I can see her skin underneath) in front of her ears for probably her whole life. It's been long enough that I can't actually say for sure when I first noticed it. My other cats did not have that, but they also had much thicker fur overall than Feeby. I would be a bit hesitant to give her a bath given she is not itching those places nor seems bothered by them. It could potentially be allergies, and if it is, the bath won't do anything for that anyway.

Dog food, especially in any noticeable quantity, is not really good for cats - allergy related or not. The nutritional values are not the same. So, if you can get her to stop eating it, those spots might just clear up on their own - either because of a possible allergy or a nutritional deficiency, if she is eating a lot of it in lieu of her own food. Other than that, I would just keep an eye on the hair loss, see if it spreads, goes away, or starts to bother her before taking any real action.

If I am on the wrong path, maybe you can try to get a pic or two to share with us.

It's behind her ears, there absolutely no hair in the small area. i tried taking a pic but she wouldn't hold still for even a second. i can keep trying if you really need a pic.

Unless it’s getting bigger and spreading or looks off in some way (red and inflamed, scabbing, flaky, etc) I’d say it’s normal, lots of cats have a fur pattern on their ears where parts of the ear are fairly bald and then the tip has more hair.

it doesn't seem to be getting bigger, no red or scabs or anything, the skin looks normal, it as if it just fallen out.

 

[mwallace056]

should i give her some dewormer? im hoping it just worms since she spends most of the time outside. since it been awhile since the last time. i'm going to give all my cats dewormer soon if i can find the bottle or just order some, so hopefully that will work.

i did consider locking her in my room so she doesn't have access to the dogs food and see if it gets better but i thinking doing a dewormer first and if that doesn't work, either talking to my dad about not leaving food out for the dogs anymore and getting him to do timed meals or keeping her in my room for couple of weeks. i'm not sure she eating their food but i did saw her go into their food to sniff, she didn't eat any but that doesn't mean she haven't before. im going to try talk him into doing timed meals with the dogs, because i don't want to stress her out by locking her inside.
bathing her would probably be my last option since it doesn't seem necessary right now as none my other cats are showing signs of hair loss yet. so unless my other cats show signs, i don't think im going to bathe her.

 

[jefferd18]

I am still thinking it is fleas or ear mites, especially since this is a cat who goes outdoors.

 

[mwallace056]

the thing is i haven't seen any fleas on her, i need to find my flea comb to do a better check but im sure she doesn't have fleas there no signs of ear mites but i should note i wasn't able to look deep in the ears since she fight being restrained even for a half second but as far i can tell there no ear mites, besides there no other signs like scratching more other than normal, shaking her head,etc. so im doubting its ear mites or fleas because if it was, i would expect to see unusual scratching for her but i haven't. also if it was ear mites or fleas, shouldn't i expected to see my other cats showing hair loss, or other signs by now?, it been 3-4 days since i noticed on the first ear. so knowing all this, im doubting fleas, ear mites. so that leads me to think its likely allergies or worms. i will try to do a better check on her ears tomorrow, maybe by burrito her or have my dad hold her. and if i can find the flea comb, i will comb her and see if i can find any fleas. but like i said, i really doubt it since i haven't seen my other cats showing signs yet and it been 3-4 days since i first noticed it.

 

[mwallace056]

well while i haven't done anything yet, it doesn't look like its getting worse, in fact on the ear, it looks like it getting better. the other ear looks to be the same as before, no improvement or disimprovement. i did check for fleas by parting her fur but i wasn't able to find any, besides she and my other cats haven't been scratching, so i would say is a good sign that there no fleas or mites.

 

[mwallace056]

Update:both ears looks like to gotten a lot better since then. i didn't even tried anything. so idk. i don't know what would have cause her to lose a patch of fur and grow it back few weeks later. i'm just baffled to what could have cause it and to why it only affected her ears. she does hates getting her ears touch but she always hated it. she would always shake her head when her ears were touch or mess with. so i really don't know

 

[Furballsmom]

Thank goodness, I was keeping my fingers crossed that it would improve on its own without the interventions you were thinking of. Sometimes the intended "cure" is less helpful than one would hope, so good for you both !

Are you feeding canned food now to the cats?

 

[mwallace056]

i do try to feed them 22oz of special kitty once a week and even add extra water to it. in my mind, this helps flush out their kidneys and whatnot. i don't know if once a week is enough. but it probably better than having no canned food at all. i wish i could feed it more often. because i'm becoming more concern as my two oldest(males) get older who are about 7 or so now. as eventually, they may develop UTI or kidneys problems or something and what if feeding canned food more often could have helped prevent it. so i don't know if i should continue feeding them all canned food once a week or feed canned only to the two oldest more often. the other two are females. they're still pretty young, the youngest is almost 3 and the other one is about 4 or 5 or somewhere in there.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Are you able to get them in for annual vet checkups? This is another way to stay on top of health issues.

Once a week canned with the extra water is terrific and will go a long way towards helping all of their systems, bless you for being such a concerned pet parent. I'm glad they have you!!

 

[mwallace056]

It's difficult, i did bring Tucker in because i was concerned about his leg. i think that the reason why my mom agreed to let me. anyways i did one of the wellness packages which included a blood test which came back all in the normal ranges. fiv, felv and heartworm which all came back negative. i'm hoping i will be able to bring Gray in after covid is over and requesting the same thing as i did for Tucker. i want to bring both in the same time but that is not possible due to money as i have to rely on my mom paying it if she willing to. i do hope to get a job sometime next year, so that should help me provide healthcare more often and to all my cats.